Evaporation

[saltyflash]

I have a 90 gallon sw aquarium with another ~20 g sump that loses about 2 gallons+ every 2 to 3 days due to the warm dry air in the house. That's expected and no big deal except before I noticed it my salinity went slowly from 1.023 to about 1.029. I had been lax in checking it religiously-obviously.
My question-how do I get it back down. I know water changes but do I change about 5 gallon daily with no salt or every other day with a reduced salinity? I know slow and steady, no quick big changes but what do you do to maintain a constant salinity with dry winter evaporation?

 

[Mooch28]

I have a 90 gallon sw aquarium with another ~20 g sump that loses about 2 gallons+ every 2 to 3 days due to the warm dry air in the house. That's expected and no big deal except before I noticed it my salinity went slowly from 1.023 to about 1.029. I had been lax in checking it religiously-obviously.
My question-how do I get it back down. I know water changes but do I change about 5 gallon daily with no salt or every other day with a reduced salinity? I know slow and steady, no quick big changes but what do you do to maintain a constant salinity with dry winter evaporation?

Huum, if your topping off, i dont see how salinity can swing so high. I replace easily 2-3 litres of water per day on my 110, but my salinity never swings, and allways stays constant at 1.025.

Are you sure you are topping off at the same level everyday?? Secondly, what are you using to measure salinity? Hydrometer or refractometer. Hydrometers are natoroius for being inaccurate.

 

[macphoto]

I have a 90 gallon sw aquarium with another ~20 g sump that loses about 2 gallons+ every 2 to 3 days due to the warm dry air in the house. That's expected and no big deal except before I noticed it my salinity went slowly from 1.023 to about 1.029.

Just to confirm... you're topping off with freshwater, right?

--Mike

 

[saltyflash]

I'm topping off with ro water and using a refractometer and it is calibrated. The problem was I was mixing sw to the salinity I wanted (1.024) without regard for the rising salinity in the tank. The rise was over several weeks...my bad for not checking it. Simple really...water evaporates leaving behind the salt so when I added new top-off I was adding additional salt to an already high level. Now i'm going with just freshwater.

I'm just curious how other people handle evaporation .

 

[OrionGirl]

Top off with freshwater. Always, not just now. Use saltwater for changes only.

For now, you'll want to slowly reduce the salinity--no more than .001 every other day. So, topoff with the freshwater, check it, remove 1 gallon, split it with a gallon of freshwater, add back half. This will take a while, but that's better than the alternative.

 

[rayjay]

In my experience, with my 90's, you can remove a gallon of salt water and let a gallon of fresh water siphon in using air line tubing, and do this three times a day (spaced out, not all at once) until you get where you want.
Personally, I run at 1.026 where the ocean water normally runs so I wouldn't have to go down very far.