Best way to increase salinity?

[Neto]

Some of my SPS corals look brown since I had them and I would like to increase from 1.023 to 1.026 to see if maybe they color up.. I assume the best way is to add saltwater to my ATO? How long should I make this process?

Edited September 5, 2013 by Neto

[lnevo]

Yeah add your sw to the ato. The evaporation rate is slow enough. Once you reach where you want to be you can go back to ro/di.

 

The other thing i do if you have a sump, i usually fill up past where my ato maintains the level with salt water and usually ny the time it evaporates I'm back to where I want to be.

[Origami]

Poor water quality and lighting are factors that I've seen result in coral brown out.

 

That said, your salinity is lower than what most reefers keep for their tanks.

 

As for raising the salinity, you can execute a series of water changes using water of a higher salinity spaced several days apart. SaltyZoo has an online calculator that can help you do this.

 

You can also add seawater to your ATO and do this as long as it takes to raise your salinity to the desired target. How long it takes depends on your evaporation rate, the salinity of the water in your ATO reservoir, the amount of sea water in your system, the starting salinity (1.023) and the ending salinity (1.026). I'd probably just add saltwater of your target salinity and wait until your tank's salinity was raised to close to the target (1.025), then stop. From there, just rely on water changes to bring it up the last little bit.

[AlanM]

I guess I will have to get way more careful in the future.  At the moment if I want to raise it a smidge I toss a little bit of salt mix into the sump under the drains where they enter the sump and count on it to dissolve it and mix it in.

[Origami]

I guess I will have to get way more careful in the future.  At the moment if I want to raise it a smidge I toss a little bit of salt mix into the sump under the drains where they enter the sump and count on it to dissolve it and mix it in.

Ha. I won't tell you what I did once with a stocking full of salt after an ATO accident.

[AlanM]

Ha. I won't tell you what I did once with a stocking full of salt after an ATO accident.

 

Nice.  Actually, I kind of guess how much salty water was removed by the skimmer overflowing and filling up my skimmate locker and toss a little powder in to "saltify" the water that was added by the ATO to replace the stuff that the skimmer took out.  I'd have to be wrong for a really long time to move the number on my refractometer very much I guess.

[lnevo]

Just add some extra SW to your sump...by the time it evaps and your ATO kicks back in your golden. I do this after every WC to account for the skimmer. With a DIY gravity fed ATO, i have always been spot on with my salinity.

Edited September 5, 2013 by lnevo

[gmerek2]

I add sw mix to sump or ATO my fish don't seem to care as long as its not a super quick rise.

[zygote2k]

1.023 to 1.026? Easy to do it in one water change. You'll have zero issues.