why salinity is so high

[mr_brix]

today i measure the salinity of my tank and it went up to 1.030.. why?

[Ninong]

If your specific gravity is 1.030, then it's due to something you did. The question is, what did you do? Only you can answer that question. We can't.

What was your specific gravity the previous time you checked? What have you done to your water in the meantime?

[Ninong]

Please tell us how you replace evaporated water in your aquarium. What evactly do you put into your aquarium to replace the water that has evaporated? Please be specific.

[mr_brix]

i installed my new filter fx5.. so water level went down.. then i added some... just bit by bit every ten min or so... the new water i added is 1.022

[Ninong]

How long has your aquarium been set up?

What are you using to replace water that evaporates?

Every day water in your tank evaporates and has to be replaced in order to keep the water level constant. How often do you replace this evaporated water? What are you using to replace this evaporated water?

[mr_brix]

is it gonna harm my fish? i have two damsel

[Ninong]

Please tell us how long your tank has been set up and what you are using to replace evaporated water.

[mr_brix]

my tank been running for 4 months.. half of that time i only have a coral... my yellow tang died cuz got the ich... so from half of that time i just added water and clean my filter every two weeks... i have 2 canister running one fluval 305 and 105.. now i took out the 105 and added the fx5..

[mr_brix]

i mix the water with the pre mix salt

[Ninong]

i mix the water with the pre mix salt

Let me make sure I understand exactly what you are saying. When the water level in your aquarium goes down, you add new saltwater to your tank. Is that correct?

[mr_brix]

right

[mr_brix]

what should i do.. take out some water and level it to the right measurement.. pls help

[Ninong]

right

Okay, that's your problem.

When saltwater evaporates, the salt stays behind in the tank. Salt itself does not evaporate.

Therefore, you must add freshwater to your tank to replace evaporated saltwater. Adding saltwater will raise the salinity level.

This freshwater should be either R.O./D.I. water or distilled water. That would be best. However, if you are using plain tapwater, be sure to treat it with dechlorination drops first to remove chlorine or chloramine.

Later, when you have a lot of corals in your aquarium, you might want to use limewater (Kalkwasser) to replace the evaporated water instead of just plain freshwater.

Your two damsels will be fine. They are very hardy fish.

What you need to do right now is remove about two gallons of the saltwater from your tank and replace that with freshwater (treated with drops first). Do that every day until your specific gravity drops down to your desired level (1.025 to 1.026 SG). Natural salinity in the ocean near tropical coral reefs is 35 ppt (parts per thousand). That's equivalent to about 1.026 SG. There is no good reason to keep any aquarium much below natural salinity. I would not recommend keeping any tank -- coral reef aquarium or just marine fish-only aquarium -- lower than 1.024 SG.

Be sure to use freshwater from now on to replace evaporated water.

[mr_brix]

yes i do have the drops to eliminate the chorine...

thanks for the help... apreciate it.. and i learned something today..