First and foremost my dyslexic friend, WELCOME to the
Talking Reef. Glad to have you here. Big shout out from New England, to good Ol' England.
While there may be residual salts in the sand and rock, it is not going to be enough to affect a reasonable sized system. It should NOT raise the
SG much, if any at all.
For what it's worth, I've found that natural salt water (NSW) is a little low in the
salinity and often have to let mine sit and evaporate some, or add some Instant Ocean or other product to help raise the
salinity.
Keep in mind that if you are using two part additives or other additives, you MAY have a small increase in
salinity anyways.
As with anything else you do in the hobby, you'll want to test, adjust, and test again.
I'm a fan of
NSW. I use it as often as possible. You just need to make sure you match the salinty,
alk, calc, etc. to that of the natural waters where the specimens you keep are found. Whether it be Red Sea, Pacific, Carib etc.
Dave
