Salinity increasing - from skimming? 2/25/09
Hello Crew,
<Hello John.>
I have wondered about this for quite a few years regarding salinity increasing over time between water changes.
I wonder if this is due to skimming or something else.
<Something else.>
I maintain my salinity at about 1.025 to 1.0255 before and after water changes etc.
During the 2 weeks between water changes the salinity of all 3 of my tanks increase to about 1.026 to 1.0265.
<Wow!>
I end up mixing my replacement water to around 1.023 - 1.0235 so that when I change water it helps make up for the increased salinity in the tanks after 2 weeks.
I even need to under fill the tanks after changing water to then add more fresh to keep the salinity around 1.025
The replacement water is mixed in container for several days or more before using.
I add fresh water when needed in between water changes and make sure to top off tanks with fresh water before doing the water change.
<Is this RO, pure water? Small amounts of salts in tap water can do this.>
I do not return the salt creep back into the tank.
The only additive I use is B-Ionic Alk and calcium to the tank.
<Likely the cause, it can raise your salinity. If I recall correctly it actually says this on the label.>
Any thoughts on this other than Skimming?
<Above.>
Thanks,
John Maggio
<Welcome, Scott V.>

Re: Salinity increasing - from skimming? From higher solute addn.s     2/27/09
Scott,
Thanks for the reply.
<Happy to help out.>
I do use city Tap Water and have for years for both fresh and salt tanks.
All water from tap into 32 gallon brute and sits for 5-7 days before adding salt for water changes and the make up water from tap ran through a simple filter to remove chlorine. Well I'll be.....I went and re-read the directions again on the B-IONIC label and at the bottom it states that it could gradually raise aquarium specific gravity depending on how
much saltwater is removed by protein skimming.
<It does, can, will!>
I guess the Remora Pro skimmers works too well... Not.
Thanks again for your time.
John
<Welcome.>

Decreasing Salinity   9/27/07
Greetings -
<Good Morning>
I have an odd situation that I am hoping you can give me some advice on.
I've had a 125 gallon acrylic tank set up and running with a 5"?live sand bed, appx. 20 lbs. live rock? and water for about 2 months now.? Specifics are built-in overflow dropping to a sump with a filter sock, pushing through to a protein skimmer that does a gravitational exchange with a refugium containing only Chaeto and some maiden's hair and then pumps back up to the tank.? Tank has two 360 powerheads on a wavemaker timer to provide chaotic flow.
I live in Los Angeles, so I buy the Catalina ocean water that typically runs about 1.023SG.
We discovered some plumbing problems, so we completely replumbed the system. Before the replumbing, I noticed a lot of salt creep; however, since then, I don't find any anywhere. At some point, I found that the SG in the tank had dropped pretty low - around the low side of 1.021.
<Yikes>
I mixed up some water with a very high SG (still no livestock in the tank) and, after it aged, put it in the tank. The water went back up to 1.023, so, with everything okay, I moved in some Chromis and a Firefish and about 100 lbs. of live rock.. Now, though, only a few days later SG is back down to about 1.0215.
<That is odd. Do you have a protein skimmer? Sometimes protein skimmers can lower salinity. Also, are you sure there isn't salt creep somewhere you're not seeing it? What are you measuring the salinity with? Is your refractometer possibly not temperature compensated?>
I'm baffled. I don't see salt creeping out anywhere. No leaks.
<Do you have an auto top-off that could be malfunctioning?>
Granted, there isn't A LOT of evaporation happening, but why would the SG be dropping like this?
<This is strange. It could be your protein skimmer or a top-off issue. Or, it could be the way you're measuring the salinity.>
Any suggestions for what to do or how to correct?
<Until you can figure out the cause, I suppose you'll just have to keep raising the salinity yourself with high salinity water. I'd question your hydrometer or refractometer first. Get a second opinion from another salinity measuring device. You could also try switching from ocean water to mixing your own salt water.>
Thanks -
MP
<De nada,
Sara M.>

Help!! Reef maint.... & Vacations!  – 09/14/07
Hi,
<Howdy>
How come disasters always happens when you are away? Don't answer that.
<Okay>
I live in California and am currently in New York city for 1 week vacation.
I have a 175 gal reef tank and I had my neighbor to check on it daily and supplement the auto feeder with frozen shrimps Phytofeast. Yesterday, they noticed that I have an inch of water on the floor and the pump was pushing air into the main tank.
<!>
We were able to diagnose the problem to my wet/dry where the top filter was clogging causing it to overflow onto the floor.
Anyways, they fixed the leak and replenished the water level in the sump with the 6 gallons of already mixed salt water I had sitting around.
<Thank goodness for planning>
So, they got the circulation back running. But, the top off system was probably dumping RO/DI water into the sum for don't know how long. The SG is now at 1.013 instead of the normal 1.023.
<!!>
I have a total water volume of about 210 gallons. So, my rough calculation of (0.023-0.013)/0.023*210=91.3 says I have to add salt for 91.3 gallons of water. That is 46 cups of salt!
<Mmm, about this, yes>
My question is how quickly should I be adding the salt to bring the SG back to 1.023?
<Depends on how stressed all looks... I'd start raising a .001 per day if all seems fine otherwise>
It will be another 4 days before I get back home. I told my daughter to add in 2 ½ cups of salt to the return chamber of the sump twice a day.
<Mmm, should be okay>
I am wondering if that is too fast or too slow. Should I also add super buffer as well to maintain alkalinity?
<I would leave off with the supplements>
I have hard and soft coral, many anemone and fish. My daughter said the anemone and soft corals were looking pretty sad and shriveled up. My clam seems to be gone. Just the shell and scallop stem is left. After 5 cups of salt, the soft corals are looking a little better the next morning.
Regards,
Sammy
<I do hope you can salvage what's left. Bob Fenner>

Rising salinity   1/17/06
Hi,<Hello Ben>
I have a question about my 75 gallon reef tank.  The salinity keeps rising a lot.  I know that it will rise because of evaporation but the salinity in my tank is rising I think much faster than it should.  Last night I did a water change and it was 1.028 (which is high but I was planning on gradually bringing it down), when I measured it this afternoon it was at 1.030 and barely any water in the tank was gone.  
Do you have any idea what could be causing this and what should I do? <It's impossible for the salinity to rise without adding any salt.  I'm guessing the problem lies in your testing device or how you are using it.  If you are using an Instant Ocean or Coralife you need to be sure no bubbles are sticking to the indicator arm.  This will give you a false high reading.>
Thanks a lot, <You're welcome.  James (Salty Dog)>
Ben

Re: Rising salinity   1/22/06
Thanks for the response. <You're welcome> I bought a refractometer but my salinity is still really high.  could my protein skimmer or something be taking out a lot of water and not salt? <No, we would all have that problem then.> I don't know if that's possible but that's all I can think of.  If you have any ideas that would be great. <Now that you have a refractometer, slowly remove saltwater and replace with fresh at a rate of .001 per day till you achieve the level you want. When mixing saltwater for water changes do not test salinity until the temperature level reaches the level of your display tank. Lets go from there.  James (Salty Dog)>

Salinity problem 10/31/05
I am starting a 55 gallon saltwater tank up. I have not cured the tank yet. My problem is the salinity. One side of the tank reads too high and the other side reads too low. I have four powerheads running at all times. The temp is perfect, the pH is fine. How do I fix the salinity? Oh and I am using a swing arm hydrometer to measure.
<Sounds like you have inadequate water movement. Powerheads are a horrible way to move water in an aquarium, though they are cheap. Please see http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2003/short.htm for some great water movement info>
Any recommendations will do..
<Hope I've been a bit helpful>
New to saltwater tanks
<Definitely read everything applicable on this site, and check out the Advanced Aquarist archives as well. Good luck, and feel free to email us with further questions! M. Maddox> 

Cause of problems within 29gal
Hey Bob,
If you remember my situation, all my fish were dying, but the corals were extremely healthy. I thought it had something to do with the heat, or the large addition of livestock (wrasse, tang, clown, and anemone). I finally found the culprit and it was neither of the above!!!! I am ashamed to say that I missed one of the easiest things in the marine hobby. Remember when I said that the salinity was 1.022-1.023, well it wasn't. After much disgust, I went to the local fish store and took a sample of water for the guy to look at. He tested it for ammonia, nitrate and so on, no problems there, just like my own tests. Well then he looked at the water through a refractometer, and saw that the water was 1.027-1.028. My own hydrometer had become off calibrated and for the past month I have been calculating my salinity completely wrong. I almost passed out from hearing this, notreally but I felt like it. For now on, I will clean the hydrometer more often, get it checked for calibration more often, and maybe look into buying a refractometer (very expensive). A hard lesson to learn for something so simple. Thanks for the help though!!!!!
Patrick
>>
Ahh, a relief to hear of the cause, and solution of your difficulties... High spg is a real problem on several counts... lower dissolved gas, exchange rates, osmotic problems with livestock... A better hydrometer (to check the checker) might be one course for you to take... There are better (good enough) ones of these to be had.
Bob Fenner

Salinity level
Last week on my 55 gal. reef tank, I noticed some corals looked strange. I immediately checked the salinity it was 1.016- I had lost water on two occasions and replaced with the fresh ro/di water that I keep on hand (no salt added yet) since one of the water loses was at 3 am and the other water loss was before 6 am when I got up I didn't think of the salt. I think that the salinity was low for 2-4 days max. I have lost a sea cucumber, blood shrimp, and all corals look very stressed. It has been a week since I raised the salinity back to normal. Will most corals recover or should I expect the worst. Anything else that I can do to Help them recover. Thanks 
Art. Griffin
>>
Hopefully some, all the surviving livestock will make a speedy recovery... For others edification, you should almost always limit raising, lowering spg to one or two at most thousandths per day in a reef system.
Bob Fenner, who says, keep an eye on your water quality in the meanwhile... if it were me I'd install a unit of activated carbon or a pad of Polyfilter in your filter flow path.

Harmful SG Change?
Hi Bob,
I have a 29 gallon reef with 55 lbs of Fiji reef live rock and 20 lbs of live sand. The tank has an Eheim 2213, CPR BakPak 2R, ZooMed PowerSweep 228, and AquaClear 201 running on it. I have a Mandarin, Watchman's Goby, Pistol Shrimp, Feather Dusters, Green Star Polyps, Bubble Coral, and Yellow Scroll Corals in there now. Soon to arrive will be 4 Banggai/Banner Cardinals, 4 Peppermint Shrimp, and 4 Camel Shrimp.
<Mmm, sounds like a nice set-up... but I would not place any but one of the cardinals and a couple of the shrimp in this size system>
So my question is: how big of a specific gravity change is harmful/deadly to inverts like shrimps? Let's say... in a 12 or 24 hour time period.
<In good shape, about 0.001, one thousandth a unit (g/cm3) can be tolerated in the upper teens to near seawater (1.025) range in a day or so... Please read: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/spgfaqs.htm>
I've been bad, and my SG has ranged from 1.020 to 1.024. I'm trying to get into the habit of 1.025 from now on. Nothing has died yet, however; usually, the swings occur when I add DI fresh water to top off once or twice a week. 
<If there is this much evaporation, I would mark the water level on the tank and top off daily>
The instructions for my DI unit said this was okay, and the SG would remain stable. However, I guess this is not true, and now I am premixing all water that goes into the tank.
<Good idea>
Secondly, would Feather Dusters do better in a bright, high flow area, or better anchored on the bottom in a slower flowing "cave"-type area with live rock overhanging? 
<Depends on the species. Many are virtually dredged up from mucky under-the-dock areas... Other species are collected in clean, shallow reef areas. See our site (www.WetWebMedia.com) re these worms>
I'm reading Tullock's book (But we carry yours at the store I work at, too! Do you have a suggested retail price for your book?) and he has a section on Worm Rock.
<Mmm, maybe M/TFH have suggested retails... In the years of working with Microcosm we purposely set the suggested price points low and narrow at all levels of distribution to make our printed works affordable and re-sellable by independents ("Mom and Pop" stores). Think folks are still selling the paper-bound for about thirty US and the hardbound for ten, fifteen dollars more. Bob Fenner>
Thanks,
Ben

Specific Gravity
Hello Mr. Fenner;
<You actually reached Steven Pro. Anthony Calfo and I are helping out for the time being.>
I have a silly question, and hope this is not a bother.
<An unasked, unanswered question is silly.>
I am a fairly new to the salt water trade, (6 months). I have read through the FAQ's on the WetWeb and could not find the answer. I also have read through your book. Both talk about raising and lowering SG, but does not tell exactly how to complete this task. My box Hydrometer broke, I bought a new one. I believe it is the six inch Hydrometer, suppose to keep your hands dry, any way I tested my SG this weekend and it was at 1.019. I need to raise the SG back up to 1.023 to 1.024. Can you please tell me how to accomplish this? Thank you for your time. Both your site and book has helped me immensely.
<The easiest way to accomplish this is over the course of several water changes. Mix up some water to approximately 1.025 and do several small (~10%) water changes over the course of a week or longer. -Steven Pro>
Sincerely,
Lori

Emergency In The Reef Tank...
Hello,  And thanks for taking my question.
<That's why we're here! Scott F. at the helm tonight>
A few days ago, after doing my normal weekly 10% water change I had a problem with salinity (.030) in my reef aquarium due to a faulty Hydrometer.
<Yikes...been there before!>
My salinity is now down to .023, where it should be?
<Personally, I shoot for 1.025, but 1.021- 1.026 is acceptable>
But my tank has taken a turn for the worse. I had to replace about 7 gallons of saltwater with fresh over 3 days. My water is now very cloudy and my fish appear to be struggling for oxygen. My PH level is low (7.6) but I'm using additives daily to correct that. Will this cloudiness eventually go away? Or did I replace too much water for my bio filter to handle?
<Depends on the size of your tank...If you did damage your biofilter, you would want to avoid and more large water changes for a while, unless ammonia and/or nitrite levels are registering>
Will I lose any livestock through this process?
<Well, it depends on the levels of ammonia and nitrite, if present. Just take careful corrective actions as needed...nothing too radical. You could utilize chemical filtration media, such as activated carbon and/or PolyFilter, both of which excel at removing organics and potentially toxic substances from the water>
Do you recommend using bacteria (Nitromax, cycle) in my case?
<Well, if you're getting ammonia readings- it couldn't hurt to "re-energize" your system with some additional bacteria...Be decisive, but be level-headed, when taking corrective measures...Hopefully, things will work out okay with your tank! Good luck! Scott F>
Charles Tizano

Thank God for your service (salinity rise) 1/20/03
I was wondering.....
I had a spike in my salinity, for about a week, I was away and did not perform proper maintenance.  My salinity spiked to 1.027 in my reef and fish tank.  I was keeping it around 1.02 - 1.022
<I suspect that the drop back to 1.020-1.022 was more harmful than the "spike".  While you were away, the SG slowly rose due to evaporation.  When you lowered it, I suspect you did so fairly quickly.  Also, Natural Sea water is 1.025, and lower SG is more stressful on  corals than higher SG.  I always recommend 1.025 for a reef tank.>
It seems that my Wes. Brain coral lost about a dime amount of tissue. Do you think it will grow back, hoping that is does not get a infection?  Thanks!<Probably not an infection, just a reaction to the stress of the salinity changes.  The tissue may take a very long time to recover or may be permanent, but the coral should be fine.  Also, just for accuracy sake, All corals known as Wellsophyllia and Trachyphyllia are all now considered Trachyphyllia.  HTH.  Adam>