after every water change do i have to put salt in

[supamarine]

i do a water change frequently these days to reduce nitrate..and replace the salt to get gravity to normal..this is wasting my salt and money...so is this necessary or is their another solution thanx?

 

[lizardarm]

i may be reading what you are trying to say incorrectly, but it sounds like you are putting the fresh water in the tank, then adding salt to the tank to adjust you salinity. if this is the case, that's not a good idea. you should be mixing the salt into the replacement water in a seperate container, such as a five gallon (sorry don't know how many liters that is) bucket. when the salininty in the bucket is the same as the salinity in your aquarium, you should be good to go. it's also a good idea to make sure that the replacement water has been well aerated before you put it into the aquarium. the aeration will affect the ph of the water.
the bottom line is that if you don't replace the salt when you do water changes, your salinity will slowly drop until you no longer have salt water, just water.
when you are just toppping off your water due to loss from evaporation, you should not be adding salt. the water evaporates, but the salt in the water generally stays put.

 

[Scooterman]

It isn't a waste, normally you would vacuum your tank after blowing off your rocks thoroughly, & while lots of waste is still floating in the water column, you can remove as much as you can. This removes salt also, so yes you need to make up a batch of DO/DI water first & salt mix to the same salinity as in your aquarium, adjusting the temperature & using a power head to mix the solution throughly, usually over night or at least a few hours until the water clears up, it is considered good house keeping. You can vacuum without having to do a water change though, I throw a 5 micron sock filter in the sump and siphon the main tank with a hose directed into the sock, the allows me to remove waste without actually changing out water, I usually do this between water changes.

 

[Jonathan G.]

yea i dont know if i am reading wrong or not but is does sound like you are placing freshwater into your tank then adding the salt to bring the SG up? well if thats the way your are doing water changes i suggest you go with the route of setting your water aside with a powerhead and a heater then add your salt and birng it up to the right SG and temp. let it run for about 24-48hours then when you vaccuum your water from your tank just take a turkey baster and blast the rocks and suck up as much as much of the free floating debris as you can. then add the saltwater you have aside for the water change using your powerhead and attaching a hose to the nozzle is the easiest way i've found. and if you measured the SG in your water change to the SG in your tank there should not be a change in SG. i also have to alike buckets and made a mark on both buckets so i know when to stop taking water out of the tank. i also use the old water to rinse off all my sponges from my filters pumps and powerheads.

oh and scooterman thanks for the idea with the filter sock and syphon i never though about that im gonna have to try that out.

 

[supamarine]

thanx guys

yeh thanx guys and also wat u mean by vacummin it out like the aqua shop told me as well to clean algae by vacummin it off how u do dat..like is it a device?

 

[MadReef]

I think it would also be possible to vacuum you tank into your sump (if you have one). That way you don't have to pour the water back to your tank by hand. I have yet to try this, but I'm sure it would work well between water changes.