Salinity management

Ok i did a search and couldnt find any topics on this but i'm sure i've gotta be reposting this because i know i'm not the only one.

I checked my salinity today with a battery operated pinpoint monitor and found that i've had a recent spike in certain places of my tank to over 1.030 and in the more open areas it's 1.024 which is what i keep my reserve water at. before i've added about 10 gallons of fresh water over the course of the week the overall salinity was near 1.030!.

I had my powerheads pointed up towards the top of the surface and they met in the middle to have a counter/clockwise rotation on both sides of the tank to flow the water in a circular fashion.

What am i doing here? i lost a sailfin goby to this recent spike and it's pretty annoying. do i need more flow or do i just need to point the heads in a different direction, they are now pointed down towards the bottom.

I have a 55g tank, FO, with 2 koralia 1's and 2 maxijet 1200's as my return pumps(in tank sumps).

Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

Try to make the flow turbulent by aiming the PH's parallel to each other, this might create a better mixing of the water.

You should only be using fresh rodi water for top off other wise your salinity will rise. Only the water evaporates not the minerals.

 

i have been using fresh rodi for the last month, before that was mixed 1.024.

i havent done a water change in a while, i guess i'll try that and use some fresh to lower the overall salinity. would using the koralia nozzles help me out at all or should i keep the flow spread out as much as possible?

 

Refractometer....best way to get consistent reading on salinity.
marinedepot.com has them for 50.00...might find them cheaper on ebay.

Is your issue Salinity or water flow? ...those are the tiny Korellas your using? It does not seem like much flow for a 55...but then again, many variables are unknown by me.
might try a 3 or 4 in there.
But for sure on the meter...good investment...JMO
: ) good luck.
LG

 

Keep the flow spread out.

Good plan on the water change.

 

i think it's flow. after the water change we'll see, i'm making new rodi right now. i have 2 koralia 3's that i now use in my mixing tank bc when they were in the 55 it was a ridiculous amount of flow. i have 2 in tank sumps on the edges so it is a 55, but the display area is smaller on sq footage.
was thinking about trying some 2's if this doesnt even the salinity out.

thanks for the input guys, it really confirmed my suspicions. ordering the refractometer right now to backup my battery op.