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How fast can you change salinity?


sen5241b

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How much can you raise the salinity in a given amount of time and prevent osmotic shock to invertebrates which, I'm told, are most susceptible to it. ? (I left my ATO off and its taking forever to bring the level back up to where it was).

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Not sure, but I've altered the salinity in my tank before by as much as 1 ppt per day without issues when trying to be "extra cautious." If it's an emergency situation, then I'd probably try to move it more.

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A rate of .001 SG every two hours is safe but I would not do more than .003 within a 24 hour period. What SG are you at now and how did it get low? If it is not dangerously low I would just take your time and let it slowly come up. 

Edited by Coral Hind
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How much can you raise the salinity in a given amount of time and prevent osmotic shock to invertebrates which, I'm told, are most susceptible to it. ? (I left my ATO off and its taking forever to bring the level back up to where it was).

 

 

A rate of .001 SG every two hours is safe but I would not do more than .003 within a 24 hour period. What SG are you at now and how did it get low? If it is not dangerously low I would just take your time and let it slowly come up. 

 

I'm guessing that he's going to go high-to-low if he left the ATO off. If he's going low-to-high, then topping off with salt- rather than freshwater should bring him back in line over time.

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(edited)

I'm guessing that he's going to go high-to-low if he left the ATO off. If he's going low-to-high, then topping off with salt- rather than freshwater should bring him back in line over time.

 

 

Yes, high to low. I've been super cautious and its taking days. I'm going to measure SG and figure exactly how much fresh water I can add at a time. Math geniuses: if I have 30 gallons how much fresh water can I add at once without exceeding "a rate of .001 SG every two hours"?  

 

It would be nice if there was some kind of web based calculator for acceptable salinity changes.                                         

Edited by sen5241b
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I'm confused because you said you were trying to get it "back up to where it was" so I thought you were raising it and had therefore turned off the ATO to allow it to rise. Lowering salinty can be done much safer and faster than raising it. I've taken inverts quickly from 1.025 to 1.015 with no issues. It's coming up where you need to take it slow.  

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(edited)

I'm confused because you said you were trying to get it "back up to where it was" so I thought you were raising it and had therefore turned off the ATO to allow it to rise. Lowering salinty can be done much safer and faster than raising it. I've taken inverts quickly from 1.025 to 1.015 with no issues. It's coming up where you need to take it slow.  

 

 

Sorry for the confusion. I accidentally left the ATO off and through evaporation the water level went lower which increased salinity. I need to raise the water level back up to the norm for my tank which in turn will lower the salinity.

 

How quick was "quick"?

Edited by sen5241b
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You can add fresh water pretty quickly as the dropping of SG is not as stressful as raising it. Giving you a time or SG level to define quick is hard without knowing where your tank is at now.

 

What you can do to get the water volume increased without adding water is to temporarily add more rock and I've even filled 2 liter bottles with water to add volume. Then as the SG and water level gets closer to where you want it you remove the temporarily added items.

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Yea I agree.. I have forgotten my ATO for a day or so and just topped off at once.. many many times in fact

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

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Way to go Seth. No Sissy, Girly Man salinity change. I will have to let Tom slide because his mind is clowded up from the thought of anesthesia even though he will be fine.  :laugh:

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Think of it in terms of a seas tar acclimating to your tank. It is not uncommon to have a store with low specific gravity, along the lines of 1.017 in my experience is fairly common. I keep my systems near seawater, 1.0265, acclimation typically takes a few hours for animals drip acclimating in order for me to not feel I am jeopardizing them. If you are doing fish, think of what a freshwater dip does. It is not a huge deal in my opinion (you can even freshwater dip clams).

 

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I took 8 pairs of Sailfin Mollies from Petsmart in freshwater and acclimated them to 1.025 saltwater in 4 hours. The next day, 2 of them gave birth and all of the babies survived.

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Raising salinity too fast in one day can cause rtn on sps. Especially newer or more fragile species of acropoa that are not yet growing well or colored up, more so colonies or new frags. It will normally happen days or over a week after the salinity is raised to much. Other systems without these corals can take a much faster change but some corals like lps can still have problems which could be seen later.

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For the first six months or so after setting up my tank, my salinity was anywhere between 1.035-1.041. I was given a faulty refractometer and didn't realize it. Fish I got from the store and wamas members all got hit with that salinity right away (no acclimation). They're all still alive today. Most corals didn't make it pass the first week of putting them in the tank. OTH, Aiptasia thrive.

 

It goes to show how fish can adapt.      

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