Salinity

[izib]

<span style="font-family: Arial;">I just got my refractometer in the mail yesterday and… 1.030 is what I’m readings although it hasn’t been calibrated yet. I’m going to get some distilled water today to calibrate it, is that really all it needs to be calibrated with or is there something better?</span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">On to the 1.030 reading, based on some signs of my tank (polyps, mixing my water with other tank water, etc) I don’t think that reading is off by much, how slowly do I need to lower it and what’s the best way? </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Any recommendations on what I should keep the salinity at? I was trying to target 1.026 but that was more to give myself error on either side incase my readings weren’t accurate. </span>

 

[jetchris]

IMO i dont think that drop would be to significant. I would do it over 2 days. Lower it by 2 today and 2 tomorrow. Should be fine

 

[glxtrix]

kinda depends on the size of your tank youre doing this to. Obviously needs to go slow if its a samll tank....but chris gave some good advise for the change. If its a larger system, you could do it in one day, but its always better to be safe than sorry

 

[izib]

Its about 150gal of water, I think I'll play it safe and do it over a few days.

Do you all think it being a little high could make polyps not fully come out and some corals to not look as great? Everything else seems fine.

 

[glxtrix]

its possible, but at the same time I dont think 1.030 is of any concern. I've had it higher on my tank and not had any issues. Then again differnt tank and differnt husbandry yield differnt results. Let us know how things are after you drop it. And 1.026 is my eyes is a great number to get to.

 

[james s_]

FWIW,I keep my tanks at 1.024 to give me room to fluctuate and keep withing reasonable limits.With Evaporation my tank never goes above 1.026 without my pump burning up first on my sump.Of course my return section of my sump is only around 5-6 gallons.

 

[wbholwell]

46bfinga;69052 wrote: FWIW,I keep my tanks at 1.024 to give me room to fluctuate

Same here. I really don't think it fluctuates much, though.

 

[darren24]

Same as the 2 posts above. I keep mine around 1.024 - 1.025 to give some wiggle room.

 

[kevinc]

izib;69021 wrote: <span style="font-family: Arial;">I just got my refractometer in the mail yesterday and&#8230; 1.030 is what I&#8217;m readings although it hasn&#8217;t been calibrated yet. I&#8217;m going to get some distilled water today to calibrate it, is that really all it needs to be calibrated with or is there something better?</span>

You can calibrate using distilled water, but lots of cheaper refractometers aren't completely linear
and might have an error at normal salinity levels if calibrated using only water.

The best way to calibrate it is to use a salinity calibration fluid. Lots of places sell it; here's a link to one:

 

[seedless reefer]

The way I did mine was to get with someone else with a meter and make comparisons using RO/distilled and then tank water.

Mine was already calibrated. The sticker put on by peoples worker # 46 from peoples refractometer factory #12 said so.

 

[jetchris]

I have heard that the higher salinity is better for corals - the lower salinity is better for fish.