SG is wayyyy too high

[Jakemac]

Hello everyone,

Another silly newbie question that i think i know the answer to, but i wanna do it right.

When i first filled my tank i filled it with salt and let it mix for about 24hrs then put my live rock in (went to the store and bought it then put it it on the same day)
I followed the measurements for about 1/2 cup of salt mix per gallon and my SG is like 1.035 after 3 weeks! Im new to salt so idk how to drop it. 10% water change im guessing but i dont want to screw anything else up.

Ammonia is zero
nitrates are zero
nitrates are >10ppm
PH is 8
Temp is at 76degrees
Alk is 9

Thats all i tested for atm.

What do i do and if i do it will there be any repercussions?

-Thanks!:target:

 

[ChristopherKriens]

Do you know what your salinity was when you initially mixed it? Are you refilling with ro/di water to make up for evaporation?

 

[Mattyice008]

You said nitrates twice, which is nitrites?
Also, if you're still cycling then it's not too late to change the salinity. When I make my water for a water change in my big garbage bin, I add a certain amount of salt into the water, aiming for 1.026. I don't go for it on the first shot, I probably put salt in 3-4 times till I finally get it right. Let the salt mix around for a few hours before you check the levels. Also, don't forget to top-off with RO water. As the saltwater evaporates, the salt stays behind and water evaporates, raising the salinity, so you need to account for the water that evaporates. So right now, you could either add RO water and drop the salinity down over the course of 1-2 days, or wait till you do a 15-20% water change, and just even out the salinity. So if you want it at 1.026, do a 20% water change with water that has a salinity of like 1.015 or something..if that makes sense. But like I said, if you're still cycling then theres no problem with making a drastic change in the salinity.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Yes you lower the SG by doing a water change. Won't hurt anything, but you'll do the water change without adding salt to the water. Start out doing a couple of gallons at a time, unless you have a big system, this way you won't shock the system or get it to low that you have to raise it back up. Also, when doing top offs, remember not to add salt water but rather only RO water.

 

[-Logzor]

Each night just pull out a liter or two of salt water and replace it with RO/DI water. Simple as that. Perhaps less at time if your system is small.

How are you measuring your salinity? I'm guessing it's one of the swing arm devices?

 

[Jakemac]

oops! yea its nitrites are >10ppm

And the salinity was always about 1.035

I didnt know if over time it would dissolve more or what but yea i will be topping it off with distilled water and doing a 20% change. I have a large 10 gal bucket with a bubbler i use to pre-mix my water. Its only a 29 gal so... no need for garbage cans lol....................yet

Thanks for the advice i guess i'll make a new batch for pre mixed water, do a small water change like 15% to start. See where the salinity is then, and if its too low i'll add a little more of my premix. I guess i'll play chemist tonight haha

 

[Jakemac]

Each night just pull out a liter or two of salt water and replace it with RO/DI water. Simple as that. Perhaps less at time if your system is small.

How are you measuring your salinity? I'm guessing it's one of the swing arm devices?

Im using a refractometer

 

[bct15]

What kind of salt are you using and how did you measure your SG? You're off to a good start keeping track of your parameters, I reccomend you get a notebook or spreadsheet to keep a log of your parameters so when things start going bad you can spot the cause quickly. If you're using a swing arm get two different swing arms so you can somewhat trust them, if your using a properly calibrated refractometer then you can probably trust that with just one reading.

You can lower your SG by doing water changes with a lower SG water, if there is nothing but rock in there you can do it fast...if there is inhabitants then do it slowly with a water change once a week. Start out with a relatively low salinity in your change water (1.015) and each weekend get closer to 1.026. When I got my refractometer I realized my SG was 1.030 and has been that for a long time (both swing arms were reading lower, one 1.028 and 1.024 do I was taking the average), with coral doing just fine and I brought it down to 1.026 over about a month period doing 20 gallon water changes each weekend.

Like stated in a couple other posts, don't make the same rookie mistake I made an top off with salt water. When you are topping off due to evaporation top off with plane RO water.

More important than the actual numbers is just make sure you keep then steady, don't have big swings in your parameters and you'll have a lot of success. You'll see people with successful tanks with all different parameters, the key is they keep then steady.

Good luck and get ready for a mostly fun, mostly nerve racking, always awesome hobby of salt water tanks.


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[Jakemac]

Yea my levels have finally stabled out and i added some damsels just to keep me from going insane. Im not ready yet to add anything serious like corals or (in a morbid sense) "real" fish that i want in my tank. Yea i had the LFS use some calibration solution for the refractometer to get it right and the stupid hydrometer with the arm was wayyyy off clearly. I'll do a small water change tonight.

Thanks for all the help! This is why i love this forum the response time was amazing! Work must be slow today

 

[ak_reefer]

Dont use pre-mixed water to lower it. Just take out a gallon or two of your tank water and add ro/di water(freshwater) to replace it. Test your salinity later in the day and see if you need to adjust it further.

Also are you using a hydrometer(swing arm) or refractometer to test?

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