Can lemon juice lower salinity?

tableforglasses · 01/28/2019, 06:47 AM

So I have a small aiptasia outbreak in my tank and I read online and heard from other people that you can use a 3ml syringe and lemon juice to kill them off so I did that last night. This morning thanks to my apex controller I woke up to a notification that my salinity had dropped from .35ppt to .30ppt and it did it rapidly. I have a 300 gallon reef tank and I can't find any leaks anywhere so I don't think it was my ATO. I was just curious if the lemon juice may have caused it? Not sure where else to look as that was the only thing that I did out of the ordinary.
Thanks for the help.

tableforglasses · 01/28/2019, 06:47 AM

Also I did read that it can drop PH but the lemon juice did not do that, it maintained stable.

ReefsandGeeks · 01/28/2019, 10:43 AM

Shouldn't have any affect on your salinity, unless you add a TON of it, in which case you'd have other much larger problems. May want to double check your probe or refractometer to see if it's reading accurately.

pH can drop, but usually not by much with smaller amounts.

mcgyvr · 01/28/2019, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tableforglasses

that my salinity had dropped from .35ppt to .30ppt and it did it rapidly. I have a 300 gallon reef tank and I can't find any leaks anywhere so I don't think it was my ATO.

That would take about 40 gallons of water in your system..
Is your ATO system capable of replacing all of that without being noticeable?

Likely just the sensor loosing its calibration or something.. Got a refractometer to manually test?

Crooked Reef · 01/28/2019, 10:59 AM

It won’t cause a reaction that will remove salt from the water. I would say bad sensor or lost calibration as well.

tableforglasses · 01/28/2019, 02:35 PM

So I've got the apex controller and a hydrometer and both were reading low this morning. My ATO is 44 gallons but at water level it is currently at it hasn't added very much so I don't think it is that. I added some new livestock as far as corals this weekend because I bought a used tank and tore it down and kept all of the amazing corals. But this happened about 24 hours after I added them. I just can't figure out what caused it unless both are reading wrong. I am attaching the apex readings.

murphreef · 01/29/2019, 12:11 AM

Only 2 options your ATO really did dump in a large amount of water or both your probe and hydrometer are wrong.... I use a refractometer because hydro's are notoriously wrong.... so who knows you will have to test with a refractometer to find out.

if you are sure your ATO didn't dump water in then your probe went bad....

Any corals acting weird?

tableforglasses · 01/29/2019, 11:09 AM

Everything seems to be ok. I ordered some calibration solution so I can try and recalibrate it.

hkgar · 01/30/2019, 02:46 PM

My Apex salinity readings started showing low levels. I wasn't concerned as the refractometer was show sg where it should be. I finally calibrated and now once again getting solid results. I think you will see when I finally calibrated.

01/28/2019, 06:47 AM	#1
tableforglasses Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2018 Posts: 29	Can lemon juice lower salinity? So I have a small aiptasia outbreak in my tank and I read online and heard from other people that you can use a 3ml syringe and lemon juice to kill them off so I did that last night. This morning thanks to my apex controller I woke up to a notification that my salinity had dropped from .35ppt to .30ppt and it did it rapidly. I have a 300 gallon reef tank and I can't find any leaks anywhere so I don't think it was my ATO. I was just curious if the lemon juice may have caused it? Not sure where else to look as that was the only thing that I did out of the ordinary. Thanks for the help.

01/28/2019, 10:59 AM	#5
Crooked Reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 1,765	It won’t cause a reaction that will remove salt from the water. I would say bad sensor or lost calibration as well. __________________ “In wine there is wisdom; in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” - Benjamin Franklin Current Tank Info: 90 gallon reef. Biocube 29 lionfish tank. Mantis tank.

01/29/2019, 12:11 AM	#7
murphreef Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: simi valley Posts: 3,208	Only 2 options your ATO really did dump in a large amount of water or both your probe and hydrometer are wrong.... I use a refractometer because hydro's are notoriously wrong.... so who knows you will have to test with a refractometer to find out. if you are sure your ATO didn't dump water in then your probe went bad.... Any corals acting weird? __________________ Justin Current Tank Info: 25G cube (finally back in the hobby in a small way)

01/28/2019, 10:43 AM	#3
ReefsandGeeks Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 1,708	Shouldn't have any affect on your salinity, unless you add a TON of it, in which case you'd have other much larger problems. May want to double check your probe or refractometer to see if it's reading accurately. pH can drop, but usually not by much with smaller amounts.

01/29/2019, 11:09 AM	#8
tableforglasses Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2018 Posts: 29	Everything seems to be ok. I ordered some calibration solution so I can try and recalibrate it.