Salinity low?

[Kapachuka3]

Just tested my water salinity and it was at about 1.021 to .022 is that sufficient for my urchin and coral, if not how would I raise it?

 

[Kapachuka3]

Just tested my water salinity and it was at about 1.021 to .022 is that sufficient for my urchin and coral, if not how would I raise it?

I’m wondering this cause my pincushion urchin hasn’t move since last night when we bought him.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would replace evaporated water with salt water until you get to a specific gravity of 1.026.

There is no rush. It will take about a week.

 

[Kapachuka3]

I would replace evaporated water with salt water until you get to a specific gravity of 1.026.

There is no rush. It will take about a week.

Anyway I could do that with just salt? No water?

 

[CanuckReefer]

I’m wondering this cause my pincushion urchin hasn’t move since last night when we bought him.

Are the spikes, on the urchin falling off in any way (meaning a bunch of them), may be slowly adjusting to your parameters. Also once you see the tiny little suckers protruding in between the spikes this should mean it's acclimating well and starting to search food.

 

[CanuckReefer]

Anyway I could do that with just salt? No water?

Unadvised to do so. Needs to be properly mixed beforehand.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Anyway I could do that with just salt? No water?

Why would you want to? It takes you up in salinity at an appropriate rate. it is not better to jump up faster.

 

[Azedenkae]

Anyway I could do that with just salt? No water?

You can, but it is just a lot harder. You have to either add the salt in your filter or in your display, and adding in the display may not be a great idea given that you can really annoy critters where the salt is added due to a sudden increase in salinity there.

I have a NuvoAquarium 20 where the last chamber is pretty much empty except for the return pump, so I have added salt in there directly because I am lazy.

However, I agree with everyone else that it is not really recommended. 1.021 to 1.022 is not super bad in the short term, so it is not like it is an emergency you gotta deal with right now. Can just take your time to deal with it.

 

[Sprinting]

Mixing salt is actually a exothermic reaction (creates heat). I'm sure that theres also a lot of other chemical reactions going on too besides the heat production. There's a reason why most mixes say to wait a certain amount of time before adding to the tank.

How big is your tank though?

 

[Kapachuka3]

Mixing salt is actually a exothermic reaction (creates heat). I'm sure that theres also a lot of other chemical reactions going on too besides the heat production. There's a reason why most mixes say to wait a certain amount of time before adding to the tank.

How big is your tank though?

32.5 gallon

 

[Kapachuka3]

You can, but it is just a lot harder. You have to either add the salt in your filter or in your display, and adding in the display may not be a great idea given that you can really annoy critters where the salt is added due to a sudden increase in salinity there.

I have a NuvoAquarium 20 where the last chamber is pretty much empty except for the return pump, so I have added salt in there directly because I am lazy.

However, I agree with everyone else that it is not really recommended. 1.021 to 1.022 is not super bad in the short term, so it is not like it is an emergency you gotta deal with right now. Can just take your time to deal with it.

Would I be good just leaving it alone and it will solve itself?

 

[Kapachuka3]

Are the spikes, on the urchin falling off in any way (meaning a bunch of them), may be slowly adjusting to your parameters. Also once you see the tiny little suckers protruding in between the spikes this should mean it's acclimating well and starting to search food.

He seems to be doing fine actually, I was just curious if the salinity would hurt him in anyway

 

[Azedenkae]

Would I be good just leaving it alone and it will solve itself?

I keep my aquarium at 1.021 to 1.022, but I can't yet suggest that for anyone else. It is just something I happened upon and decided to keep it as is.

Bringing it up to at least 1.025 is probably what should be advised. So yeah, in my opinion just slowly bring up your salinity each time you top up, until you reach 1.025 or whatever the desirable salinity is.

 

[Sprinting]

I think that's the consensus of the above advice. As an invertebrate, the urchin would probably also really not like a quick correction. Using se regular saltwater instead of rodi until it goes back to target salinity would probably only take a few days in your size tank.

 

[Kapachuka3]

I think that's the consensus of the above advice. As an invertebrate, the urchin would probably also really not like a quick correction. Using se regular saltwater instead of rodi until it goes back to target salinity would probably only take a few days in your size tank.

But I don’t really ever top off my tank with freshwater cause it never seems to evaporate.

 

[Kapachuka3]

But I don’t really ever top off my tank with freshwater cause it never seems to evaporate.

But thank you

 

[Sprinting]

If that's the case, mix some water at a higher salinity and just give it time to settle and not be cloudy at the very least. Then slowly take out some tank water add a few cups of the high salinity mix a couple times per day or every few hours.

I've done this plenty of times in a innovativearine 25 when the ato failed and never really had issues.

 

[CanuckReefer]

But I don’t really ever top off my tank with freshwater cause it never seems to evaporate.

This seems odd.... no evaporation? Open or closed top you should see something I would think?

 

[Dunc]

Stating which salinity value is best is about as controversial as asking which reef tank lights are best. My LFS, which is really more of a coral store swears by 1.024

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

Stating which salinity value is best is about as controversial as asking which reef tank lights are best. My LFS, which is really more of a coral store swears by 1.024

You win the internet today. I've had tanks run low 1.02) and I actually have one right now sitting at 1.03. Just don't "correct" to fast.