Quick salinity drop!!

[John A!10]

Yesterday I target fed my only coral, GSP which closed up, so I didn’t think I had an issue until now. The gsp was halfway open but closed up more now. I checked the salinity to realize it dropped from 1.0255 to 1.024. I was fidgeting, doing some maintenance to my tank yesterday, and messed up the gravity fed ato, it dumped .75 gallons to my 36 gallon system.
I only had one coral, but today unknowing this was happening I bought another 2. Should I add a small piece of salt to my sump?
Fish and cuc seem fine.

 

[ZoWhat]

Just curious why do you think this is an emergency?

 

[John A!10]

Just curious why do you think this is an emergency?

I’m pretty new to the hobby. I heard that rapid drops in salinity will kill corals, and possibly even fish.

 

[Reef.]

Yesterday I target fed my only coral, GSP which closed up, so I didn’t think I had an issue until now. The gsp was halfway open but closed up more now. I checked the salinity to realize it dropped from 1.0255 to 1.024. I was fidgeting, doing some maintenance to my tank yesterday, and messed up the gravity fed ato, it dumped .75 gallons to my 36 gallon system.
I only had one coral, but today unknowing this was happening I bought another 2. Should I add a small piece of salt to my sump?
Fish and cuc seem fine.

you could just add a little salt water above your ato sensor which will slightly raise the salinity slowly as the ato won’t trigger until that water has dropped below the sensor p, which will have raised the salinity.

 

[John A!10]

I would just leave it, you could just add a little salt water above your ato sensor which will slightly raise the salinity slowly as the ato won’t trigger until that water has dropped below the sensor p, which will have raised the salinity.

Ok I’ll add some salt. What happened is when doing the maintenance the water level lowered in the sump making the ato add water. Do you think my corals will be fine?

 

[Reef.]

Ok I’ll add some salt. What happened is when doing the maintenance the water level lowered in the sump making the ato add water. Do you think my corals will be fine?

Yes they should be fine, that’s not a big drop, the ato thing happens a lot, just remember to turn it off when working on the tank and back on.

Just to be clear, add salt water not dry salt to the tank, never do that.

 

[John A!10]

Yes they should be fine, that’s not a big drop, the ato thing happens a lot, just remember to turn it off when working on the tank and back on.

Just to be clear, add salt water not dry salt to the tank, never do that.

Yes I’ll make a concentrated solution.

 

[John A!10]

Sorry for making this thread an emergency. I’m not sure how to remove the tag.

 

[ZoWhat]

Any salinity swing from 0.003 to 0.004 is nominal. You get above 0.005 swings, some action needs to be taken

If salinity drops temporarily from 1.025 to say 1.015, your fish and coral are fine as long as you acknowledge it and readjust slowly upwards.

Sudden salinity increases of say 1.025 to 1.035 will kill fish pretty quickly. The sudden increase really messes up their breathing. Corals will also start to melt pretty quick in a sudden increase

Salinity DROPS = are ok as long as the adjustment up is slow over 24-48hrs

Salinity INCREASES = are fatal and its ok to readjust downside quickly within 1-2hrs



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[Reef.]

Yes I’ll make a concentrated solution.

you don’t have to do that, regular salt water will be fine, as said it will raise the salinity slowly, slowly is the key word here, just add some salt water above your sensor level, when that evaporates, check your salinity, if not correct add some more, doing this your ato stays off so stops adding fresh water to the tank.

 

[Reef.]

Sorry for making this thread an emergency. I’m not sure how to remove the tag.

tbf it can be an emergency so you did right.
Better safe than sorry.

 

[Lasse]

As we Swedes say - there is no cow on the ice - it means do not worry or panic. It is non existing problem - just adjust it up slowly. Next time when you do maintenance prepare some new salt water and turn off the ATO. When you are finished - take the new mixed saltwater and fill up to the normal level and turn on the ATO again.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[John A!10]

Thanks for all the replies. Hopefully my fish live and coral recover and open for the first time.