Im so lost

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by slider9969

i kep reading and reading and watching videos that are a bit helpfull but dont tell you the details . Hell im still trying to get my salinity right lol . Thanks to a local store that said yeh put the whole bucket into the tank. I have a 20 gallon tank with nothing but water so far but hope i figure this out soon,

So you 'really did' add a whole bucket of salt to your 20g tank?

I thought it was a typo when you typed 'Hell im still trying to get my salinity right lol . Thanks to a local store that said yeh put the whole bucket into the tank.'
I thought you meant to say 'help I'm still trying ... '

So, you've dumped a whole 5 gallon pail into a 20g tank. You're going to want to try and save the water you're about to remove as salt isn't cheap

If you've truly added a whole bucket of salt to a 20g tank, remove about 17.5 gallons of water (save it) and add RO to top off the tank.

Then check your salinity and go from there.

EDIT:

I see you stated you've been slowly removing and adding water ...

If you know how much of this you've done we can do some math.
If not, just get some buckets and drain it all down to the sand.
Once you have the water in buckets we can figure out the salinity with some math and you should be good to go with how much to add back in.

I hope you have or are planning on buying a refractometer

[88keys]

That wasn't a very good explanation from the lfs.

Whats the last reading you have on the hydrometer

Wait until the water clears before continuing to correct salinity.

Rinse your hydrometer really well.

You are going to need to remove a good amount of the water(i agree save it), then you will need to top up with ro/di or distilled. Then check it again.

I would try to get the temp up to 77-79, 72 is pretty low.

Are you having any other issues you need help with?

[88keys]

When using the hydrometer, tap it well once filledto remove air bubbles and put it on a level surface.

I highly recommend a refractometer.

[WarDog]

Sorry to hear you've been given bad direction. I'd be interested to hear which LFS said that, you can PM me if you're too shy to say publicly.

Throw the hydrometer in the garbage. You'll get a more accurate reading by dipping your finger in and tasting the water IMHO.

Get a refractometer tomorrow. It's a basic staple in keeping a salt water aquarium... but you know this.

What brand of salt was it? Generally speaking, it's about half a cup of salt to one gallon of RO/DI water. So for 20 gals you should have used about 9 cups, then measured salinity and adjusted from there.

Good luck.

[mike31154]

I'm a bit late to the party here & probably not much help at this point, but even without a hydrometer or refractometer, if you read the instructions that are usually printed on the bucket of salt, they will give you a ratio of cups of salt to gallons of water to get you fairly close to the desired salinity....

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...hreadid=119214

Relax, take a break & slow down... it takes time to get a salt water tank going.