Salt level question

what is the best or proper way to raise it in my tank. I have a 55g and its at a little low.

 

I would let it raise on its own from evaporation. What is it at? Most things are tolerant of levels say between .022-.025

 

Yeah, just top off with saltwater until the levels are where you want them.

 

I agree you can let it evaporate a bit and then top it off with salt water match to the correct salinity.

I don't really agree that .022-.025 is a good range though. Natural saltwater is .0264 and there is no reason not to use this level, but certainly reason to use this. If you're at .022 for example, you are only at 83% salinity, this means your calcium, alkalinity, magnesium etc.. is only 83% what it would be if you were at normal salinity. So, for example, if you expect your salt to mix to 400ppm ca, you'd only be at about 332ppm then.

 

Normally if mine is low, I will raise it with top off water over time, but adding saltwater instead of fresh water, Do not change the water paramaters too quickly

 

.22 is where im at

 

.23 for me. I found anything over .25 my tank didn't like.

 

I agree most things are tolerant of these levels and there are some benefits to maintaining this range. For example, if gives you more room for error in accidentally raising the SG.

I keep my SG at 1.027.

 

If things from the ocean don't like the salinity level of the ocean, it would seem that something is wrong. My guess is your measurement device isn't calibrated correctly.

 

I disagree. Most LFS keep their livestock in 1.022 water. You keep something in that long enough they'll not react well to natural levels.

You can't quickly move to a 1.025+ tank. This needs to happen slowly and livestock needs plenty of time to reacclimate. It is normal that some corals, etc. will react poorly, but IME they bounce back even better.