# How long does it take for salt levels to settle?



## Cory1990

I added salt and live sand last night and everything has settled today but on the hydrometer it says it's above 1.038 do I change in some freshwater to it? Or should I let it sit for another day?

I have one of the stick on the inside hydrometers also is this giving me a good reading?


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## TheOldSalt

Until the water is clear, you really can't be sure. At 1.038 already, you know it's only going to get higher as the salt finishes melting. Your best bet is to wait until it's clear, take out some water, and replace it with fresh water. SAVE the water you remove, though, so that if you make it too fresh you can re-add more salt without having to waste any more dry salt mix.


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## Cory1990

Lol I wish I saved the water. I removed about 2 gallons maybe and I had to add about a cap of salt. Now I'm at 1.026. Is that where I should be at for my salt tanks?


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## Adam

I always mix my water up outside of the tanks that way I'm not screwing with it in the tank. it's not as big of a deal if you don't have fish in there, but if you're doing water changes and have fish in there that much fluctuation is not healthy. Get a 30 Gallon trash can with wheels, and mix your water in there, keep a heater and powerhead in the water to keep it at temp and circulating. If you don't have that big of a tank and don't want to do that, you can mix it up in 5g buckets before dumping it in the tank and test the SG in them . it's a lot easier to fix 5 gallons of water than 55 or however many. As for the hydrometer, A refractometer is your best option, but if you want to stick with a hydrometer, go to petco, the 3 or 4 dollar blown glass thermometer/bobbing hydrometer is probably your best bet. It's a lot better than the 13 dollar instant ocean needle kinds. we have a couple that we use in the store, and i've tested the same water with 3 different instant ocean ones and came up with different answer every time. 1.026 is a tad high I would try not let it get above 1.024 but 1.020-022 would be best.


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## Cory1990

Thanks Adam, im slowly Starting to see that there's not a lot of people who know much of saltwater here 

This is the one I picked up for 15$ they didn't have the temp/hydrometer in stock. 










It's reading between 1.026 and 1.024 it just keeps bouncing as for the set up I only have live sand thus far a small power head rated for 35g I know I should prolly grab another one soon for this tank and I have a coralife 50/50 light 

Here is the reeding before I swapped some water










My lighting









And the tank itself 










I threw the bubble stone thing in there to help mix the salt.
I know what I need is live rock do you know of anything else I should have before I put fish in?


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## jlpropst00

I suggest a lot of patience. I'm also setting up a saltwater tank and plan to document the whole thing start to finish. Its really slow going because I'm poor and it pays to do things right the first time especially with so much money invested. While your tank is cycling, which can take over a month for saltwater, I would recommend going over to ReefCentral and camping out at the new to the hobby stickies. 

Its like you said there are some knowledgeable saltwater folks on this forum but they are few and far between. We need a few more OldSalts and Funlads. I think there used to be a lot more back in the day. We need to bring that back. I get a little tired of the "is it ok to keep 20 guppies in a 2.5g" questions (thats just me I'm sure there are people who love answering those questions). It just seem like the people who advance in the hobby from knowledge gained on this forum leave and we are stuck with beginners. Wow, that turned into a rant sorry...

Good luck with the tank keep us posted.


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## Cory1990

Do you think it would be on to keep 30 guppies in a 1/2 gallon? Just kidding lol

I agree with you and I'm sure a lot or advanced people would just shake there head at me with my questions. But like you said saltwater is costing me a lot. I just set two tanks up for saltwater and I spent a pretty penny on all of it. And the last thing I want is to watch both of them fail. Iv got the salt to 1.024-1.025 in the 10 gallon fish only tank and this bigger tank seems to be harder for me for some reason. But I'm going an inch at a time so I'm not wasting money. I think people who have never had fish rush into the saltwater. But I'm contempt with looking at my freshwater tropical tanks until I get these perfect.


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## funlad3

I don't know what, or if, there's a standing question right now. :lol: If either of you need anything, just post or PM me.  Go salt water!


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## Cory1990

Thanks Funlad! I was planning on just adding damsels to my tank after I find some live rock. Only because salt water fish are so spendy and I can get them for 10.99 each. Is that a good starter fish?


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## TheOldSalt

NO! Damsels are cheap for a reason; You don't want them. 1.023-1.024 is what you want.


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## TheOldSalt

On the other hand, damsels are super-tough and a good first fish. You just can't have anything else with them.


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## kay-bee

What is the volume of this tank?


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## jlpropst00

I knew there were some saltwater folks out there! I just think we need to build and encourage the saltwater community to grow on this forum. I'm seeing Reef Tank of the Month in the future...


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## Cory1990

One is a 30-35 bow, when it's cycled I want to make a mini reef the other is a 10g I want fish only tank. I was going to use the damsels to help me cycle both tanks and then give them away on craigslist. Iv had good luck giving away fish on there. Turns out people take anything for free lol. The 10g I want 2 maybe 3 small clownfish? Like nemo I'm not sure if that's what they are called so I'll use the kids movie as a example. The other I want coral safe fish and I'm not finished reading on what will work for the tank size and good with coral.


The 10g is at 1.024 and I'm about to check the other tank, it is higher then 1.028 I'm not sure how it went up or if it's the crap hydrometer I have. Any reason why it's higher then last nights reading??


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## Cory1990

We can do reef tank of the month if you all promise to vote for me bahahaha bahahaha (evil laugh of course) lol


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## jlpropst00

Clowns need at least 30g. One might be ok in a 10g while its small. As far as your SG its probably higher because the salt is dissolving and mixing in. Like Adam said you really need a refractometer to get a accurate reading.


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## Adam

jlpropst00 said:


> I get a little tired of the "is it ok to keep 20 guppies in a 2.5g" questions


How do you think I feel working at Petco. At least at a LFS it would be people who generally know a little about what they want.. and you wouldn't get as many people coming in absolutely clueless and then get mad when i wont sell them a clown fish for their 5 gallon tank with an undergravel filter.



Cory1990 said:


> Thanks Funlad! I was planning on just adding damsels to my tank after I find some live rock. Only because salt water fish are so spendy and I can get them for 10.99 each. Is that a good starter fish?


$10.99 is a lot for damsels. ours are like 4 or 5 bucks. But like OldSalt said, Damsels get mean and ugly when they get older. Your best bet is to cycle the tank with just the live rock. It usually has enough organisms in it that it will create enough ammonia to do the job within a few weeks.

If you do want to try some damsels, look for some Blue-Green Chromis they are a type of damsel, and will stay peaceful and pretty their whole life. Sometimes they will be sold as Blue Green Chromis or Green Chromis for a little more money, but we have them come in with our assorted damsels. Yellow Tail Blue Damsels don't get terribly nasty either. Ones to definitely stay away from would be dominos and the black and white striped ones. 

Like someone earlier said, Clowns need at least a 30g tank, and keeping a group of them can be tricky sometimes also, especially in a smaller tank. a 10g fish only tank in salt water is going to be tough, as most salt water fish require bigger tanks. Usually if someone has a 10g salt tank, it's a nano-reef tank with corals and maybe 1 or 2 small fish like a wrasse or a pseudochromis, or something along those lines.


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## Cory1990

See good thing someone chimed in for me lol. What colorful fish will go well in my 10g and what will go into my 30g and let's all keep in mind budget. I was going with the damsels because yet were the cheapest salt fish I could get locally then I was going to remove them to put in nicer looking fish when I'm more ready for them. I just don't see dropping a 60$ fish in that may not survive


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## Adam

Damsels are almost impossible to catch once you get liverock in there. they are one of the quickest fish we sell, and then add on all the caves and holes in live rock, they are almost impossible.. as far as small fish for your 10g, maybe a firefish, clown goby, 6 line wrasse, green chromis, yellow tail blue damsel maybe some shrimp, crabs, snails and things like that. (obviously not all of those, do some research with them see what ones get what sizes and how many you want to do) technically the 6 line wrasse and damsels should be in at least a 30, but i've seen many people keep them in nano tanks before.

I saw someone recommended reefcentral, I like Reeflounge.com also. there are some pretty knowledgable guys on there, or there used to be, i haven't been on there in a couple years. a word of warning they are a little more snooty than what i've noticed the people around here. so if they make fun of you for asking questions, just ignore the snobbyness. lol


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## Cory1990

Lol alright I'll check them out, if I get bashed a little it's alright I'm just trying to get the right set up for the fish.


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## funlad3

My vote is deffinitely for a clown goby. 

Green Clown Goby:











Yellow Clown Goby:


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## Cory1990

Lol I was just checking the green one out at the fish store I didn't know what it was Valle but I did really like them


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## funlad3

Awesome; let your tank cycle and then get one!


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## Cory1990

Yes yes, the waiting game has started  I found a guy on craigslist taking down a tank selling his live rock for 4$ a pound so hopefully I can get some tmro


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## Adam

$4 a pound is a decent price. There's a salt water store in Indianapolis which is about an hour from me called Premium Aquatics and their cheapest live rock (aside from rubble and base rock and stuff) is around $4 a pound or so I believe. I've been up there a time or two and it's a really cool place, they do most of their business online but open up for walk in hours a couple hours during the weekend. the guys that work there are super helpful too. I'd recommend checking them out online.


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## PuterChickFL

Well, looks like my first SW will be a damsel tank lol

I have a domino that likes to play with a 3 stripe. They are cool to watch


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## Cory1990

Yea I was only thinking of doing them because it was the cheapest way to get started, the gobys are kind of neat also and not to expensive


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## PuterChickFL

how is the tank coming along?

one thing I wanted to mention, when your budget allows it, get yourself a refractometer. I had a hydrometer and I had readings all over the place. The refractometer wont steer you wrong and it's worth every penny.

Even tho someone mentioned it's touch catching them once their in the tank, I thought I'd try it anyway. That was a sight to see LOL. And even tho the domino is my favorite, he has really been beating up on my 3-stripe


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## Cory1990

It's "going" for this tank I still don't have everything set up the way I want it. So I'm making this a long term project. The tank is already set up and running just no fish yet. Iv been playing with it to see how out or wack the salt levels get with evaporation and adding water. So far it's just a huge pain in the butt. 

Anyways in the next couple weeks im putting fish in it.


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## jlpropst00

You need an Auto Top Off system (JBJ ATO $60). Beats adding water every 6hours.


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## funlad3

Cheaper ATO that works just as well and never glitches. 

autotopoff.com


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## PuterChickFL

I feel you. My salt levels and other parameters are okay but i'm going thru a diatom outbreak. Other than that I'm ready for fish myself


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## Cory1990

i think i could make my own auto top off for less then 30$ lol, trust me im a handy man, 80% of my home furniture from my bed frame to my kitchen table to some of my chairs, iv built it all by hand. id much rather make my own then waste money because it has a name made for aquariums... but yes iv been pondering on where i could put a 55g trash can so i can make an auto top off for the salt tanks.


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## funlad3

Sorry, I forgot to put the link! :lol:


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## jlpropst00

Thanks for the link Funlad. I will look into those switches.


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## funlad3

No problem! For now, I'm stuck dumping in 5 gallon buckets. I'm less than broke...


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