ATO drained partially

[Tham121988]

So last night, my lid created some kind of siphon and slowly drained about a gallon of water from my pico tank. It ended up draining about a gallon of saltwater for a gallon of ATO water. Dropped the salinity from 1.025 to 1.024 and the pH went from 8.3 to 8.5. Nothing looks ill. Should I let it stay or try to adjust the pH. If so, how do I down the pH? Thanks.

 

[Captain Quint]

It should be fine being 1.024 with pH of 8.5

 

[Tham121988]

It should be fine being 1.024 with pH of 8.5

Thank you very much!

 

[Captain Quint]

If your ATO topped off too much allowing the ATO line into the water of either a sump or a DT water or if there is no sump, either way, it can siphon back to your reservoir of you ATO fresh container but it will be brackish and will need to be emptied, cleaned and replacement of RODI fresh replaced.

Lastly an adjustment of your line would need to be positioned well above the ATO's setting of filling so it won't happen again.

Hope that made sense.

*EDIT: I noticed you wrote a Pico so that's why it looks jumbled because I would imagine with a Pico you are not using a sump...sorry if what I wrote is confusing.

 

[Tham121988]

If your ATO topped off too much allowing the ATO line into the water of either a sump or a DT water or if there is no sump, either way, it can siphon back to your reservoir of you ATO fresh container but it will be brackish and will need to be emptied, cleaned and replacement of RODI fresh replaced.

Lastly an adjustment of your line would need to be positioned well above the ATO's setting of filling so it won't happen again.

Hope that made sense.

Yes, that makes sense. See that is exactly what occurred yesterday. It back siphoned into my ATO and I had to replace the water in the ATO and do a water change. Last night it was a different issue. My clip that holds my lid in place some how started sucking water from the tank and dumping it onto the ground. So the ATO kept putting water into the tank as the clip siphoned water onto the ground. D:

 

[Captain Quint]

Yes. We all have learning curves. I generally learn the hard way. argh.

Hope you didn't get a flood too much.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

For what it's worth, there are no easy ways to adjust pH in reef tanks. Those ways we have are often difficult to implement or control.

If you have an overdose of certain pH-elevating additives (like sodium or calcium hydroxide), it might be worth adding some CO2 using club soda to reduce the pH. But, if you just topped off a little too much or dropped the salinity inadvertently and pH changed as a result, I would not attempt to change the pH.

Some good articles on pH:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/

 

[Tham121988]

Yes. We all have learning curves. I generally learn the hard way. argh.

Hope you didn't get a flood too much.

It wasn't too bad. Have old hardwood floors so they warped underneath slightly :/. Hopefully once they dry it will be ok.

 

[Tham121988]

For what it's worth, there are no easy ways to adjust pH in reef tanks. Those ways we have are often difficult to implement or control.

If you have an overdose of certain pH-elevating additives (like sodium or calcium hydroxide), it might be worth adding some CO2 using club soda to reduce the pH. But, if you just topped off a little too much or dropped the salinity inadvertently and pH changed as a result, I would not attempt to change the pH.

Some good articles on pH:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/

Thanks for the articles. I'll give them a read. I'm sure glad I didn't start the kalkwasser I just got in for my ATO water. Learned not to do that before I even attempted it.

 

[Captain Quint]

For what it's worth, there are no easy ways to adjust pH in reef tanks. Those ways we have are often difficult to implement or control.

If you have an overdose of certain pH-elevating additives (like sodium or calcium hydroxide), it might be worth adding some CO2 using club soda to reduce the pH. But, if you just topped off a little too much or dropped the salinity inadvertently and pH changed as a result, I would not attempt to change the pH.

Some good articles on pH:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/

+1 as it occurred overnight and the fishes have acclimated.

I often have a pH of 8.4 to 8.5

I agree and don't think chasing the number is a biggy on this one.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Thanks for the articles. I'll give them a read. I'm sure glad I didn't start the kalkwasser I just got in for my ATO water. Learned not to do that before I even attempted it.

Calcium hydroxide is a fine supplement, and I use it in my tank without issue. I don't like the practice of dosing it with an ATO pump though. They're too imprecise and prone to failure for dosing something like limewater. I would personally dose fully-saturated limewater on a dosing pump and adjust as necessary, then let your ATO handle the other necessary topoff.

 

[Tham121988]

Calcium hydroxide is a fine supplement, and I use it in my tank without issue. I don't like the practice of dosing it with an ATO pump though. They're too imprecise and prone to failure for dosing something like limewater. I would personally dose fully-saturated limewater on a dosing pump and adjust as necessary, then let your ATO handle the other necessary topoff.

I think this is good advice. I am most certainly going to go this route now. The other scared me away lol!