Hi! Just Set Up My First Saltwater Tank. Need Help!

[Cardonam]

Hello! My name is Mark. I just set up a salt water tank. It's a 38G tank. I have live rock waiting to be put in but my water is reading over 1.028 at the moment. I'm afraid the my rocks will die before they are put in. Is there a way to reduce the gravity levels? Am I just going to have to wait until it just lowers on its own? If so, what do I do with my live rocks? I'm completely new to all of this. My fiancé and I have had a fresh water tank for a couple of years now but this is our first salt water tank.

Any and all advice would be so appreciated I look forward to this communities help

Mark

 

[Donya]

Specific gravity can be lowered by slowly adding RO water - emphasis on slowly if there is anything living in the tank! If there is nothing in the tank except water then you can adjust it within a day, but you need to wait a bit for it to mix properly between corrections to make sure you get an accurate reading, otherwise you can end up adding too much and it will undershoot your target specific gravity later when it fully mixes.
 
EDIT: oops, forgot something important. How are you measuring the sg? If it's a hydrometer (vs. a temperature-correcting refractometer) it could be an inaccurate reading if you haven't calibrated it and corrected for temperature.

 

[Cardonam]

Specific gravity can be lowered by slowly adding RO water - emphasis on slowly if there is anything living in the tank! If there is nothing in the tank except water then you can adjust it within a day, but you need to wait a bit for it to mix properly between corrections to make sure you get an accurate reading, otherwise you can end up adding too much and it will undershoot your target specific gravity later when it fully mixes.
 
EDIT: oops, forgot something important. How are you measuring the sg? If it's a hydrometer (vs. a temperature-correcting refractometer) it could be an inaccurate reading if you haven't calibrated it and corrected for temperature.

 

Specific gravity can be lowered by slowly adding RO water - emphasis on slowly if there is anything living in the tank! If there is nothing in the tank except water then you can adjust it within a day, but you need to wait a bit for it to mix properly between corrections to make sure you get an accurate reading, otherwise you can end up adding too much and it will undershoot your target specific gravity later when it fully mixes.
 
EDIT: oops, forgot something important. How are you measuring the sg? If it's a hydrometer (vs. a temperature-correcting refractometer) it could be an inaccurate reading if you haven't calibrated it and corrected for temperature.

Thanks for the information Donya.  I put in my live rock last night.  I am using a hydrometer.  I had called a friend for help and they said the hydrometer should be shaken once the tank water is in it.  I shook it and it gave me the reading I wanted.