[kwirky]

I don't know if having a high salinity could have been the sole cause of death in your fish. I'm thinking there are other factors involved too.

my own hydrometer was 0.003 off. I was first running my system supposedly at 1.026 when it was actually being run at 1.029. I discovered this after I bought my refractometer. If you can't afford one now, maybe see if anyone in the area will come over with theirs? Then you can find out where your hydrometer is really at and adjust accordingly. Remember to allways keep the hydrometer submerged in saltwater. Just leave it in your sump, or hanging off the side of the tank if it's sumpless. If it dries out, you have to soak it in salt water for 24 hours again, and it's reading will have to be re-calibrated with a refractometer.

FYI if you're wondering about my own tank's parameters:

I run my system between 1.024-1.025 salinity, depending on the month and whether I've been removing water from the tank due to acclimating new additions or frag packing etc. Each water change I bring it back up to 1.025, usually a .001 of a change. I have a ghetto air driven top off system with a 6g glass jug I fill every 2-3 days. I use a refractometer now.

my calcium's kept at 420, and alkalinity at 7-8 dkh. My ph is 8.2 mid day, and 8.0 late at night. nitrates are kept undetectable (below 0.2ppm with a salifert kit). I only have 4 small (<3") fish in my 120g tank.