Ok my tank has finished cycling, but my salinity is down what should I do?

[wardragonet]

Been cycling my tank for what 2 maybe 3 wks. My levels read this morning:

pH: 8.0 (will raise it to 8.2)

Ammonia: 0 ppm (dropped from 2.0 lst wk)

Nitrite: 0 ppm (was @ 1.0 Monday)

Nitrate: 80 ppm

Salinity: 1.016

 

Now I cleaned the tank and I removed 5g, do i mix this bucket to 1.024?

And once I do the water change what do I want the nitrate to be?

 

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[zygote2k]

Why aren't you using full strength saltwater? If there are fish present, you'll have to raise the salinity over the period of a few days to prevent osmotic stress or fish death.

Nitrate level is all dependant on what you want to keep-

0-10ppm for SPS like conditions.

10-40 for LPS/softies/mixed reef

40-80 for FOWLR.

[wardragonet]

No fish yet, I started out at 1.024, but I topped her off twice and I'm wondering if I diluted the salinity

 

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[trockafella]

toping off shouldnt dilute, it should help you keep things as close to the same as possible. Are you using an auto-top off or are you manually adding as you see needed.? If your not using an ATO it would be a good investment.

[wardragonet]

Manual, I'm going to a lfs in a few and will look into it

 

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[AlanM]

Where'd all that salt go? It doesn't evaporate. Is it possible that you have a swing arm hydrometer that had a bubble trapped on the arm or a sticky hinge or a poorly calibrated refractometer and you've been running at 1.016 all along even in the initial fill or maybe the current 1.016 reading is incorrect.

 

Unless you've been doing water changes with fresh water, you should not have seen a drop in salinity.

[wardragonet]

I think its the hydrometer

 

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[Orion]

Invest in a refractometer.

[wardragonet]

Gonna check my lfs today

 

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[OldReefer]

Agree with the refractometer. It can pay for itself the first time you use it.

 

If your salinity keeps drifting down, look for a small leak in your plumbing. The saltwater drips out and fresh water is used to replace it.