To raise salinity can I....

[roggy23]

Simply add a couple scoops of salt into say 900mls of water and dump it directly to tank and keep doing that until I see a .001 increase? Offcourse I will watch water levels.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Simply add a couple scoops of salt into say 900mls of water and dump it directly to tank and keep doing that until I see a .001 increase? Offcourse I will watch water levels.

The best method is to make up some 35ppt salt water, and use it to top off evaporation rather than using RODI.

 

[Wallace11]

A couple of questions first to help guide the answers.
1. What is your current SG?
2. Is your tank stocked and if so with what (fish, corals etc.)?
3. When did you notice a low SG and how long has it been low.
4. How large is your tank?

It is best to correct things slowly. A rapid increase in salinity may shock your livestock.
An easy way to slowly increase salinity is to use saltwater in your ATO instead of RODI. Keep and eye on the SG and it should be corrected over a week or two. If the tank is small then water changes alone with saltwater that has a slightly higher SG (1.027-1.028) will work.

 

[roggy23]

A couple of questions first to help guide the answers.
1. What is your current SG?
2. Is your tank stocked and if so with what (fish, corals etc.)?
3. When did you notice a low SG and how long has it been low.
4. How large is your tank?

It is best to correct things slowly. A rapid increase in salinity may shock your livestock.
An easy way to slowly increase salinity is to use saltwater in your ATO instead of RODI. Keep and eye on the SG and it should be corrected over a week or two. If the tank is small then water changes alone with saltwater that has a slightly higher SG (1.027-1.028) will work.

1.023
Fish and coral
Today and don't know how long
180 gallons

 

[Waters]

No, you definitely don't want to drop salt directly into a stocked tank. As stated, best bet is to replace evaporation with salt water rather than RO/DI water.

 

[dmsc2fs]

Add salt to the ATO or another way is to add salt into a jar and put the jar into the sump. Don't dump the salt in the sump. Set the jar on the bottom and allow the salt to slowly mix into the water. The ATO is the best route.

 

[am3gross]

All good advice here, I also would not add directly to the tank.

 

[GARRIGA]

What I do is calculate the salinity increase since 35 ppt equals 3.5% it's easy enough to determine the amount needed to bring the current salinity up. There should be online calculators to do this with salinity and specific gravity but percentages easy enough for me to work with. Estimate how many increments I want to apply depending on amount of salinity I need to raise, shut the ATO off and then I'll take tank water and add salt. Shake/mix until mixed and then add that back to the tank. Water can easily hold 70 ppt of salt and the dead sea is 10x regular sea water but 2x mixes relatively fast. Wait a couple of hours then repeat as needed. Best return the water through the overflow so that it has time to further mix while traveling through the filtration before returning to the display. Last part is just me being overly cautious since I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

[doubleshot00]

The best method is to make up some 35ppt salt water, and use it to top off evaporation rather than using RODI.

This but it also depends on how big the tank is. If its more than 75 gal that may take a while. A 5 gal WC using higher salinity works to. I did this a week ago after I didn't think my new ato setup correctly.

 

[KStatefan]

When I want to raise the salaniity on my 100 gallon I just manually top off with about of 1/2 gallon of new saltwater each day. 1/2 gallon over filled does not cause any problems and the salinity will increase as it evaporates. There is a calculator on Hamza's Reef website to calculate how much must be added

 

[Wallace11]

1.023
Fish and coral
Today and don't know how long
180 gallons

1.023 is not that far off. If everything in the tank looks happy I would go with the saltwater in the ATO and let things come up to 1.025-1.026 gradually.

One other thing to check before you make changes is to verify your Hanna tester or refractometer are appropriately calibrated and the 1.023 reading is accurate.

 

[dadnjesse]

You can also make some replacement water with a higher salinity say 45ppt instead of 35 and add that with a larger tank.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Simply add a couple scoops of salt into say 900mls of water and dump it directly to tank and keep doing that until I see a .001 increase? Offcourse I will watch water levels.

Dont !! You can drop salinity quickly but must raise it slowly and best diluted and added to sump in small amounts until you reach desired salt level

 

[gbroadbridge]

You can also make some replacement water with a higher salinity say 45ppt instead of 35 and add that with a larger tank.

Salt mixed to a significantly higher salinity than designed is likely to precipitate some macro elements while mixing. I wouldn't do it.

 

[dadnjesse]

Salt mixed to a significantly higher salinity than designed is likely to precipitate some macro elements while mixing. I wouldn't do it.

So when I'm mixing salt water and I dump in salt before I get it at the correct salinity I'm loosing elements

 

[gbroadbridge]

So when I'm mixing salt water and I dump in salt before I get it at the correct salinity I'm loosing elements

If you are instructed to add 1/2 cup per gallon of RODI,, and instead you add 1 cup per gallon, yes it is likely that some elements will precipitate while mixing.

 

[fish farmer]

I've added small amounts to my skimmer or just done slight adjustments on water change day or just add a little more of the same salinity water to the sump and let evaporation to the work.

 

[zoomonster]

I never add directly to tank but I do on occasion just dump a cup or so of salt in the overflow/skimmer section of my 36" sump to make up for salt creep, use etc. to make small gradual adjustments to salinity.