Salinity

[cn246378]

Hi I was wondering if someone can help me. My salinity has been going up as of late and I can't figure out why my ato has been working fine and topping off in my sump. But for some reason it keeps rising and pretty fast. In the last couple days it went from 34 to 39 then I managed to bring it down change the water with ro water down to 37 but not it is going up again. It is back up to 38. I'm getting info from my neptune apex. But I also used my refractometer that shows the same. First picture shows from before water change and drop from after. Second is from refractometerafter water change. Last is update from now

 

[KStatefan]

Topping off with RODI?

 

[wearlesiii]

Hi I was wondering if someone can help me. My salinity has been going up as of late and I can't figure out why my ato has been working fine and topping off in my sump. But for some reason it keeps rising and pretty fast. In the last couple days it went from 34 to 39 then I managed to bring it down change the water with ro water down to 37 but not it is going up again. It is back up to 38. I'm getting info from my neptune apex. But I also used my refractometer that shows the same. First picture shows from before water change and drop from after. Second is from refractometerafter water change. Last is update from now

How big is your tank? I wouldn’t go by the apex for getting it right. I would start by calibrating your refractometer with a calibration solution to see if it’s truly what you think it is.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi I was wondering if someone can help me. My salinity has been going up as of late and I can't figure out why my ato has been working fine and topping off in my sump. But for some reason it keeps rising and pretty fast. In the last couple days it went from 34 to 39 then I managed to bring it down change the water with ro water down to 37 but not it is going up again. It is back up to 38. I'm getting info from my neptune apex. But I also used my refractometer that shows the same. First picture shows from before water change and drop from after. Second is from refractometerafter water change. Last is update from now

I would not rely on Apex reading as it is often off as in my case.
On the refractometer, try calibrating and checking again or take it to a trusted LFS and compare with theirs in one of their tanks to verify your numbers are true.
If not, see if they can calibrate for you.

 

[cn246378]

Topping off with RODI?

Yes I made sure 0 tds rodi water.

 

[cn246378]

I use it usually just for swings and don't take the reading as always right so when it swings I usually test with something else. This time being my refractometer. And I calibrated it right before using it with the 35 solution. When I get home from work I will test again with refractometer. For now it just seems to keep going up and idk why only thing that has changed has been adding some fish last week

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Are you dosing anything?

 

[Sean Clark]

Two part dosing will rase your salinity but usually has a minimal effect. I would check calibration on both your refractometer and your salinity probe prior to reacting to the readings.

 

[cn246378]

Yea I am dosing brs pharma but isn't that like small change over long time. This is being raised each day by alot.

Two part dosing will rase your salinity but usually has a minimal effect. I would check calibration on both your refractometer and your salinity probe prior to reacting to the readings.

I did check the calibration. I used the solution that is 35ppt. And it was correct.
I just dont know what it can be to be raising salinity that fast. Unless I was incorrect and 2 part does that then I need to redo how I'm going to dose.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

It might sound /new but I read a post about you only need to top up with rodi water as salt does not evaporate in auto top ups, I could be wrong and unsure about hardware

 

[cn246378]

It might sound /new but I read a post about you only need to top up with rodi water as salt does not evaporate in auto top ups, I could be wrong and unsure about hardware

Yea, I have the atk from neptune apex to top off and have rodi water in a 20 gallon trash bin.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Yea, I have the atk from neptune apex to top off and have rodi water in a 20 gallon trash bin.

Ok ?

 

[cn246378]

Ok ?

Sorry. I mean I have an ato

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Salinity cannot change on its own.
If the ato is keeping the water level accurately (have you checked that?) then the salinity jump is test error.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Ato is 'auto top off'
Yes unfortunately I can only offer a smiley face

 

[killer2001]

Whenever I see big spikes like that for me, its always air bubbles or some debris on the sensor. You need to re-calibrate your probe with TC (temperature control). I have mine currently set to a TC Factor of 2.1 and it seems to be keeping my probe relatively accurate. I'll verify every few days with my digital refractometer.

 

[cn246378]

Salinity cannot change on its own.
If the ato is keeping the water level accurately (have you checked that?) then the salinity jump is test error.

It has been keeping it level as far as I can see. I'll double check on test again when I get home.

 

[homer1475]

If your ATO is working, and topping off with fresh water, and your not leaking water anywhere(would lower salinity as your ATO kept trying to fill), it's absolutely impossible for salinity to raise on it's own.

 

[cn246378]

So update I did another change of water with rodi and brought it down to 35ppt. refractometer checked and seems fine so far over night with no changes and I cleaned my probes. They were covered with algae on them(started to show 43ppt on apex.) and they seemed to have stop the rise so far ill check again after work. I don't know if that could of caused anything but I haven't seen it raise yet actually saw it go down some which I can see why because of the waterchange maybe not fully mixed yet

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

So update I did another change of water with rodi and brought it down to 35ppt. refractometer checked and seems fine so far over night with no changes and I cleaned my probes. They were covered with algae on them(started to show 43ppt on apex.) and they seemed to have stop the rise so far ill check again after work. I don't know if that could of caused anything but I haven't seen it raise yet actually saw it go down some which I can see why because of the waterchange maybe not fully mixed yet

Equipment that's not maintained is worse than no equipment at all...