Salt Creep...and no its not a new band name

[sethfloydjr]

When you have salt creep around your sump or tank do you knock it back in or clean it up?

Im wondering because I accidentally knocked some into my sump a few days ago and on a whim I tested my salinity the next day and it was sky high. Nothing in the tank acted like it cared or was bothered by it. Im also concerned about this because when I make my water to top off with I make it in bulk of about 5 gal. If I do that amount then I cant know what my salinity will be 2 weeks from now when im adding in that last bit of prepped water. Should I just measure the salinity in the tank and then add RO water to how much i need to add to my tank to "water" it down so the salinity doesnt go through the roof again?

How do you adjust or work with this issue?

Thanks!

 

[dakota9]

How big is your system? I've never had enough salt creep to amount to anything, but the biggest tank I've ever had was a 65g...

 

[realfish]

Are you adding the salt water as your makeup water? I don't believe knocking a little salt creep into your tank would make it jump that high.

 

[fish scales2]

Are you adding salt to your top off water?

 

[sethfloydjr]

the total amount of water is about 35 gal....30 tank and 5 in the sump

I have all the water in my tank running and then when its time to do a water change ill make 20 gal. Ill add 15 and then keep 5 in a separate container that i use to add to the tank over the next two weeks.

its very possible that micro bubbles could have been messing with me when i measured but i checked it 4 times...twice in the sump and twice in the tank and all 4 times i got the same reading.

for right now im not knocking anymore in just to make sure im not throwing something out of whack...i just got everything back to normal after leaving phosban in my system too long and suffering a major outbreak of red alage


if the consensus is that it wont hurt anything then i wont fret over it and just try not to knock anymore in


thanks for the replies

 

[jt955]

are you topping off for evaporation with mixed salt water? if so quit use ro water

 

[fish scales2]

The salt does not evaporate, so as you add your old water back in you are raising the salinity + adding the gunky water back into the system which has just beem sitting in a bucket getting stagnet. When you top off just use your RO water.

 

[one dumm hikk]

The salt creep isn't what made your salinity go high (how high?), it was using saltwater (prepped water) for top off. As said, the salt doesnt evaporate so you are adding more salt which will raise the salinity. Use RO/DI water for top off. Use SW for top off only if you are trying to intentionally raise the SG of the tank.

 

[jennm]

I think OP is keeping 5 gallons of new SW in reserve for topoff, not waste water to add back to the tank...

In which case, that's the problem - adding SW for evaporation - as was mentioned above. You need to be topping off for evap with fresh (RO) water. When you remove saltwater, replace with saltwater, when evaporation removes water, replace with fresh.

Knocking a bit of salt creep back in is no biggie, or some prefer to discard it. Either way that is not likely what caused your spike.

Jenn

 

[theplatypus]

Depending on the amount of salt creep it could definitely raise the specific gravity of your system.

 

[jennm]

A bit maybe... but given that the OP was topping off with saltwater, that's the more likely cause.

Seth, did you measure your SG before you knocked the salt creep back in? If not, then there's no conclusive proof that the salt creep was the cause.

It is surprising how many people don't check their SG on a regular basis. Then one day they come in for a water test and it's high. Usually it's a "silent" problem that builds until it manifests itself in a real problem in the tank and only then is it addressed.

Jenn

 

[oil_fan]

My questions are a bit more basic:

What is the SG?

And how are you testing it? Refractometer or hydrometer? If it's a hydrometer, be sure to rinse it in the tank about 5 times or so and make sure no air bubbles are in it.