Salinity for QT tank

[djryan2000]

I’m setting up a QT tank using two pieces of live rock from my old tank. I’m just curious as to the salinity I should set it up as. I’m not sure which vendor I’ll be selecting a fish from next, and even my LFS keeps fish in different salinities depending on the section of the store. They’re either at 1.019 or 1.026.

Any advice as far as what salinity to cycle the tank at?


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[Michael Hoaster]

That's a tough one. In a perfect world, you know where you will buy your next fish, and what salinity it was in. The last time I bought fish from LA, they told me what salinity they were in. When I got the fish, they were in a different salinity, so I had to alter the salinity of 3 QTs, while the clock was ticking!

So I guess the answer is dependent on your preference of raising or lowering salinity quickly. I personally lean towards lower salinity, so I'll likely have to add salt mix, rather than throw out salt water and add fresh. I'm cheap and hate to waste money. However, after thinking about it, it's likely less stressful to the fish to add fresh water than salt, so maybe go with a higher salinity, and expect to lower it. In that case I'd just use water from the display and be ready to lower salinity when you know what it needs to be.

[billdogg]

Fish can adjust fairly well to a lower salinity without much in the way of acclimatization, so I'd figure out what the lowest number is and go with that if everything going into QT is a fish.

If there are corals or inverts you need to match their salinity as closely as possible.

In either case, over a period of a couple weeks, slowly adjust the QT to match your display tank parameters. I do that by using DT water for the water changes in the QT. By the time they are ready to be set free in their new home everything matches up perfectly, and with the increased use of water from the DT, it has gotten any number of little water changes as well. Win Win!!

[djryan2000]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

That's a tough one. In a perfect world, you know where you will buy your next fish, and what salinity it was in. The last time I bought fish from LA, they told me what salinity they were in. When I got the fish, they were in a different salinity, so I had to alter the salinity of 3 QTs, while the clock was ticking!

So I guess the answer is dependent on your preference of raising or lowering salinity quickly. I personally lean towards lower salinity, so I'll likely have to add salt mix, rather than throw out salt water and add fresh. I'm cheap and hate to waste money. However, after thinking about it, it's likely less stressful to the fish to add fresh water than salt, so maybe go with a higher salinity, and expect to lower it. In that case I'd just use water from the display and be ready to lower salinity when you know what it needs to be.

Thank you! That’s what I was thinking - salt takes hours to mix but seconds to dilute. I’ll use DT water to cycle it.


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