High salinity issues?

dave171 · May 5, 2015

So what I want to know is of my salinity gets a little high due to evaporation and I don't get to top off for a few days is that bad? will fish die or corals die or how long would it take to to cause a huge affect? Thanks

Aqua fire/medic · May 5, 2015

How high are we talking?

dave171 · May 5, 2015

Haven't tested let's say like 1.0030 at the highest

Tahoe61 · May 5, 2015

The swings in SG is bad for your corals as well as fish. If for some reason you're unable to top off daily then invest in an automated top off system.

dave171 · May 5, 2015

Yea if I had the money I would buy auto top off but can't spend 150$plus so I will just start trying to always have ro water ready and available from now on.

chefjpaul · May 6, 2015

You can get an ato for around 40-50$.
Look in local forum , r2r sales, or ebay for used one.

The jbj are reliable and cheep.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 6, 2015

I'm sure the concerns vary considerably depending on what organisms you are keeping, but I'd try to smooth out the salinity by topping off at least daily.

4FordFamily · May 6, 2015

I just add salt once per month (and test salinity in my tanks once per month) and actually find that my tanks LOSE salt (skimmers remove same proportion of salt and water in the skimmate) and as you add fresh to combat evaporation, it slowly creeps down.

Not sure how it's increasing significantly? I'm sure it swings a hair in my systems between 5 gallon RO top offs but nothing substantial. Never been an issue.

bobstir · May 6, 2015

fwiw, you don't even need to buy an actual ATO. Simply buy a timer, and an aqualifter. Set timer to amount of time it takes the aqualifter to add the amount of water you need. There are digital timers with as low as 1 minute granularity if the mechanical ones (e.g. 15 minute intervals) is too high for you.

Including the airline tubing, you're probably looking at something like $30.