newbie starting sw, will have questions as I progress!

**ILuvMyGoldBarb** · 01-17-2010, 01:58 PM

With a 40gal tank it's not necessarily a bad thing to keep your salinity a little low. The smaller your tank the higher greater the effect evaporation will have on your salinity. Rather than having it go too high, keeping it at 1.021-1.023 will help keep your salinity from raising above 1.025.

**sheamurai** · 01-17-2010, 06:24 PM

ok, thanks...good to know...(I'm noticing that salinity seems to be a personal perference, lol)

**Rue** · 01-17-2010, 06:47 PM

Some personal preference...but mostly dictated by what's in your tank. Corals and inverts (reef tank) need a higher salinity (I've seen 1.024-1.026 suggested)...fish can get by with less (for a FOWLR I've seen recommendations of 1.021-1.023). A little fluctuation is okay...a lot is not. A 'lot' would be 1 point in a short period of time. I did notice that in my display tank, with the lid, I have very little evaporation and fluctuation. I top the water 2-3 times a week - but not by very much...

My open-topped frag tank was horrendous for evaporation...had to top it off daily and by quite a bit...so the fluctuation in salinity was much more problematic in that tank...

**Amazon** · 01-18-2010, 01:12 AM

agreed. I like to mimic the ocean. average salinity in natural reefs is usually 1.023-1.026.

**sheamurai** · 01-18-2010, 01:20 AM

well, I have a few corals so I'll be bumping up both calcium and salinity to more optimum levels. It kinda sounds like a bit high is better than a bit low, in any case.
Thanks all, much appreciated.

**sheamurai** · 01-19-2010, 01:37 PM

Morning all
Something odd happened in my tank overnight. A frag (not really a rock, but more of a rocky debris held together with green matt and zoas) that was placed up high in the tank on a flattish surface of rock, has mysteriously ended up on a ledge/crevice 3" lower. Where the zoa was, there is a hermit crab, and a dead hermit crab sans shell.
Zoas don't travel like anemones, do they? Should I leave it where it lies, or put it back up on the ledge where I want it? Its VERY odd that the zoa segment landed completely flat, it doesn't look like the current rolled it off the top ledge where it was, and I can't see the hermits carrying it, they are still small at an inch or just under.
What the heck's going on?

**Amazon** · 01-19-2010, 08:56 PM

my hermits do similiar. once the zoa lands on a rock it reataches itself.

**BigMac** · 01-20-2010, 03:56 AM

Your hermit molted

**sheamurai** · 01-20-2010, 12:06 PM

huh, thanks guys. It never occurred to me that the hermit molted, the carcass seemed rather fuller than say a shrimp molt, but it was very light when I scooped it out.
Whew! I put the zoa back where I wanted it, and dumped the hermit back on the sand.

**sheamurai** · 01-22-2010, 01:55 AM

Ok. THIS HAIR ALGAE IS UHHHHHGLEEEEEEE!
Can I not buy someone to eat this? It looks like ferns on a forest floor! UGH!!! Bearded rocks! It flows in the current!
AARRRGH!

ps - Day 21. Only reading still "off" is nitrates, which have dropped to ten. I am hoping after a water change tomorrow and good vacuuming, it will drop further.