Coral Problem

Having some problems with my tank. The salinity has been sky rocketing ever since ive converted my tank into a rimless, its been going up and down. Dont know if thats why some of my sps closes sometimes during the day or if that crab I spoke of is eating them. I also noticed on my open brain coral (atleast I think thats what it is) was ripped on the side. Any help is appreciated

 

Do you have an ATO? If not I would look into getting one, they make maintaining salinity very easy. Did you have a hood/cover on your tank previously?

 

Yes I previously had a hood on my tank. I removed it to install a LED light. Im building a new hood for the tank, do you think this will help the salinity stay stable again?

 

I have a rimless tank as well and I have more than half gallon / day evaporation (some days goes up to almost 1, depend by humidity in the air). Rimless tanks needs ATO.

 

Hey Pitt.

How are you measuring your SG.. Refractometer, Hydrometer
The only reasons your SG would be jumping all around is if

1) Not making the WC batches up the same. To much salt/ to little, not enough or to much water..
2) IF you do not have an Auto top off unit to replace the evaporated water and you are not topping off daily or even every 2 days then your salinity is going to increase as the water evaporates.. When you go and top off then SG decreases(I am not talking cup water). You do not have to have ATO but you should really try to top off each day. Stability is key.
3) You changed salt brands as the different OEM do have difference in params.
4) Salt creep but you would have to have some massive creep going on

 

So will a new hood on the tank keep the salinity stable?

 

It is all about the evaporation.

So if I have my glass on top my tank temp rises but yes there is less evaporation.
I however have rimless with a fan(programmed on apex) to turn on and cool tank at certain temp so my evaporation goes up since I have top off with fan.

You need to wrap your hands around the true issue which is most likely your top off schedule(correct me if I am wrong). Either get faithful to the daily manual top off or get an ATO... yes I am terrible at manual top off so yes I got an ATO with 5gl bucket and fill 1 time a week.

I say the above only by experience. I can be quite forgetful and top off was last thing I would think about until I noticed water below rim(on my 130d) meaning my salinity would swing.

Do yourself a favor Pitt and simplify as much as possible. ATO in my opinion(either DYI or purchase..) is 1 of the must buys if you are on the quest for stability in your tank.

 

Be sure to top off with fresh water only.I have been running tanks for over 30 years with no ATO and have never had a problem keeping salinity stable.Top or no top.

 

Well I am assuming fresh water top off. If not that SG going to be off the charts

I think Pitt needs to let us know about top off schedule.

 

I've learned not to assume here Chris. This is the only real thing I can think of as keeping salinity stable is not real difficult.Just have to add some fresh water daily.