salinity, temperature, cycling

I purchased a Oceanic BIOCUBE 14 gallon. Put 14lbs of live rock, all live sand, and live rock in the filtration as opposed to bioballs (recommendation from LFS). For the water I purchased salt water from the store, it was not store made but a national brand. I never checked my salinity until last night, figuring that if I was using water from the store it should be perfect. When I checked last night it was 1.031.
I ordered my thermoter and heater through amazon, so I still do not have the temperature.
3 questions
1) is it possible that if the water is so cold it is causing the salinity to read this high. My house temperature is about 73 so I figure that is probably the temperature of my water at this time.
2) Could the rock have increased the salinity?
3) Will either the coldness or high salinity prevent my tank from cycling
4) For cycling purposes, does it matter if I run my lights?

Thank you for your help.

 

yes the temp does play a part in salt reading, but i think i know what brand pre-made salt you purchased, if its the one i think it is, i used to buy it ( when i had a 6 gallon tank set up) the salt runs high it always read high about 1.028 i used to have to add ro/di water to it to get it to where i wanted it.
also if your using a hydrometer and not a refractometer to get your salt reading. hydrometers are notoriously off in readings. some work well but others ???? if you do have the hydrometer your supposed to soak it in water over night before use. and i always stored mine with water in it to keep it free from sticking , You can use saltwater, ro/di or even tap to store it

maybe someone has the chart that shows salt readings at different temps. i can't find it i had it.

 

Have you accounted for evaporation?

What are you using to test the SG with?

You do not have to run the lights during cycling and leaving them off may assist in decreasing the intensity of the initial and normal algae blooms.

Temperature does change the SG but not to that degree at the temp. Adding rocks should not affect it either.

Welcome to 3reef.

 

the one i used Nutri Sea Water™ Natural Live Ocean Saltwater by Natures Ocean® if you search the net you will find many posts about the salt level being way to high. easy fix though with some ro/di water

 

I did use the Nutri Sea Water™ Natural Live Ocean Saltwater by Natures Ocean® . I'll add some ro/di today. Will this have impacted the cycling.

 

No.

Is this an open top bio-cube or does it have a lid?

I have very similar tank and they can loss up to 1/4 of gallon of water a day through evaporation, quickly driving up the SG if you are not topping off with ro/di daily.

 

be sure to test it each time you use it, and add ro as needed.

 

+1 on both of them steering you correctly, listen to them, there smart. Go get a atc refractometer before you adjust your salt level though as you probably have a hydro, which if I may be so bold to say are junk. Refracs are around $45 at your lfs