Do I need to adjust my Specific Gravity?

[Myka]

That's pretty low. Aim to raise it about 0.001 per day.

[jassz]

That's what I did today... brought it up .001. I think I put in over 5 cups of salt!

[Myka]

It will take quite a bit...can't remember how big your tank is without going back to page 1 though, and I'm too lazy (tired) to do that right now. You aren't pouring the undissolved salt right into the tank are you? The best way to do it is to siphon out some tank water, add salt to that, and pour it back in. Or, do a 10-25% waterchange and mix the new sw to a higher sg.

[jassz]

It is 135 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sump. Midweek I changed out 15 gallons (nitrate was a bit high), and tonight I changed out 10 (slight ammonia). I mixed the extra salt in to the water going in, and then put it into the sump (and also via bucket right into the tank). Tomorrow I think I'll just add as much water as it takes to dissolve several cups of salt. I figure the higher the SG, the less salt it takes to bring it up 0.001. Do you agree?

[Myka]

Yes, but not by very much...although I'm having difficulties wrapping my brain around that right now.

Ah, that's why it took so much salt. That's a lot of water volume. After the initial cycle, your tank should never have ammonia or nitrite. The presence of either is called a mini cycle, and means that you have done something to either damage the biofilter or you have added new critters which are demanding a bigger biofilter and it will take a bit of time for the biofilter to catch up.

[Johnny Reefer]

Originally Posted by Myka

.... After the initial cycle, your tank should never have ammonia or nitrite. ....

I have to disagree with this, as it is one of my pet peeves. Ammonia and nitrite are always present. It is undetectable test readings which are desired, indicating extremely low levels of both.