Salinity is extremely high

[legalreefer]

I checked the salinity in my mixing barrel and when I stuck the hydrometer in to get the sample, I realized he needle was broken. My secondary was not in working condition. So I bought a new hydrometer from the LFS. Got home and checked the salinity and crap.... it is higher than the hydrometer can detect.

So my question is how quickly can I drop the salinity without stressing out the fish and corals? There is no telling how long it's been high. My chocolate chip star is not looking too good. But everything "appears" to be ok

The system is around 250 gallons.

The kicker is I will be heading out of town tomorrow and won't be back until Sunday night.

 

[nickg]

I would take a water sample to the LFS and double check... if it's so high it won't read, nothing would be living! It would be like Salt lake... Baron...

But you MUST lower it extremely slow. It will take days to bring that high down.

 

[legalreefer]

I gave my other hydrometer a good vinegar bath and it too is giving me the same reading

 

[freezerrat]

This happened to me not long ago. Salinity was about 1.032.
I just figured out the % it was high. In my case I needed to get it down by a bit more than 1/6th. It's a 60 gallon so I needed to get 10 gallons of freshwater swapped in there. I did one gallon a day for 10 days and can't tell anything was ever wrong. Scale it up for your system and if your tank isn't suffering don't be in a rush. Take a couple of weeks I would say.
And no more hydrometers, a refractometer is #1 on my list of things I need.

 

[bcavalli]

Some people have no issues with hydrometers if used correctly. Some have mentioned huge variations in their readings with a hydrometer. I personally only use a refractometer and calibrate it often. If you can, as someone else mentioned take your water to a LFS and have them double check your numbers before you make corrections.

 

[blind1993]

freezerrat;1108072 wrote: This happened to me not long ago. Salinity was about 1.032.
I just figured out the % it was high. In my case I needed to get it down by a bit more than 1/6th. It's a 60 gallon so I needed to get 10 gallons of freshwater swapped in there. I did one gallon a day for 10 days and can't tell anything was ever wrong. Scale it up for your system and if your tank isn't suffering don't be in a rush. Take a couple of weeks I would say.
And no more hydrometers, a refractometer is #1 on my list of things I need.

Yeah this is the best way to go about lowering you salinity. Double check the readings. Then bring it down very very very slowly over the course of 1-3 weeks. Slower the better.

You're fish are currently adapted to the high salinity, so you need to slowly acclimate them to a lower salinity level. They should be fine if you do it slowly.

 

[jennm]

You can lower it more quickly without stress, than you can raise it.

I'd take out a couple of gallons of saltwater at a time, and replace with fresh RO/DI. Say a couple of gallons a day, until it's where you need it to be.

It didn't get too high overnight, so your critters acclimated to it. They'll acclimate to it lowering too - just keep an eye on your pH and Alk as well as you lower it, as that's bound to swing too, and that's more likely to cause some stress, than actually lowering the specific gravity.

Jenn

 

[hn1]

JennM;1108125 wrote: You can lower it more quickly without stress, than you can raise it.

I'd take out a couple of gallons of saltwater at a time, and replace with fresh RO/DI. Say a couple of gallons a day, until it's where you need it to be.

It didn't get too high overnight, so your critters acclimated to it. They'll acclimate to it lowering too - just keep an eye on your pH and Alk as well as you lower it, as that's bound to swing too, and that's more likely to cause some stress, than actually lowering the specific gravity.

Jenn

That. And order a refractometer.

 

[camellia]

With you leaving town I'd just swap a gallon or two and leave it until returning. Sounds like you'll be ok if it's ok now.

My refractometer took a saltwater bath while "changing out tanks"! Thank God I still had an old hydrometer as back up. I used it for a few months before getting around to ordering one off Amazon. Upon reciept I calibrated it and tested tank water, it was spot on!

Thump the side of it after filling it to release any air bubbles, it works in a pinch but obviously not preferred.