Newbie Question On Salinity In New Tank

[blurry]

I'm in the process of getting my first salt water tank up and running I moved the fresh hater fish out of the 72 bow and moved them into their newly designed home which is a 46 bow front in the living room. Now that they are happily exploring it is time to get the 72 operational again.

I drained the tank (72 G), cleaned it with water (it was very clean for 2 years of having fresh water fish, amazing how keeping it out of sunlight helps!), washed 80lbs of marine sand, plugged in a new Eihiem pro2, and put in one bag of instant ocean salt (1/2 a bag shy of what is recommended)

When putting in the salt I slowly poured it in front of the spray bar which was circulating the salt. After 2 hours I checked the level and it was 1.025. I stirred the sand around a bit to make sure there was no salt at the bottom, waited another hour and the level was 1.016 -

Why would the salinity go down after stirring the sand? Could it be because the tank was filled with cold water and the heaters are slowly heating the tank?

thanks for the inputs!

 

[SkiFletch]

Could be, but its more likely that you had improper mixing that lead to an abnormally high reading. In the future, never mix saltwawter in the tank, always do it in buckets.

 

[crazyelece]

most likely it was due to the temp difference between the tests. Depending on how you measured the salinity the temperature is very important. Always measure the salinity at a temp of 75 degrees F or when the mixed water gets up to temp. Most of the hydrometers are calibrated at this temp.

 

[blurry]

most likely it was due to the temp difference between the tests. Depending on how you measured the salinity the temperature is very important. Always measure the salinity at a temp of 75 degrees F or when the mixed water gets up to temp. Most of the hydrometers are calibrated at this temp.

good to know! I'll mix in a bucket from now on. Is there a small pump I can use to pump from the bucket into the tank? The top of my tank is about 5 feet up, even at 6 foot tall it is higher than I care to pour 4 to 5 gallons of water in.

thanks!

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, having a smaller powerhead to mix water and transfer water up to the tank is a great idea . Just about anything with a max head of 8 feet or so should suit you well.

 

[crazyelece]

Do you have a sump? I usually add (and remove) water out of the sump since it is the lower anyway. Also it helps dilute the fresh with the old before it reaches any of the livestock in the display. If you don't have a sump try lifting the bucket up on a table next to the tank so the height isn't as bad, then you can use a small statuary pump with a section of hose on it.

 

[blurry]

Do you have a sump? I usually add (and remove) water out of the sump since it is the lower anyway. Also it helps dilute the fresh with the old before it reaches any of the livestock in the display. If you don't have a sump try lifting the bucket up on a table next to the tank so the height isn't as bad, then you can use a small statuary pump with a section of hose on it.

\no sump yet, maybe down the road- for now just a can filter