Maintain/increase salinity

[Makalas]

Hi everyone

I have simple question which might be very simple to answer but i want to get it right as this is my first salt water tank.

I recently finished cycling tank and turned in skimmer and it got me thinking. Over time salinity will drop as skimmer will extract salt water to waste cup. I know it might be very slow but i am in process if dialling in skimmer so foam is on wet side and tank being small affects salinity already. It dropped from 35ppt to 34ppt

my question is: what is the best way to correct or maintain salinity in the future as i want my parameters be as stable as possible.

should i drop in some salt little by little into tank or there are different methods?

i know everyone might suggest water change but should i be changing water every week if at the moment i have 2 clowns and nothing else in the tank.

my whole water volume including sump is around 160liter

 

[T-J]

You can run you skimmer to be a bit more on the dry side.
Never drop salt directly into your tank. If you want, you can turn off your ATO for a bit, then top the tank off with saltwater to bring it back to 35.

 

[Voodoo288]

So I've got a 2 month old tank with 2 clowns and a small clean up crew. I would also like to know how to up the salinity as I'd like to hit about 1.026sg. I'm currently sitting around 1.024 and on my next water change was wondering if I replaced about 20% of the water with new water at 1.027 would that raise the overall salinity and would that be the way to go about it?

 

[mdb_talon]

Unless you are doing an extremely very wet skim it is hard to imagine a skimmer significantly impacting salinity. Assuming you are topping off frequently with freshwater (or using an ATO with freshwater) your salinity should stay consistent. There are a couple exceptions (like when you have to dose a ridiculous amount of 2-part it can actually creep up... but not a concern for 99% of people and certainly not when new).

As far as adjusting salinity in my opinion it is best to do as part of a water change either using a slightly higher/lower salinity makeup water depending on if you want to increase/lower salinity. As T-J said never pour salt directly into an aquarium.

 

[Makalas]

Thank you all

raising salinity bu one point should i worry about fish or they would not care about quick change in bater gravity by so little like 34 to 35ppt

 

[mdb_talon]

The slower the better, but cant imagine a 1 pt salinity change is going to cause any issues.