Low salinity

[rick6034]

Hello Fellow Reefers;
As you may or may not know I'm new to the hobby and this Forum so questions I will have. I set up my 40 g REEF this past Sunday and am cycling it. Up until today my Temp is steady at 77* and the Salinity had been holding at 1.023, this morning the Salinity has dropped to 1.022. My question is do I just add like a tablespoon of salt to the tank or do I need to mix it with h2o first and HOW MUCH SALT?
Thank You in advance for your advice.

 

[Supurderek]

Usually go with instructions on side of salt container to determine the correct amount to add. I like to mix in a different container l, with some tank water, before pouring in. Should not take very much to increase it. Keep in mind, usually salt goes up and not down due to evaporation. Have you added more water recently?

 

[biomek]

salinity typically shouldn't drop. are you running an ATO that possibly added too much top off? What were you using to measure Salinity with? In all honesty, since the tank is still cycling i wouldn't worry about a 1point drop. assuming you are using a refractometer, maybe recalibrate and take a few more readings and compare the means

 

[Ty Hamatake]

+1 on holding off on trying to bring your salinity back up and focus more on your equipment. What are you using to test with now? What all are you running on the tank (skimmer, auto top-off [ATO], reactors, etc.)?

 

[rick6034]

I'm using a hydrometer to test, a canister filter ( Fluval 205 ), two power heads for movement. I'm looking to get a refractometer. I have been doing research on the hobby in my spare time as I WANT TO CREATE A SUCCESSFUL REEF. As a newbee to the hobby I'm gathering as much info I can so if a situation should arise I can handle it quickly, and correctly. Thank you for the input!. [emoji927][emoji41][emoji482][emoji496]

 

[bobman]

Yeah get a refractometer also might help to take the hydrometer to the LFS to test its accuracy. I agree with the above since the tank is cycling I would not worry about a 1 point right now but I would look into why did you lose it. Are you using a skimmer? Skimming wet will cause you to lose small amounts of salt water as it ends up in the cup then you dump it out. Just using a canister filter I cant see why it would have dropped unless you cleaned the filters and spilled water then just topped off the tank. Or maybe you topped of a little to much water. Make sure you clean and dry the hydrometer well.

Another thing never ever ever add salt directly to the tank. If it is low salinity you are trying to correct one of the best ways I have found to do accomplish this is to just top off the tank with saltwater. This will slowly raise the salinity. Also for a reef you might want to bump up the salinity to about 1.025

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