increasing SG

[rica5tully]

Hello,

I have a 55 gallon with a single damsel in it. (I'm going slow...testing the water before I invest any real money).

Right now the SG is at 1.023 I want to get it up to 1.025 so I can add some crabs and snails.

Is there any way to do that except for during water changes? Can I put a 1/2 cup of salt in the tank once a day or anything like that? Or will that kill the damsel?

I can increase the SG with my water changes, but that will take weeks!

Thanks.

[Guy W]

1.023 is fine for inverts. I run my tank around 1.021 and I've never had problems with snails, crabs or shrimp. I think .025 is actually kinda high.

Guy

[rica5tully]

O.K. That sounds good.

I thought 1.025 was necessarly for corals and stuff. I just assumed that it would be for other inverts as well.

[Dale W.]

Our local waters run about 1.025 on average here but you will find that 1.023 is a good happy medium to work with. Most of the wholesalers and LFS's keep the fish at around 1.021 and the inverts around 1.025. A good idea is to always check the water in the bag against the water in your tank and aclimate accordingly. Another strong suggestion is to take your Hydrometer to a good LFS and calibrate it against a refractometer so you know the exact real SG. I just did 2 of them for a pet shop. One of them was .014 low and the other one was .016 high. I dont trust the plastic hydrometers for accuracy.

[Kurt]

If specific gravity is low just wait a week it will rise on its own as water evaporates.

[gbolton]

Waiting a week for water to evaporate will increase SG but depends on if your pumps can handle water at that level or if you want a nice gap of water at the top of the tank. of course if you have a sump then its just a level change in your sump.