Raising salinity in newly cycled tank

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Nothing in the tank but bacteria at this point. Is it possible to harm the bacteria by raising the salinity too quickly? I'm looking to go from about 1.023 to 1.026.

 

[brandon429]

no harm, they're under insulating biofilm. you could drain your tank for half a day, refill it, and it would still be cycled

sounds like a crazy claim aware

google this

simon garratt's intertidal reef at 6 months

and that pulls up a man who drained his sps reef for six hours a day, with coral

when we read about the weakness of bacteria online, how finicky they are, that's not a remark about bacteria set in place on rocks under a biofilm

weakness is a character of teased out bac on slides, or in suspension within a mix of bottled bac. Once added to a tank with substrate and fed, in a few days the bac are simply set and fixed in place and it takes true insult to kill them, antibiotics pretty much. reasonable air contact or light salinity shifting matters little at all.

to me the comparison seems pertinent because it’s quite a salinity extreme to have no salinity but air several times a day, then instantly back to saline.

 

[andrewey]

The bacteria will not be harmed going between those two salinities. Enjoy .

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Awesome, thanks for the replies! I need to do a big water change to bring down my nitrates and was hoping I could get both jobs done together. Glad to hear there is nothing to worry about.