Salinity level 1.028

Hello 3reefers, i am keeping my salinity at 23-24, and recently came back from the red sea and took a water sample close by to the reef and found out the salinity is at 1.028, much higher that what we as reefers keeps in our tank ususally at 1.025-26 , what is your opinion in keeping salinity in our tank at 1.028 ?

 

Just add some fresh RO/DI over the course of the day to bring it down. Best option is a decent refractometer if you're using a hydrometer. If you have to use a hydrometer get two to check against each other. I have added 1/3 of gallon at a time to a 30 without issue, add it to your sump if you have one. No biggie, just avoid swings in the future. Get an ATO.

 

Are refractometer color based readings? I'm partly colorblind and have to ask my kids to help me read the colors.

 

You should be fine, it's based on a line. This is pretty much what they look like. You will see a crisp line where your reading is; just make sure to calibrate it with some cal solution.

 

Was the OP talking about their personal reef tank? My understanding of the question was that the OP traveled to the red sea, got a sample, brought it home and tested it, finding the salinity to be 1.028 and was asking what people thought about those results compared to how we keep our tanks around 1.023-1.026. Either way i would retest after refactor was calibrated

 

I believe that the poster was talking about what they found while on a visit to the red sea and why we do not keep our hobby tanks at that level. We keep our tanks close to what most sea water is. It is my understanding that there is very little variation in sea water throughout the world so i would consider the instrument calibration before I came to the conclusion that the red sea water is 1.028. Also, multiple samples should be taken before such a conclusion is made. As for the question part of the posting, most of what we keep in our tanks does very well at 1.025 and is frequently kept by LFS and shippers ant an even lower salinity than that so why mess with what works. There is a much more scientific explanation along the lines of homeostasis, intra and extra cellular fluid shifts etc. If you are looking for those types of answers, there are a number of people here who can answer that or send you some good links I'm sure.

 

Yup, he is talking about the Red Sea, my interpretation was wrong.

You'll find those kinds of variations all over the world. If you're solely keeping inhabitants from the Red Sea they might be more tolerant or prefer a higher SG. The problems arise with the slow creep upwards to an SG value that is less tolerable. Within reason most commonly found tank inhabitants will do well in a lower range of 1.025-26.

The scenario is similar to temperature fluctuations within geographically areas. At low tide close to shore in tide pool areas you're going to see a notable higher temp than farther out. Adaptions by the indigenous flora and fauna allow those animals and plants to tolerate conditions common to that area. Temperature is going to affect the SG as well. You can not provide the same stability in a closed system, and stability is the key.

The salinity on natural reefs has been discussed in a previous article. Based on such information, my recommendation is to maintain salinity at a natural level of about 35 ppt (abbreviated as ‰ and also as PSU, practical salinity units). If the aquarium's organisms are from brackish environments with lower salinity, or from the Red Sea with higher salinity, selecting something other than 35 ppt may make good sense. Otherwise, I suggest targeting a salinity of 35 ppt (specific gravity = 1.0264; conductivity = 53 mS/cm; refractive index = 1.33940).


Recommendations aside, high quality reef aquaria exist with a fairly wide range of salinity. Many highly successful reef aquaria have salinity in the range of 32-36 ppt, or specific gravity in the range of 1.024 to 1.027.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-12/rhf/#1

 

awesome!! thanks for pic

 

No problem!

 

That is a good pic. I did not know that the red sea had a slightly higher salinity. Learn something new every day. One of many good reasons to belong to this forum!