salinity?

[whatevva]

1.026

Usually drops to 1.025 by WC time, so I mix my ASW to 1.028

[mvsergi]

I keep mine between 1.023 - 1.024, and usually right at 1.0235

[danjen10]

I keep mine at 35ppt. I stopped using specific gravity because all my gauges read something different. The refractometer has been rock solid.

[Rendos]

1.025 here.

[gouch]

1.024-1.026 here

i too had a LFS tell me that keeping lower salinity levels prevent disease, "IF" its true then, it would only be beneficial in a FO tank.

[gouch]

i have a kind of expirement in mind ill be conducting as soon as i can. ill be sure to put the link to the thread here

[Geoff]

to add to what jenglish said. the thinking with keeping the salinity so low stemmed from using FW baths to kill parasites. the though was that if the FW kills the parasites than keeping the water at a lower salinity should do the same thing. unfortunately it does not. as we acclimate our fish to the new water, we are also acclimating the parasites. there is a fine line with acclimating and dipping. if you acclimate "fast" enough there is a chance that the fish will be less stressed and the parasite would pop.

all in all this has proven to not be very beneficial and most agree keeping the water at NSW levels is best regardless of the aquarium type; reef, FO.

G~

[ckusnierek]

same here 1.024-1.026

[fihsboy]

If you have fish only, use 1.020. Fish are constanly fighting to get the water away from the salt. The lower salinty is fine for fish. Corals HAVE to have the 1.025-1.026 to be healthy. if your running fish only drop the salinity. Or at least thats what I was told.

[Big D]

1.026-1.027 here. I love my Blue Linkias and from my experience, they tend to do better around this range.




D

[Geoff]

Originally Posted by fihsboy

If you have fish only, use 1.020. Fish are constanly fighting to get the water away from the salt. The lower salinty is fine for fish. Corals HAVE to have the 1.025-1.026 to be healthy. if your running fish only drop the salinity. Or at least thats what I was told.

i do not agree with this. some fish are able to and do well with lower salinities, but most can handle them, but their colour is just not as good when kept in water that is not up to the salinity of NSW.

there is no reason to keep water lower than NSW. these fish have been adapted to 1.026 over millions of years. if anything i would think keeping the salinity lower would cause more strain on the fish.

G~

[fihsboy]

Its where my lfs keeps his tanks. I had an in depth talk with him about it. Thats just what I got out of it. There are so many variables to keeping aquaria that whos to say one thing is better than another. Its all based on your opinion and your experiences. What works for me may not work for you. Its all dependent on your variables. I kept a reef without a skimmer for almost a year. Some said I was stupid, but I had no nitrates no phosphates and no algae problems. i ran a 20 long with 100lbs of sand and 60 mangroves along with culpera on a 29 gallon tank. never had a problem with it. Its all dependent on what you have

[Geoff]

There are different ways to keep a reef, I am not argueing that point. Take a look at the pole results. If it really did not matter would the results have been this one sided. As jenglish mentioned earlier most LFS keep it lower because it is cheaper on costs. Our critters organs have adapted to this salinity for many many years, this is where they are most efficient. Just cause they can live in lower does not mean it is better. These fish live in the same environment as the corals that you said should be at 1.026. Why should they not be the same then?

Ask LFS if they test the salinity of bagged water when they get new fish? If they are not testing their water with a refractometer then I would find somewhere else for information. There are a few critters that will not survive if acclimated improperly. If this place does not have a refractometer than they are not able acclimate properly. There is not a real reference.

Echinoderms are one of those animals that I will not purchase from anywhere unless I can test the water myself with my refractometer.

G~

[Mr.Peanut]

Originally Posted by gouch

1.024-1.026 here

i too had a LFS tell me that keeping lower salinity levels prevent disease, "IF" its true then, it would only be beneficial in a FO tank.

Lower salinity or "hypo-salinity" can be used to fight ich. Its much too low to keep a reef or a FO tank for any extended period of time. Hypo will kill inverts and LR. Usually the salinity is lowered to @ 1.009 for up to 8 weeks.
There are 2 schools of thought as to why this will kill ich. Both are based on osmotic pressure. Its just which part of the parasites lifecycle is affected/disrupted. One says the lower salinity causes free swimming Theront to rupture, killing them. The other says that the reproductive stage (Tomont) needs a higher than available osmotic pressure to push out the Theronts and they end up dying because they cannot "hatch".

I am not sure which is right. I just know it works.

[Reeftanker3295]

Originally Posted by Mr.Peanut

Here's something I found interesting, I was just in the Caribbean and I brought home some water. It measured 1.028 with my refractometer.

I was thinkng of raising my salinity a bit.

But water could have evaporated from the water you collected, raising the salinity, meaning it was probably around 1.026 at first. I keep at 1.025