Low salinity in new nano

mannyh · May 30, 2022

I’m brand new to saltwater so I decided to get a EVO 13.5 gal to start off. I bought water from my local aquarium store… I set everything up with the sand and rock I bought all the essential I thought I would need expect (protein skimmer) but it’s been 2 days and 1.023 PPT and i was told it should be around 1.026. I’m a little confused on wether I should let some water evaporate change the water and add some more salt water or if there’s something else I can do…. Any help would be much appreciated

T_BONE · May 31, 2022

If it is brand new and has not completed the cycle then I would just leave it. You can gradually increase over the next water changes and get it to the desired PPT depending on your setup. JUST MY $.02. Hope this helps.
Happy Reefing.

The Farmer · May 31, 2022

When you pick up saltwater from your lfs test the salinity. Sometimes they mix it to low salinity

gbroadbridge · May 31, 2022

mannyh said:
I’m brand new to saltwater so I decided to get a EVO 13.5 gal to start off. I bought water from my local aquarium store… I set everything up with the sand and rock I bought all the essential I thought I would need expect (protein skimmer) but it’s been 2 days and 1.023 PPT and i was told it should be around 1.026. I’m a little confused on wether I should let some water evaporate change the water and add some more salt water or if there’s something else I can do…. Any help would be much appreciated

I think you mean 1.023 specific gravity (s.g) which is equivalent to 35psu.

1.023 is fine for a fish only tank. If you're planning on having coral you will want to slowly increase to 1.026 by the time you add coral.

If you've just set up the tank, you have about a month for the tank to complete cycling before you add fish or coral, so there is no rush.

Floyd- · May 31, 2022

Either do water changes to get it up or you can also top off the tank with 1.026 salt water instead of RODI water and it will go up also. Just monitor it.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 31, 2022

gbroadbridge said:
I think you mean 1.023 specific gravity (s.g) which is equivalent to 35psu.

1.023 is fine for a fish only tank. If you're planning on having coral you will want to slowly increase to 1.026 by the time you add coral.

If you've just set up the tank, you have about a month for the tank to complete cycling before you add fish or coral, so there is no rush.

Sg = 1.023 Corresponds to about 30.5 ppt/psu, not 35 ppt/psu.