About a week and a half ago I set up my new 65 gallon tank and mixed the salt in the tank because my live rock isn't so alive anymore and it wouldn't cause any issues since there are no animals in there and wouldn't be for a few months until the rock came back to life. I added a bottle of bio-spira to maybe jump start bacteria growth a week ago. My issue i'm having is my salinity is all over the place, keeps jumping up and down. when I first started it, it was at 1.031 which is no biggie I took some out and replaced it with RO water (about 5 gallons.) No change after letting it mix for half a day, so I did it again and once again no change. Then yesterday when I got home from a short trip it was reading at 1.026, I figured it just needed a lot of time to mix. Well today its back at reading 1.029, despite the fact that my auto top off isn't working right and just dumps RO water into the tank whenever it feels like it (I had to shut it off or my tank was gonna overflow. My ph is 8, nitrite is 3ppm, nitrate is 40ppm, and ammonia is 0, its been fluctuating a little here and there but it's cycling that's gonna happen. I just can't figure out the salinity thing. I know my refractometer is working, I've calibrated it at least half a dozen times now and I even took it to the LFS and cross checked with their very expensive very accurate one and everything was good. The only thing I can think of is the salt got stuck in the rocks and is dissolving and releasing very slowly, but I've put my hand in the tank and fanned the hell out of the rocks daily to get whatever I couldn't scrub off before putting it into the tank.
Salinity jumping all over the place!
- Thread starter Matt27
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Jvesche20
Valuable Member
I have no experience with the salt getting stuck in the rock. I would think it would dissolve when water is added but salinity goes up when water evaporates and goes back down when you top it off. It’s going to be hard to keep exactly at one amount. ATO of course will help keep it in check but how much water is being evaporated before you fill it with some top off water? When the water evaporates it leaves the salt in the tank causing the salinity to increase
It can't be evaporation, my water level has only gone up due to the ATO pumping water in whenever it feels like it. I had to turn my ATO off because my tank is at the rim due to the ATO not stopping and kept pumping in RO water, which should have lowered my salinity but instead it's gone back up. I understand the whole evaporation salinity going up thing, I've battled that issue in my 10 gallon since day one a year ago but that's not the issue.
2 things
Either a testing error or salt is coming from somewhere.
I would think after a week most of the salt would be dissolved.
Some could have been clumped somewhere I guess
Either a testing error or salt is coming from somewhere.
I would think after a week most of the salt would be dissolved.
Some could have been clumped somewhere I guess
Nasir
Active Member
You need to get an ATO to manage your salinity. You can use an old tank or a five gallon bucket. Depending on your evaporation rate will depend on how much you will need to fill the bucket with RO water. I have a 110 and use a five gallon bucket and I fill the bucket every six to seven days.
FragileReefer
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Last time you calibrated your refractometer? 10 years seems like a while to stay spot on. I dont even trust my friends that much and ive known them longer!
I have an ATO but it doesn't work right, the level in my tank fluctuates too much for a reason I can't figure out.
I've calibrated it at least a dozen times over the last week.
