Salt Creep

What exactly is it? What causes it, and what are some ways to prevent it? What damage does it do to your tank water?

I have salt creep action going on with one of my tanks - the smallest one - and also the only tank that is low in salinity (I'm guessing due to salt creep?).

But I don't really understand what it is, and how I can prevent it from happening.

Help me, oh wise Reef Geeks!!

You scared me, i saw the title of the thread and thought " what did i do"

You know, I thought for a moment you might think I was talking to you! Sorry for the fright!

Salt creep is just saltwater that has evaporated, leaving the salt and minerals behind (only the H2O evaporates, everything else stays) this happens over and over and over....result.....salt creep. The only spot i get it is in the sump where the water comes in from the dt and continually sprays a bit. where are you getting yours at?

I bet he was excited thinking someone was talking about him

I have no real idea what causes salt creep - although, I've heard many theories
- evaporation
- low magnesium levels
- low calcium levels

Originally Posted by Saltcreep

...where are you getting yours at?

The only place in my small tank is at the top where the corners are. Some of them are under the light, but even the ones that aren't have it.

Originally Posted by estanoche

I bet he was excited thinking someone was talking about him

I have no real idea what causes salt creep - although, I've heard many theories
- evaporation
- low magnesium levels
- low calcium levels

Hmm...well my calcium levels are fine. I have no idea where the mag is because I don't test for it (working on getting a test for it, though, since it's more important to test than I gave it credit for). I'm thinkin' it's evaporation from heat, especially since it's such a small tank and it gets hot pretty quick if I don't stay on top of it.

Would this lower the salinity of the tank?

haha,

the cause of it is commonly found, to be honest, ...its very likely around you right now!!!!!


Its minor masses of o2 that form in a concetrations below the water line that releases in a kinectic form of energy!







at this point you should realize im fulla crock.

go close to eye level with water in your tank and look at the top line, sprinkle some RO from your fingers, notice that even after the water hits it there are still air "bubbles" that "pop" from the surface.

This repeating itself thousands of times a day throws saltwater onto your ledges of the tank, pipes etc. The water moves away or dries out and then leaves the salt behind en mass.

If a chunk of it falls onto your corals it can damage and kill your coral so be sure to try to clean out your tank whenever your doing your maintenance.

It is without a doubt, evaporation. Most of it happens like Frirebretha described, but some also forms around leaky fittings. It will remove salt from your tank and over time can lower salinity. Just try to avoid situations where the water can splash or spritz onto something dry.

Getting rid of the creep is easy. Wet a paper towel with RODI and whipe it away.


Yes it's that easy if you stay on top if it.

Thanks for all the tips and advice, guys! Looks like I'll just be adding "Wipe off salt creep" to my list of tank duties Luckily I've been checking the salinity frequently, so I'll be able to make sure it doesn't get too low.

Have you guys tried those products that claim if you apply it to salt creep prone areas it prevents it?

Never seen a product like that. Is it a wax or something?

I haven't seen anything like that, either. I think somewhere I saw a chemical you add to your water that's supposed to help prevent it, but it seemed a bit risky, and not the best solution. I don't like adding stuff like that to my tank, always makes me nervous.

The only thing I could Imagine an additive doing is increasing the surface tension of the water to make it less splattery, but then your skimmer wouldn't work......so I dunno?

Are you worried about it damaging something or just dont like the looks of it?

Originally Posted by chris&barb

Are you worried about it damaging something or just dont like the looks of it?

I just didn't know much about it, and was wondering if it would affect the salinity of the tank by lowering it or something. Yeah, it's ugly, but totally manageable so I don't really care about that.

Just check your salinity every week or so, and adjust as needed. It only takes like a minute with a refractometer.

I dont know how much it could effect salinity. Yes salt is leaving the aquarium but so is water when your talking about salt creep.

Saltier the water, the worse it will be! Maybe your saltcreep problem wont be so bad now that you're toping off with RO, and not saltwater. The more concentrated the solution, the worse it will be. Its just like the sugar rock candy on a string or stick... they make that with a super saturated sugar solution, they put the stick or string in, and just let the "sugarcreep" do its thing... keep us posted!

Mmmmmmm...rock candy! Love that stuff!

Will definitely keep you all posted. So far, it's actually not come back since I wiped it off two days ago, but it has also been considerably cooler here.