Need advice for lowering salinity

JCM

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I love these discussions about what range of salinity is safe. Sure 1.03 might be okay but there are other issues. It puts you closer to the edge of safety. It is far away from what the stock you are aquireing is kept at. Sure you could slowly acclimate them during qt, if you qt everything that goes into your tank, but that is extra work and the salinity is already usually more around 1.023-21 from the LFS. It isn't balanced with the ratio of elements found in your salt. So everytime you do a water change your increasing certain elements more than the average which may not be an issue with say alkalinty which can deplete so fast regardless, but who likes to have disruptions to their dosing? So please stop with the Red Sea argument. If you want to keep a higher salinity feel free, but it is not good advice.

No one is suggesting keeping it at 1.03. The point was, it's not dangerously high.
 

PeterZammetti

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Hi all,
I was using a hygrometer until about 3 weeks ago when I bought a refractometer and calibration solution.

When I was using the hygrometer, I was reading a constant 1.024 SG.

When I calibrated the refractometer and measured, the tank was at 1.030.

My plan for lowering the SG is to make small water changes and just replace water with RODI.

Is this a good plan and over how long should I do this?

For example, if I want to get down to 1.026, should I do this over a few weeks? Few days? What's the safest approach?
If you know what a large Lee container is (Just google it) use that one time every 10 minutes (same as acclimation during a drip) Just take one container of saltwater out and replace with RODI slowly, like one containers worth every 10 minutes and retest display tank. From 1.030 to 1.025 should be between 2-4 containers if it is a 55-75gallon tank/under 55gallon tank use half a container at a time.
 
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RocksNStuff

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Yes, I would personally. I would drop it to ~1.028 one day, then drop it to ~1.026 in the next day or two. That's where I keep mine.
I like it. I think I'll split the difference and take about 2 weeks to do it. This could be a fun experiment too. I'll have to calc the amount of 0 SG RODI it will take to bring 75 gallons down. Break out the old math books :)
 

Suohhen

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No one is suggesting keeping it at 1.03. The point was, it's not dangerously high.
OP asks for advice about high salinity and the responses are that the Red Sea is that salty and nothing else regarding the potential dangers of trying to keep an aquarium at that level. And yes there are plenty of dangers, nothing that can't be accounted for but when you are giving advice you don't know what level or care the person takes or whether they qt at all for instance.
 

revenant

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Yeah. I'm trying not to be a number chaser but I also don't want to ignore it...kinda tricky.
For sure… yeah I think a little higher salinity is better than lower.. not hyper saline or anything but anyways.. we always want to keep those parameters in spec. :) Lower it slowly over a week or two.
 

Dkmoo

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Actually I think we were discussing this possibility. Probably not a good idea but it was being discusse

"Red Sea is at 1.03 SG" is actually very misleading so should not be used as justification for anything. SG is temperature dependent and the "Red Sea" conditions are also location dependent:

Southern Red Sea has salinity at about 36 and temperate between 82F and 86F - which equates to a SG of 1.0269 - 1.027

Northern Red Sea has salinity at about 41 and temperature between 79F and 75F, which equates to SG of 1.0271 - 1.0272
 

revenant

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For the record I wasn’t trying to advocate that 1.03 is a fine spot to sit… just that it’s not emergency time. Not that the OP said it was an emergency or anything.. blah. Lol. Just being chatty I guess.
 
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RocksNStuff

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For the record I wasn’t trying to advocate that 1.03 is a fine spot to sit… just that it’s not emergency time. Not that the OP said it was an emergency or anything.. blah. Lol. Just being chatty I guess.
I got that. I like exploring ideas.
 

revenant

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"Red Sea is at 1.03 SG" is actually very misleading so should not be used as justification for anything. SG is temperature dependent and the "Red Sea" conditions are also location dependent:

Southern Red Sea has salinity at about 36 and temperate between 82F and 86F - which equates to a SG of 1.0269 - 1.027

Northern Red Sea has salinity at about 41 and temperature between 79F and 75F, which equates to SG of 1.0271 - 1.0272
Wow.. very nice summary.. I guess I was wrong hah.
 

Jedi1199

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Did you mention your tank size? If you wish to bring your salinity down, the safest way is to do it slowly. Think "drip acclimation".

I have been bringing my salinity up in my 180 tank for a couple weeks. I simply pour 2 cups of water at high salinity into the overflow chamber 2x a week.

So far I have brought it up from 1.018 to 1.022 in 2 weeks.. The fish have no signs of stress whatsoever.

Like everything else in this hobby, slow and steady wins the race. There is no "Quick fix" for anything here.

Edit: I should add this... I mixed up a batch of water that ended up being like 1.04.. I wasn't very specific in mixing this batch knowing it was going to be added slowly.. I simply add a bit and test a few hours later... the same concept should work for you only its easier... if you have an ATO... just take out a few cups of water a couple times a week and make sure your ATO reservoir is filled. your salinity will drop as the ATO refills the tank to compensate for both the manual removal and evaporation.
 
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Stigigemla

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Just use Your own eyes. If the corals do good they do good.
In that case just take out a little water each day and let the salinity sink slowly.
The ATO will fill up with RODI water and sink the salinity. I would take out about 5 % of the water volume each day until the salinity is correct.

The precise measurement of salinity with refractometers is a bit tricky. First of all they measure from a relative density saying the density of fresh water i 1.000. Well it is at 39 degrees but in 80 degrees it is about 0.002 lower.
Most refractometers is made for Na Cl solution. Randy has an article of this in the chemistry forum.
To minimize this it is easier to use the salinity scale (usually in the right of the density scale).

In the Carribean the salinity is usually 3,5% and around Indonesia and Australia it is about 3,45%.
Those small differences does not matter just choose one value and stick to it.
I believe almost all the animals we have in reef tanks do good in a salinity from 3,2% to 4,0 % if we just dont do fast changes.
 

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