Salinity

[howaboutme]

John,

 

When I came into your shop a few weekends ago, I was told you keep your salinity at a low level. I don't remember exactly what it is, maybe 1.010? Forgive me if I am wrong w/ the number. I believe I understand why but can you explain a bit more?

 

When most keep their tanks at around 1.025, acclimating your fish to our tanks would require an extremely long drip process, correct? Is a huge different in salinity a big issue?

 

Thanks.

 

Jack

[SunWyrm]

I'm probably not helping as I don't know what BRK keeps their salinity at, but I have dealt with this issue in the past of receiving fish at a lower salinity than my display.

 

I just lower my QT to the fish's salinity (as raising salinity too quickly can be fatal) and raise the salinity to match the DT over the course of a few days to a week depending on how severe the difference. I've read and have been told not to go more than 0.002 difference over the course of a day - though I've gone faster with certain fish depending on what they are (like FW mollies I'll only do 2 days to convert to full saltwater).

[yauger]

just at BRK the other day and they happen to be doing a water change. SG was at 1.20

[howaboutme]

just at BRK the other day and they happen to be doing a water change. SG was at 1.20

 

Thanks for the clarification. Just as I hit "post", I was wondering if I should have not put the lower salinity out of speculation as to not give any one a negative impression, but I can't edit previous posts!

 

1.020 (I assume that's what you meant to type) is fine. Thanks!

[johnnybv]

You are correct , we used to hold our fish at 1.016 because it knocks out most parasites without having to use any chemicals. Also the lower salinity is able to retain a higher amount of disolved oxygen and would help fish recover after thier journey. We would brief our customers about slow acclimation when they bought a fish, the rule we used succesfully was raise the salinity by .002 per hour, the problem being that most people did not want to spend that amount of time acclimating. As a result we had to raise our salinity to make it easier for our customers, but not to sacrifice the health of the fish we added a 400W UV streilizer and an ozone unit to furthur purify our water. Water quality is paramount, and when it is good, healthy fish are usually eating within hours of shipment.

 

So answering your initial question you would need to read our dry erase board when you come in. Since we have several different systems, they each have their own salinity listed on the board.

Currently our fish system is 1.020

invert system 1.024

corals 1.024

 

Hope that helps

Edited February 27, 2013 by johnnybv

[YHSublime]

You are correct , we used to hold our fish at 1.016 because it knocks out most paracites without having to use any chemicals.

 

We learned a little about this at the last meeting, dropping salinity in order to knock out parasites.

 

Do your fish come in already in water in that salinity, or do you drop it slowly?

[howaboutme]

John,

 

Thank you very much for your response. I knew I wasn't haluccinating with that salinity level. Since I'm a newbie, I'm trying to learn as much as possible as fast as possible and this was a topic I needed to get straight in my head so I appreciate you responding. This topic is important to me because a lot of people can't do what YiatzofEden described even if it is the 100% correct thing to do and might affect where livestock is purchased. I, for one, am glad you made the change to 1.020 for fish.

 

Jack

[SunWyrm]

raise the salinity by .002 per hour, the problem being that most people did not want to spend that amount of time acclimating.

 

John, I'm so glad you said this. I couldn't remember if it was days/hours so I assumed days. You've saved me a great deal of headache over a few points! Sorry for my misleading post!

[johnnybv]

We learned a little about this at the last meeting, dropping salinity in order to knock out parasites.

 

Do your fish come in already in water in that salinity, or do you drop it slowly?

 

You can actually drop the salinity quickly without trouble, infact thats what kills the parasites, they explode...Its the raising of the salinity that has to be done slowly. So we do a fast drip acclimation when fish come in, and put them in the best quality water we have, get them eating, and everyone is happy.

 

Thanks and dont ever be afraid to ask questions, I am always willing to share my experience, lord knows Ive dont lots of trial and error!

 

John

Edited February 27, 2013 by johnnybv