Salt Level

cdawson

cdawson

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Jan 6, 2003
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I'm having alot of trouble with my salt levels in my new 50g tank I filled the tank up when I got it cycled it, however I put in the salt. When I drained it and re-filled it (leaving only an inch of water) I then filled it back up and again added a tablespoon of salt per 10 gallons. That's when I realized that my hydrometer was a piece of garbage it showed 1.019. It's a corallife deepsix, I went out today to replace the hydrometer with a floating hydrometer (see post "floating hydrometer). it just floated around at 1.000, I then added another two cups of salt, it now says it's 1.021. It also says my 10g tank with 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons is 1.19 as well. the same reading. I don't understand, I let the hydrometer sit for 24 hours in water and then used it. Is there anything I can do to reset it so I can get proper readings? I need to get this tank ready, I've got fish on the way (being shipped) and I can't afford a new floating hydrometer right now! or could someone tell me what level this would be without a hydrometer till I can afford one?!
 
What kind of fish are you getting? You need to find out what salinity the place you're getting them from have been keeping these fish. Then I can probably give you a guesstimate on how much salt to add. Sorry you're having so much trouble, it seems like you're really trying to make things as natural & right for you fish as you can. Keep up the good work!
 
I have a green spotted puffer in what i guess would be between 1.012-1.014... As i said the hydrometer is garbage. im also getting 2 mono argentus juveniles. i have 44 lbs of silica sand in a 55gal (i know how big monos get and im going to make up for it)
i think tha salt level should be between 1.014-1.016
 
How much salt did you put in the tank originally before you drained it and refilled it? If you added the same amount of salt that you did when you refilled it, plus the 2 cups, you should not have anywhere near an SG of 1.019. It takes about 10 cups of salt to result in a specific gravity of 1.014 in approximately 35 gallons of water. I own a Coralife Deep Six hydrometer as well and I find that it works fine. One thing that you have to watch out for is that there are no air bubbles stuck to the swinging arm that gives you the reading. If there are you will get a false reading every time. Do you still have the deep six? If so give a try again after adding the appropriate amount of salt. What I find works well to avoid bubbles is to fill it up in the water you are testing , pour out the water , then repeat this once more. Fill it up once again, but this time lower it into the water slowly so that it fills up slowly. I find that if I do this procedure that I will usually not get any air bubbles sticking to the swing arm. This unfortunately is a little problem that you have to deal with with these type of hydrometers.
 
it's funny that you say that about still having the deep six, I almost lost it the same way I lost the other hydrometer. I dropped it off my stand and lost a little corner off of it but it shouldn't affect the reading because it should have nothing to do with the lever or the water running in. I see what your saying about trying a few times because I've had proper readings before just not frequently. Thanks for the help, I added when first filling the tank up about 4 tablespoons of salt, then emptying to about 1 inch of water. I then re-filled and added 4 tablespoons of seachem brackish salt. I then (after thinking the salt level was way too high) emptied about 25 gallons of water, refilled with freshwater and then added aprox. 3 cups of salt. So i should have a reading of about approximately 1.10 then right?
 
should the lever go up to the gravity level then go back down to the bottom or should it go up to the gravity level and stay there until you empty the water out? so far, no air bubbles. same reading. 1.019. Could my hydrometer be off by 5 points or so? How can I be sure my hydrometer is even getting right readings? When I had the floating hydrometer it wasn't much help either it just stayed at 1.000. I should have at least 3 cups of salt in the tank so I should at least get a reading of 1.010 or 1.011 shouldn't I?
 
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Is that 4 tablespoons of salt per gallon that you added, or 4 table spoons to the whole tank? If it is 4Tbsp/g then I would estimate that after you removed and added the water, then added the 3 cups of salt that you would now have approximately 9 cups of salt in your water. If not then would have just over 3 cups of salt. If you have 9 cups of salt then you should be around an SG of 1.010 or maybe a point or two lower. I don't remember how much salt I used it acheive an SG of 1.010. If you have just over 3 cups of salt your SG will be alot lower. The lever should go up to the specific gravity level and stay there. If you are sure that the hydrometer is not broken anywhere on or around the lever or where it fills up with water, then you might just have a defective unit. Myself and others have used this particular hydrometer with sucess.
 
To see if your hydrometer is accurate, why don't you take it to your lfs & test their SW with it, against their hydrometer.
 
I added 4 tablespoons to the tank (like the lfs , which I now know is dumb. they keep scats in that). I should right now have around 3 cups of salt in the tank. the coral life deep six doesn't register anything lower than 1.010 so if I only have 3 cups in the tank I don't even have enough to register on it. how many more cups should I add to get a specific gravity of 1.014? All I need to know is how many cups per 10 gallons to get that gravity level.
 
One problem with not owning a hydrometer is that you never know exactly what your specific gravity is. You cannot rely on measured quantities of salt. Readings of specific gravity will change using measured amounts of salt depending on the amount of moisture in the salt. If you live or keep your salt in a humid enviroment the amont of moisture in your salt can be considerable. The more moisture your salt contains the lower the specific gravity you will have. I measure amounts of salt when I mix water and fortunately I find that the amount of salt I require is the same everytime. I am speculating that the reason this is because I keep my salt sealed in a tight fitting bucket in and in a non-humid location, I also seal the bucket immediately after I take out the required amount of salt. I would approximate that in order to produce a specific gravity of 1.014 in your tank, that you would need 14 cups of salt, assuming that your 50 gallon tank actually holds 50 gallons of water. It may hold several gallons less depending on the inner measurments of your tank, amount of gravel, rocks, decorations, fish, etc. Basically anything you place in the tank will displace water. Estimate how many gallons you have and multiply by 0.286 in order to get the amount of salt you need. This is figure produces a specific gravity of 1.014 in my water.
 
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