Balance alk and Calc.

what should i get for a SG meeter? i am looking into a glass tank for sump. i just gave away my 30 gal but gonna buy a 20gal glass. i have plans tobuild it, i just cant find any .25" acrylic pieces to use for baffles. i even have the plans for a small refuge.

 

it is over a year so not sure what cycle everyone keeps telling me that i missed

I didn't know it has been a year

As I said almost all fresh salt mixes have ammonia, take a look for yourself.


http://web.archive.org/web/20030608...om/fish2/aqfm/1999/mar/features/1/default.asp

Then there is the issue that some ammonia bound products in the salt mix may be giving higher readings than those that you are actually reading.

Then there is the issue of adding dechloraminators, such as Amquel, which interfere with Nessler's based test kits. In such cases only Salicylate kits should be used such as SeaTest or Kordon. Look at your reagents to see what they are,if you are using something like Amquel.( This is not for you New, but for others)


Yes, let the SG get to around 1.025 as you mentioned. There is nothing wrong with a SeaTest swing arm, it is the user not taking care of it. There have been a number of independent test done on it at it is fairly accurate.The issue is care, it is a mechanical device. One needs to start with a new one, check the SG, rinse in RO/DI and put it away in a zip-lock bag till next time.Then once a month soak in vinegar for a for a couple of hours, rinse in RO/DI water, use or put it back in the bag. Salt deposits get stuck in the pin of the swing arm and collect on the needle which causes drag and over weight, which makes it read low. So, they will be more of a pain in the ass. A large floater is lees of a pain, and a 12 " floater not a 8" which are way off. The best floater is the Tropic Marine or a large Hagen. If you wish you can buy a refractometer, which need to read 1.027, as all are off by .001. NSW on a refract is 1.027 and not 1.026


Phil

And now to hijack the thread slightly: can someone tell me what magicly happens at 1.025 sg in a reef with fish tank? I have run different tanks at different sg and never saw anything that makes me say it has to be this number.

It is not magic, it is the natural salinity of any reef. You won't find a reef at 1.023 or 31ppt. Inverts do better at normal salinities, fish is another issue, osmoregulation plays a big role. Also running tanks at lowers levels makes it harder to keep things in balance, Alk, Mg, Ca, Sr etc..and in solution. Lower levels change the pKs, pKa, all which tie into pH, Alk, Mg, Ca levels. A short example. At 31 ppt you are 4 ppt to low, which means the Ca would also be low, as would the buffers, Mg, Sr.etc. If you had a sea mix that mixed to 35 ppt and the Ca was at 410mg / l, what would it mix to at 31 ppt? It would be 8.8% low and 8.8.% off 410 = 375 mg /l .How about Mg at 1400mg / l in NSW, 125 or 1275 mg / l . These are not normal NSW levels anywhere on any reef. It is harder to keep levels up when the salinity is lower. Red Sea reefs are different and are much higher with salinities approaching 40 ppt. Sure, you can boost up the Ca and Mg but what about all the other ions ? We are trying to keep things at NORMAL levels, such as on the reef where came from. Should we give them less ? Seawater, in the oceans, follows the Law of Equal Proportions, which means no mater what the salinity all the ions will all be in the same ratio. By having a lower salinity and then trying to raise up the Ca, Mg, etc, changes that ratio. A reef tank will never be able to follow this law, but we should try to keep it as close as WE can. NSW at 31 ppt will only have about 375mg / l Ca nd 1275 mg / l Mg, not 410mg / l Ca and 1400 mg/ l Mg at 35 ppt.

Consitency and if any changes make them gradual has been more important then a magic number

Yes, I agree, I don't expect and I see New has no plans of just rapidly changing his SG to 1.025, it should be slow and gradual.

 

if i just let water evaporate it the SG will slowly rise to 1.025. will this be ok, or should i add a touch of new salt?

 

Yes New, let it slowly evaporate but replace the evaporated water with ONLY RO/DI water, no salt, no additives, no kalk no 2-part, untill it gets to 1.025. Once there, recheck the Alk and Ca, so we can see where it is and THEN we will start to add additive/s for Alk and Ca. You need that calcium around 400-425 and the Alk around 2.5-3.5 meq / l. If you are not at those levels we can just adjust things, with either just a Ca addiotn or Alk additon or both till we get there, then start with the balanced additive/s.

 

OK about the swing arms ... yes you can do what Boomer suggested but I have had 3 different brand new swing arms and 1 was meantioned already and my tests still showed that all 3 were not even close to be correct.
New to salt= here is our product review and there was another thread about "refractometers here somewhere. the link = http://www.3reef.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Product;action=display;num=1077925023

Boomer thanks agin your youe input here I really welcome it.

 

here is the other link.
http://www.3reef.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Water;action=display;num=1077924622;start=30

 

man this post is rocking this board.. thing is .. if i let water evaporate the SG will go up, but if i replace with RO/DI water as you suggested it will maintain the SG. So do you want me to just let is evaporate until the SG is at 1.025 then worry about using fresh RO/DI water to replace to maintain?

i have the coralife swingarm SG meeter. i actually have 2 of them. i use them rinse them out then let them dry. if they dont dry prior to using again i rinse out with salt water then use it that way the fresh waterdrops dont affect the meeter. then i use the second and compare. so far both same readings at 1.023 now.

 

Newie... I would almost bet that if you had a refractometer right now it would read 1.025.

 

What are your readings today?

 

gonna do the testing tomorrow. since changes were so minimal gonna do every other day