Can I keep my salinity at 1.028?

[Miami Reef]

Here’s my parameters



Salinity: 1.028

Temperature: 76.7

Ammonia: 0ppm

Nitrate: 10ppm

PH: 8.2

Alkalinity: 8

Calcium: 450ppm

Magnesium: 1350ppm

Is it alright that I keep the salinity at the same level I receive it from the ocean?

any health risks of this salinity on soft corals and lps?

 

[Suohhen]

You can but why, the ocean's salinity is not that but if you receive coral at that level it isn't the ocean but rather the supplier or your testing. Salinity is one of those things that should be kept at either 1.025 or 26 in a reef tank unless you need to acclimate something that isn't at that salinity but that is what a quarantine or frag tank is better suited for. But yeah as I said first make sure your testing is correct and go from there. I find it doubtful that any suppliers are consistantly delivering coral at high salinity, low is more common.

 

[mdb_talon]

Yes it should be fine. I would make sure you are always checking though. The salinity can change considerably(based off weather mostly). Near the shoreline is more variable than other areas.

 

[KrisReef]

Do you use RODI for topping off the evaporation out of your tank?

 

[Miami Reef]

Do you use RODI for topping off the evaporation out of your tank?

Yes

 

[ClearRain]

I think it really depends on what you keep. Some fish prefer high salinity (i.e. Red Sea). Found some stuff prefers it lower. I had no problem running my 54 corner at 1.028, and I know a lot of coral growers keep their tanks around that.

 

[mdb_talon]

You can but why, the ocean's salinity is not that but if you receive coral at that level it isn't the ocean but rather the supplier or your testing. Salinity is one of those things that should be kept at either 1.025 or 26 in a reef tank unless you need to acclimate something that isn't at that salinity but that is what a quarantine or frag tank is better suited for. But yeah as I said first make sure your testing is correct and go from there. I find it doubtful that any suppliers are consistantly delivering coral at high salinity, low is more common.

The ocean salinity can vary significantly. There is actually a theory that parts of the red sea reefs are handling temperature changes better than other areas due to higher salinity rates in the red sea.

In any case though 1.028 is just fine. I ran at 1.028 for many years and the only reason i now run slightly lower is as a buffer in case my refractometer is off so i went more of a middle ground.

 

[Miami Reef]

Last month my salinity was 1.026. I only started testing salinity during this new build, and if I ever need to adjust the salinity, it would have to be after the water change where the corals and inverts were already exposed to the higher salinity.

because there’s no way to predict ocean salinity without getting the water in the tank first.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

No

 

[Suohhen]

The ocean salinity can vary significantly. There is actually a theory that parts of the red sea reefs are handling temperature changes better than other areas due to higher salinity rates in the red sea.

In any case though 1.028 is just fine. I ran at 1.028 for many years and the only reason i now run slightly lower is as a buffer in case my refractometer is off so i went more of a middle ground.

That is why it is called the Red Sea. And I said it is okay but it is close to what most people wouldn't be so comfortable with. If someone wishes to intentionally keep it there, fine. But there is a reason why it is the only parameter in which there is almost 0 variance amongst the recommendations, and it is that it is simply too easy to stray or be off by a bit from testing and being near the limits present danger so tread at your own risk.

 

[ClearRain]

The ocean salinity can vary significantly. There is actually a theory that parts of the red sea reefs are handling temperature changes better than other areas due to higher salinity rates in the red sea.

In any case though 1.028 is just fine. I ran at 1.028 for many years and the only reason i now run slightly lower is as a buffer in case my refractometer is off so i went more of a middle ground.

I almost posted that the Red Sea averages above 1.028 myself!

 

[mdb_talon]

That is why it is called the Red Sea. And I said it is okay but it is close to what most people wouldn't be so comfortable with. If someone wishes to intentionally keep it there, fine. But there is a reason why it is the only parameter in which there is almost 0 variance amongst the recommendations, and it is that it is simply too easy to stray or be off by a bit from testing and being near the limits present danger so tread at your own risk.

Lol there is a lot of variability where people keep salinity. FYI i pointed out the red sea precisely because it has a lot of reefs...with coral. If his NSW comes in at 1.028 thats not an issue.

 

[Suohhen]

Lol there is a lot of variability where people keep salinity. FYI i pointed out the red sea precisely because it has a lot of reefs...with coral. If his NSW comes in at 1.028 thats not an issue.

The Red Sea is a natural place, it does not need to measure it's salinity or top itself off. Which is why I said it is okay, but not recommended.

 

[fachatga]

Are your corals from the Red Sea? The salinity there won’t really matter if that’s not what’s in your tank and it didn’t come to you straight from there. It’s probably best not to change it from whoever was growing the colony and frag since that’s what it was used to. And there almost uniformly 1.025-6. Regardless of what the Red Sea is.

 

[Conrad Noto]

Here’s my parameters



Salinity: 1.028

Temperature: 76.7

Ammonia: 0ppm

Nitrate: 10ppm

PH: 8.2

Alkalinity: 8

Calcium: 450ppm

Magnesium: 1350ppm

Is it alright that I keep the salinity at the same level I receive it from the ocean?

any health risks of this salinity on soft corals and lps?

I would ok if your tank is on lower temp end. You get less oxygenation with higher salinity. If your tank gets hot could be a problem.

 

[Conrad Noto]

You can but why, the ocean's salinity is not that but if you receive coral at that level it isn't the ocean but rather the supplier or your testing. Salinity is one of those things that should be kept at either 1.025 or 26 in a reef tank unless you need to acclimate something that isn't at that salinity but that is what a quarantine or frag tank is better suited for. But yeah as I said first make sure your testing is correct and go from there. I find it doubtful that any suppliers are consistantly delivering coral at high salinity, low is more common.

I've tested water in Palm Beach and has been as high that few times.

 

[ggNoRe]

I think it's worth pointing out that the typical 15$ Amazon refractometers most of us use do not account for the difference in temperature between our tanks and open air environments we test in. For example I keep my house around 72F and my tank at 78F. So when I test my salinity at 72F it test around 1.026 but when tested with an ICP or it tested in a room around 78F it will test at 1.024.

So with this in mind there is a good chance even if you are testing 1.028 your water may vary well be closer to 1.026/1.027.

I heard about this in a Reefbum YouTube video and confirmed with ICP test on my water.

 

[fachatga]

I love that we’re all obsessed with salinity and a certain number we like but barely anybody is accounting for temperature and therefore isn’t where they think they are. Me included lol.

 

[Miami Reef]

What happens if we calibrated the refractometer with the liquid which was floated in the aquarium for 20 minutes? Then we can calibrate it with that temperature?

another option is to just wait 30 seconds for water to become room temp

I just had a water change and calibrated my refractometer for the first time. It came out to 1.026. I’m happy.