Salinity going up by itself too fast

[Makubex]

i have a 125 fowlr and salinity is rising too fast where i have to remove water and fill it with fw how do i fix this? I just added a glass canopy, could it be the skimmers not working properly? Turned them off for two days because just a little bit amount of bubbles would appear, one of them was used upstairs and worked perfect they are two hob octopus each for 125 gallons, there was this time a week ago where i added 5 gallons of fw and the salinity ROSE from 1.026 to 1.032!!! What could it be? I tested salinity after 5 mins the freshwater went in, I used both a refractometer and several hydrometers... maybe had to wait at least 30'? Please help i dont want my fishes to get sick... im using crushed coral and dry rock from someone else

 

[Makubex]

I remember one of the filters i added before the 5 gallons of fresh water were dumped, was super dirty with dry green hair algae, only had a sponge in it, used it without cleaning it

 

[jdpiii3]

How are you topping off your evaporated water? When water evaporates the salinity in your tank will go up.

Also when was the last time you calibrated your refractometer?

 

[steven325]

Do you have an auto top off? When your tank water evaporates the salt doesn’t. This will cause your salinity to rise.

 

[Rmckoy]

i have a 125 fowlr and salinity is rising too fast where i have to remove water and fill it with fw how do i fix this? I just added a glass canopy, could it be the skimmers not working properly? Turned them off for two days because just a little bit amount of bubbles would appear, one of them was used upstairs and worked perfect they are two hob octopus each for 125 gallons, there was this time a week ago where i added 5 gallons of fw and the salinity ROSE from 1.026 to 1.032!!! What could it be? I tested salinity after 5 mins the freshwater went in, I used both a refractometer and several hydrometers... maybe had to wait at least 30'? Please help i dont want my fishes to get sick... im using crushed coral and dry rock from someone else

That’s weird to see salinity rise when adding freshwater .
unless the freshwater is in fact salt water .

the skimmer working will have no impact on salinity rising . If at all while it skims drawing more water out would cause the ato to run lowering the salinity .

I’m going to suggest testing error

 

[Makubex]

I use fresh water to top it off... i have 2 refractometers that work perfect, i also had 6 hydrometers all gave me the same reading.

 

[Makubex]

I use buckets not an ato system

 

[vetteguy53081]

i have a 125 fowlr and salinity is rising too fast where i have to remove water and fill it with fw how do i fix this? I just added a glass canopy, could it be the skimmers not working properly? Turned them off for two days because just a little bit amount of bubbles would appear, one of them was used upstairs and worked perfect they are two hob octopus each for 125 gallons, there was this time a week ago where i added 5 gallons of fw and the salinity ROSE from 1.026 to 1.032!!! What could it be? I tested salinity after 5 mins the freshwater went in, I used both a refractometer and several hydrometers... maybe had to wait at least 30'? Please help i dont want my fishes to get sick... im using crushed coral and dry rock from someone else

Assure tester calibrated but tanks evaporate quicker this time of the year and likely causing rise in salt readings

 

[Rmckoy]

Assure tester calibrated but tanks evaporate quicker this time of the year and likely causing rise in salt readings

For a 125 gal
That’s a lot of water to evaporate causing salinity to rise to 1.030

 

[Makubex]

My temp is always around 74

 

[steven325]

I use buckets not an ato system

How often are you topping up if you miss a day or too that will increase your salinity. do you have some sort of water line or sharpie mark that your consistently topping up to? If you go over that mark again your water will evaporate an leave the salt behind all the while your thinking my water level is still at the line?

 

[Rmckoy]

How often are you topping up if you miss a day or too that will increase your salinity. do you have some sort of water line or sharpie mark that your consistently topping up to? If you go over that mark again your water will evaporate an leave the salt behind all the while your thinking my water level is still at the line?

Evaporation seams like one culprit but I want to reflect on my 230 gal .

I lose roughly 6gal per week evaporation per week .
Even if I don’t fill the ato and let the sump run low my salinity doesn’t jump this high .
Something is off …

either the freshwater has traces of salt or some other mineral .
the water container has salt residue which dissolves when filled with water . Or what is supposed to be fw is actually lower salinity salt water .

the only way salinity can rise that high is to take the water out though evaporation or to add salt in one way or another .

 

[jdpiii3]

Do you check the salinity at the same time every day? I do get swings as the day go's by.

 

[Makubex]

Evaporation seams like one culprit but I want to reflect on my 230 gal .

I lose roughly 6gal per week evaporation per week .
Even if I don’t fill the ato and let the sump run low my salinity doesn’t jump this high .
Something is off …

either the freshwater has traces of salt or some other mineral .
the water container has salt residue which dissolves when filled with water . Or what is supposed to be fw is actually lower salinity salt water .

the only way salinity can rise that high is to take the water out though evaporation or to add salt in one way or another .

Yes maybe the tub water has some type of salinity or weird mineral but ive been using it since months ago and only now it made it RISE! Will test this out tomorrow on my other 75 sw tank... i got rodi system though, just not using it

 

[jdpiii3]

Evaporation seams like one culprit but I want to reflect on my 230 gal .

I lose roughly 6gal per week evaporation per week .
Even if I don’t fill the ato and let the sump run low my salinity doesn’t jump this high .
Something is off …

either the freshwater has traces of salt or some other mineral .
the water container has salt residue which dissolves when filled with water . Or what is supposed to be fw is actually lower salinity salt water .

the only way salinity can rise that high is to take the water out though evaporation or to add salt in one way or another .

Only 6 gallons a week? what's your secret? My 400 is close to 7 gallons a day.

 

[AydenLincoln]

An automatic top off will fix this and is an absolute must especially for a large tank or places where it’s humid. So much water evaporates daily and an ATO fixes it for you often topping it often multiple times a day so you can maintain a stable salinity and stop guessing. I recommend a tunze with a large bucket or reservoir attached or an RODI unit. A mesh lid would certainly help too I’d remove the glass lid as it blocks light, traps heat, and salt creep.

 

[chris k.]

I would check the makeup water to ensure it is in fact freshwater.

 

[vetteguy53081]

For a 125 gal
That’s a lot of water to evaporate causing salinity to rise to 1.030

Had it happen twice. I run at 1.025 and it jumped in days to 1.0294

 

[Makubex]

I would check the makeup water to ensure it is in fact freshwater.

Lol it is, hopefully rodi system fixes this, i remember two years ago the water contained ammonia in it!! It made my ammonia spike a little bit, i live in fairfax va, one of the safest cities in the us

 

[Makubex]

Had it happen twice. I run at 1.025 and it jumped in days to 1.02

Did u find out why?