5 Tips for Maintaining Stable Salinity in a Saltwater Tank

While salinity and otherwater parametersare relatively constant on the natural coral reefs, they’re highly prone to undesirable fluctuation in the closed system of a marine aquarium. As conscientious hobbyists who want to provide the most naturalistic environment possible for the sensitive fish and invertebrates in our care, one of our primary responsibilities is to maintain stable water-chemistry values in the face of various influences that tend to promote instability.

在盐水系统中保持稳定的盐度（或特定的重力，具体的重力，具体的重力）时，您会发现有几个因素正在努力破坏您的努力。以下是如何抵消它们：

#1: Top off for evaporation with fresh water only

Remember: salt and other dissolved solids do not evaporate. When evaporation occurs in your aquarium, the salinity actually increases as the water volume decreases. Thus, if you top off your tank with salt water to compensate for evaporation, the salinity will climb because now you have more dissolved salt than you began with. On the other hand, replacing the evaporated water with an equal volume of purified fresh water will keep the salinity right where you want it.

最后一句话中的关键短语是“相等的纯净淡水”。为了稳定，重要的是，您必须更换或更少的水比蒸发量丢失的水。为了确保您在每个顶部添加正确的音量，以某种方式将所需的水位标记为所需的水位很有帮助。例如，我只是将一块胶带放在我要维护的水位上的每个系统的水底上。

同时,尽量不要让太多的时间流逝的赌注ween top offs. The longer you wait, the steeper the fluctuation in salinity will be. Freshwater top offs should be considered a daily chore.

＃2：混合新盐水时搭配盐度

当然，您用于换水的任何替代盐水都必须与要去除的脏水完全相同。但是不要依靠您立即获得的测量mixing new salt water. Let the water sit at least overnight while it’s being heated (to match the temperature in your tank) and aerated, then test it again before using it. Sometimes you’ll get a slightly different reading after the water has had a chance to mix and stabilize, in which case you may need to make slight adjustments by adding either more salt or fresh water before using it in your tank.

#3: Make one-to-one water changes

Just as you need to compensate for evaporation by adding an equal volume of purified fresh water, any time you perform a常规水变化，至关重要的是，更换或多或少的盐水比您去除的盐水至关重要。To achieve this, you can use that same mark on your aquarium or sump as a reference for how much salt water to replace (assuming you’ve already topped off the tank that day) or you can simply keep track of how many buckets, etc., of water you remove and replace the same amount. If you use the latter technique, you must also be sure to fill the bucket or other vessel to the exact same level each time.

#4: Compensate for salt creep

One of the most visible factors influencing salinity is盐蠕变—that crusty salt buildup that occurs on any surface exposed to air and saltwater spray, such as the top edge of the tank, the cover, power cords emerging from the aquarium, etc. Over time, this loss of salt can lower the salinity, so you may occasionally need to compensate by adding small quantities of sea salt (dissolved in aquarium water and added very gradually) to your system.

#5: Don’t forget the small stuff

In addition to freshwater top offs, water changes, and salt creep, there are numerous smaller factors that we don’t tend to give much thought but can still have an effect on salinity over time. For example:

• 每当你时适应新标本, some salt water is necessarily removed from your system. If you forget about this and later top off the tank with fresh water, you’ll end up lowering the salinity in the process, if only to a small degree.
• If you get into reefkeeping, a similar example would be bagging up coral frags to sell to your local dealer or fellow aquarist. This often involves the removal of small amounts of aquarium water that would need to be replaced with an equal volume of salt water.
• 你的protein skimmercan even have an effect on the salinity level. Each time you empty your collection cup, you lose a small amount of salt.

这些次要的因素都不会单独引起盐度突然急剧转移，但是随着时间的流逝，它们会产生影响。定期使用折光仪或比重计（至少应每周进行的常规维护琐事）进行定期测试，这会发现与所需的盐度/特定重力水平的任何转变，因此您可以迅速做出反应以纠正问题，然后再纠正问题。发音。