Raising salinity with concentrated salt water

[Baylott224]

When I need to raise the salinity I usually mix a little bit of salt water that's heavily concentrated and drip it in the filter of the tank I've been doing it for years like that it actually raised calcium and dkh a good amount. If u need a boost. Is this method bad.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I think it is also a fine plan to just add full strength salt water to replace evaporation. Easy, without the risks of precipitation with excessively saline seawater, and forces it to go appropriately slowly. :)

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Not that the method is bad, but I'm wondering why you would need to do this? Salinity should be very stable with an ATO, I check the salinity after a water change, but otherwise I never test or think about it. Maybe I'm the one using a bad method and I should test salinity more often ?

 

[bluemon]

Not that the method is bad, but I'm wondering why you would need to do this? Salinity should be very stable with an ATO, I check the salinity after a water change, but otherwise I never test or think about it. Maybe I'm the one using a bad method and I should test salinity more often ?

It can happen as a lot of us take salt water out of the tank (for coral sales, coral dips, acclimation of new animals, etc…) and the ATO would lower salinity over time.

My salinity usually drifts down over the course of the month so I sometimes put salt in my ato resevoir

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

It can happen as a lot of us take salt water out of the tank (for coral sales, coral dips, acclimation of new animals, etc…) and the ATO would lower salinity over time.

My salinity usually drifts down over the course of the month so I sometimes put salt in my ato resevoir

Got it, thanks for explaining.

 

[KrisReef]

It can happen as a lot of us take salt water out of the tank (for coral sales, coral dips, acclimation of new animals, etc…) and the ATO would lower salinity over time.

My salinity usually drifts down over the course of the month so I sometimes put salt in my ato resevoir

I just add a little bit of regular strength saltwater into the system to slightly overfill the tank, a little each day, until my salinity has returned to full strength. The ATO doesn't run much when I am doing this and I avoid wondering what the residual salinity might be in the RODI (ATO) container.

 

[Baylott224]

I don't have an ato just manually filling water daily or 2 times a day

 

[Baylott224]

Did not want to do the add saltwater into top off water too

 

[bluemon]

I just add a little bit of regular strength saltwater into the system to slightly overfill the tank, a little each day, until my salinity has returned to full strength. The ATO doesn't run much when I am doing this and I avoid wondering what the residual salinity might be in the RODI (ATO) container.

I do this as well if I have saltwater available, but if I don’t, or if the drift is a bit to large to correct, I just dump some salt into the ATO. I don’t even measure it and just shake it whenever I walk by to dissolve a bit more.

 

[Baylott224]

I know but I just wanted to do it a little faster like in one day

 

[Baylott224]

I still add some full strength saltwater in as top off water too. And when I empty my skimmer I try to replace with the same amount I throw out. I have a little gallon not see through made for camping I make saltwater it last about a week or 2 fid replacing Skim or whatever

 

[KrisReef]

I don't worry about it really, just try and keep it near my standard mark, and to be honest I can't be sure exactly what scientific measurement the salinity actually is. I just have a swingarm and aim to keep the salinity in the same place. When I find it has drifted, I help it drift back with additions or removal of saltwater, as needed.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Did not want to do the add saltwater into top off water too

Why not? Anyway, you can it to the tank.

 

[Baylott224]

Sorry I mean I do add it as top water to do that some times

 

[Baylott224]

But it takes a couple days to do it that way

 

[Gone Reefin’]

When I need to raise the salinity I usually mix a little bit of salt water that's heavily concentrated and drip it in the filter of the tank I've been doing it for years like that it actually raised calcium and dkh a good amount. If u need a boost. Is this method bad.

Thanks for sharing. I’ve actually been doing this to raise my hypo QT to normal salinity. I end my hypo with a slow rise (about 1 week) from 1.009 to 1.024. Have found that simply topping off with SW would take about a month, and water changes to get there are a LOT of work. I almost use a slurry, and it works out quite well.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for sharing. I’ve actually been doing this to raise my hypo QT to normal salinity. I end my hypo with a slow rise (about 1 week) from 1.009 to 1.024. Have found that simply topping off with SW would take about a month, and water changes to get there are a LOT of work. I almost use a slurry, and it works out quite well.

Yes, topping off with salt water is the standard recommended procedure for a reef tank, but would take a very long time for taking hypo back to normal.