Salinity

Heres a question for ya, i only have an 11 gal. tank. When i clean the sand it takes about half the water out. If i put salt water back in, saying the salinity is 1.019 and my tank is 1.024-1.025, would the overall salinity in my tank increase?

 

If i'm reading this correctly, adding a lower salinity water will decrease the overall salinity. I keep my salinity at 1.026 and 80 degrees, what salinity are you trying to maintain?

 

If your replacement water has a lower salinity, that will decrease the salinity overall.

It would take you down 2-3 I bet. You should try to match those up when doing changes, especially on a small tank. I also try to match the temp, that's good too.  


EDIT- TYPING AT THE SAME TIME AGAIN CRAIG. ;D :

 

I try to keep it around 1.025

 

I agree with Matt that trying to match the salinity and using a refractometer will make your 11 gallon much more stable and critter friendly.

 

[quote author=jshuste link=board=General;num=1107144054;start=0#0 date=01/30/05 at 23:00:54]Heres a question for ya, i only have an 11 gal. tank. When i clean the sand it takes about half the water out. If i put salt water back in, saying the salinity is 1.019 and my tank is 1.024-1.025, would the overall salinity in my tank increase?[/quote]

I assume that you are using a syphon type cleaner to clean your sand bed? As others have written, yes it will reduce the overall salinity, however you should also be careful of the temperature of the replacement water.

John

 

Taking that much water out at one time could be very stressfull on your tank. I have a bunch of nano tanks and simply stir up the sand to a depth of about a 1/4" weekly, i do this right before I turn out the lights. This keep all the "crud" from making big deposits but doesnt disturb the critters that make LS LS to badly.