New Reef Tank Salinity

Good afternoon all,

I am currently starting a new reef tank, and I had just a quick question regarding the salinity of the tank.

When I test from my sump, the hygrometer measures it within perfect range, however when I measure from the tank itself the salinity at the surface (250l tank). Also every time I take a measurement, it's a different answer.

How long should I leave the salt to dissolve, I put the tank together yesterday.

I am using a plastic hygrometer, can't really afford anything else at the moment.

 

I think you’re in the wrong place. Reefkeeping is the dark side of the hobby according to us freshwater guys

Try MASA instead.


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Oh my goodness, I totally missed that

 

Assuming that the salt is completely dissolved... What's the difference?

Is there any temperature difference between the sump and tank?

www.marineaquariumsa.com

 

I will need to measure the dump temperature, but I suspect that issue is besides for inlet and outlet of the tank, there is no water movement to mix the water.

I am waiting for my wave maker to be delivered today to get the water moving hopefully that will help mix it up a little...

 

So I’m by no means a reef expert but I can venture a guess as to your fluctuation issue with the hydrometer from my beer making hobby.

The SG measured by the hydrometer is sensitive to variations in temperature - when making beer I constantly need to account for even a 1 degree change in fluid temp when measuring.

Your sump is most likely the most stable temp given that it contains your heater. Without the wave maker you will likely see variations in temperature in the main tank due to surface temp fluctuations and dead spots, while the sump has the most stable readings.


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Mmmmm that makes alot of sense, hopefully my wave maker will arrive this afternoon and I can stir the tank up a bit.... You say you also make beer? Iv never really bothered with a hydrometer past my first two brews, basically I just wait for the bubbles to stop in my airlock, from there, give it a week to calm down, then bottle for second stage fermentation, haven't had a bad batch yet. Ha ha ha ha

 

Haha! If it works it works... For most brews all it does is determine the alcohol content, which doesn't really matter as much as the taste to be honest! And as long as you wait until the bubbles stop then you won't have bottle bombs

I love the Belgian Tripel style beers with 9-12% alcohol. So the hydrometer readings would let me know when to implement certain steps like stopping boiling or fermentation, or whether I needed to add candy sugar to get to the right levels. Too much alcohol and the beer taste is overpowered, too little alcohol and it just tasted flou...

I've had to exchange my beermaking for my aquarium though, simply don't have time for doing both properly.