[GoinSalt]

I don't know if this is the right forum, but here goes:

I discovered today my SG had fallen to 1.014. Fish are fine but my snails have been dropping like flies, my star polyps have closed and my shrooms have shriveled.

How do I safely raise the SG/salinity to the 1.022-.025 range?

How did this happen, you may ask? Well, I neglected my tank for a couple months, just adding top off water when necessary. Bad, I know.

Anyway, I did a 15 gal water change on my 100g tank last week and just now realized that I did not properly mix my salt :slap:

I changed about 4 gals out and replaced it was 4 gal of super-salty replacement water (1.030). I read I should just use normal saltwater (1.022-.025) for my top off until I get to the reading I want.

Any help appreciated.

Nate

[HendersonsReef]

Just add salt very slowly over the past 7-10 days until you get the proper reading...

[leebca]

You want to raise the salinity slowly. About 0.003 or less, specific gravity units per day is safe. The way to raise it is to remove some water and replace it with normal specific gravity, properly mixed, salt water until you get near the end. At the end you can do a larger water change.

Watch pH and temperature closely, matching it as closely as possible according to these guidelines:
how do I do a water change?

There are actually formulas you can use to raise and lower salinity. I find this one to not be very useful but you're welcome to it:
SaltyZoo's Salinity Adjustment Calculator

[GoinSalt]

Originally Posted by leebca

You want to raise the salinity slowly. About 0.003 or less, specific gravity units per day is safe. The way to raise it is to remove some water and replace it with normal specific gravity, properly mixed, salt water until you get near the end. At the end you can do a larger water change.

You say remove water and and replace it. Do I do that over a period of several days? What I've so far (Sunday and Monday) take out 5 gals and replace with properly mixed water (5 gals). Should I just do that over the next several days?

While replacing the water, I'm also cleaning off the rockwork, sand, etc. Basically doing 5 gal water changes. Why would I do a larger water change at the end if I'm constantly removing and adding water to get the SG right?

Nate

[GoinSalt]

Keep in mind I have a 100gal tank and am replacing 5g at a time. Should I increase the amount I change?

Nate

[leebca]

You replace as much as you can to raise the specific gravity up to no more than 0.003 specific gravity units a day. It should only take you three days if you began at 1.014 to get it to 1.023.

The calculator can provide guidance.

The end water change is just to finish off the project. You can let evaporation do the rest.

[GoinSalt]

Yeah, I checked the calculator link you supplied. I don't know if I did something wrong but it came up with a whacked out answer. Depending on how many gallons I changed, it said the change the remainder on the next change. For example, if I changed 10 gals on first change, it told me to change the remaining 90 gals on the next change. I don't think that's right. Obviously I'm plugging in wrong info.

Nate

[GoinSalt]

Also, how long should I wait after adding the new water to take a SG reading? I would imagine it takes at least a few minutes to stabilize with the new water to get a correct reading?

[leebca]

If you system water is cycling over 8 times a hour, then wait one hour to test the sp. gr. after making a change.

I don't like that calculator. I'm told it works, but I haven't been good at using it. It mixes dimensions/units and that is part of the confusion.