Adding salt right before water change to raise Salinity?

tosteetos · 12/05/2010, 08:48 PM

Hi everyone,

I went to do my waterchange just now, here I am dumping out about 25% of water out of the DT, check PH on both sides, good to go, staart running my hose from my Brute to my DT, turn my pump and start pumping to fill back up my DT.

OH SNAP! didn't check salinity. quickly shut my pump off again and proceed to measure my salinity on both sides.

DT:1.028
new water: 1.022

So I grabbed a few half cups of salt, turn my powerhead and heater on and start mixing again.

Some of my corals have tips out in open air even, my question is: I just added a few extra cups of salt to the new water to bring it back up to 1.026, is it ok to proceed to add it now?

thanks in advance.

iamwrasseman · 12/05/2010, 09:02 PM

yes you can

tosteetos · 12/05/2010, 09:03 PM

anyone care to chime in? I'm afraid to leave the tank too long without filling it back up.

thanks for your comments.

preef · 12/05/2010, 09:17 PM

I assume you are concerned about the salt not mixing long enough. The amt of salt required to go from 1.022 to 1.028 shouldn't be that much. Just make sure it is completely dissolved before dumping it in.

I've done this too but it has always made me nervous. So now I purposely mix the salt so the SG is a little high. Let it mix 24 hours and add RODI to bring it down to my target.

1.028 seems a little high. I'd slowly bring it down to 1.026 or so over several days by replacing some tank water with RODI.

that0neguy1126 · 12/05/2010, 09:23 PM

Its fine to add most salt right after making it. As long as it is dissolved. I also wouldn't be concerned about a few tips being out of the water. Coral's are far more hardier than we give them credit for.

12/05/2010, 08:48 PM	#1
tosteetos Registered Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 52	Adding salt right before water change to raise Salinity? Hi everyone, I went to do my waterchange just now, here I am dumping out about 25% of water out of the DT, check PH on both sides, good to go, staart running my hose from my Brute to my DT, turn my pump and start pumping to fill back up my DT. OH SNAP! didn't check salinity. quickly shut my pump off again and proceed to measure my salinity on both sides. DT:1.028 new water: 1.022 So I grabbed a few half cups of salt, turn my powerhead and heater on and start mixing again. Some of my corals have tips out in open air even, my question is: I just added a few extra cups of salt to the new water to bring it back up to 1.026, is it ok to proceed to add it now? thanks in advance.

12/05/2010, 09:02 PM	#2
iamwrasseman Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: syracuse Posts: 7,003	yes you can __________________ This hobby certainly can put you in some weird positions ! Dave Current Tank Info: 40 freshwater,25saltwater 2000 gallons ,enough tanks for an army ?

12/05/2010, 09:17 PM	#4
preef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Algonquin, IL Posts: 809	I assume you are concerned about the salt not mixing long enough. The amt of salt required to go from 1.022 to 1.028 shouldn't be that much. Just make sure it is completely dissolved before dumping it in. I've done this too but it has always made me nervous. So now I purposely mix the salt so the SG is a little high. Let it mix 24 hours and add RODI to bring it down to my target. 1.028 seems a little high. I'd slowly bring it down to 1.026 or so over several days by replacing some tank water with RODI. __________________ 72 gal bowfront mixed reef. Tank born 10/14/2007

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12/05/2010, 09:03 PM	#3
tosteetos Registered Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 52	anyone care to chime in? I'm afraid to leave the tank too long without filling it back up. thanks for your comments.

12/05/2010, 09:23 PM	#5
that0neguy1126 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 50	Its fine to add most salt right after making it. As long as it is dissolved. I also wouldn't be concerned about a few tips being out of the water. Coral's are far more hardier than we give them credit for.