Salinity is off, how fast to bring it back?

Discussion in 'ASAP' started by tarheel, Dec 3, 2008.

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  1. tarheel

    tarheel Skunk Shrimp

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    Hey guys, I did a water change on monday evening. I noticed yesterday that my frogspawn wasn't as extended as normal but didnt think much of it because my zoas, duncans, blastos, nepthia all looked great. Then I got home from work today and it still was only about half open. Test revealed everything good except my salinity is 1.028. I always mix my water the same so I got lazy and haven't been double checking it lately. My question is how fast should I bring my salanity back down to its normal of 1.024-1.025?
    Thanks,
    Dave
     
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  3. lotzofish

    lotzofish Fire Worm

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    1.028 isn't all that bad. I would reduce the salinity by .001 a day (to around 1.025) , just siphon a small amount of tank water, and replace (slowly) with fresh water.
     
  4. sostoudt

    sostoudt Giant Squid

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    1.028 is only off buy .002 from the natural salinity of the sea(1.026). you could drop that in one day. ive changed salinity buy as much as .003 in one day.
     
  5. tarheel

    tarheel Skunk Shrimp

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    Do you guys think Something else might be up? I just assumed that since It obviously changing in like 2 mins when I added the water change, it might have agrivated my frogspawn a bit. Could that do it, or should I continue looking for a cause?
     
  6. GuitarMan89

    GuitarMan89 Giant Squid

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    I don't use an autotop of system so my salinity will change throughout the day as water evaporates. My frogspawn have never really acted like that, there's a good change it was the salinty, you might have poured the water over top of it. It could also have been damaged by a hermit crab of rocks. Just keep an eye on it.
    I've had my salinity as high as 1.030 with no major problems. I agree with Sostoudt. Dropping it .02 is no big deal, you may want to space it out to be on the safe side, but ive done that before at one time.
     
  7. tarheel

    tarheel Skunk Shrimp

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    OK, thanks, just topped off with some RODI and will go get some more tomorrow to do a small W/C with RODI instead of salt. Hoping this is the problem. Will keep you posted.
     
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  9. PackLeader

    PackLeader Giant Squid

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    Its probably not the high salinity thats the problem. Its probably the fact that you went from whatever you were keeping it at to .028 quickly.
    I honestly wouldnt worry about it. I keep mine at 1.026-1.028 regularly. Natural reef water around the global is an average of about 1.028-1.029, so youre definately not into any kind of danger zone at all. I would be more worried that you'll decrease too rapidly. If you do decide to do it, I wouldnt change out more than 1 gallon every 24 hours.
     
  10. tarheel

    tarheel Skunk Shrimp

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    sounds good. Thanks
     
  11. tigermike74

    tigermike74 Panda Puffer

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    I don't know if this was a case with you, but my mistake when I first started with SW tanks is that I topped off with saltwater. My SG reach 1.032 before I realized it, which happened fast since it was in the heat of summer and evaporation rate was high with my AC running. My fish were not happy, but they all made it, I lowered it by changing out 3 cups of water a day, which was about 0.001-0.002 a day. Higher salinity just means less dissolved oxygen in the tank for the fish to use. So unless your tank is quite stocked, you may not see too much stress on the fish. Remember higher temps = less oxygen; higher SG = less oxygen; higher temps + high SG = very little oxygen + dead fish.
     
  12. tarheel

    tarheel Skunk Shrimp

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    thanks tigermike, It looks a little better today so I will change out some more water tongiht and I should be good to go.