ATO Dropped SALINITY!!

Beausoleiljacob · Jan 3, 2016

Hi Everyone,
After not being home for 2 days, I decided to look at my ATO revivor in which I realized was just about empty. It was completely full when I left. Anyways, after seeing that I decided to check my salinity, it dropped down to 1.023 when I left it was at 1.026. What would you recommend doing to bring it up? Will there be any harm to anything in terms of bacteria (Only rock and sand)?

Jlobes · Jan 3, 2016

you can bring that up over a couple days, no worries. Just add salt water to top off would be easiest. 1.023 isnt too crazy low, that things are gonna die.

I think equally/more important is discovering why your ATO emptied in 2 days, if that is not normal. stuck/obstructed float valve? faulty pump? which ATO are you using?

TheEngineer · Jan 3, 2016

You're still in an acceptable range. I wouldn't worry about it. Slowly bring it up with your water changes. How much water was added?

Beausoleiljacob · Jan 3, 2016

Jlobes said:
you can bring that up over a couple days, no worries. Just add salt water to top off would be easiest. 1.023 isnt too crazy low, that things are gonna die.

I think equally/more important is discovering why your ATO emptied in 2 days, if that is not normal. stuck/obstructed float valve? faulty pump? which ATO are you using?

I'm using the JBJ ATO. I think the reason was the placement of the ATO, I placed it in my return pump section and the compartment is constantly moving up and down, because when the overflow sucks up to much water it overflows into that compartment. Would it be okay to place in the skimmer compartment?

icecool2 said:
You're still in an acceptable range. I wouldn't worry about it. Slowly bring it up with your water changes. How much water was added?

Only 5 gallons into a system of about 70 gallons. Would it be okay to empty 5 gallons or so of water and mix saltwater into that. I don't have any RO/DI water made. Exactly how low would salinity drop for it to be dangerous for corals and Fish?

TheEngineer · Jan 3, 2016

Below 1.020 and I'd be worried. Is the extra 5g just sitting in your sump? If so, just let it evaporate and the level will go back to normal on its own.

Beausoleiljacob · Jan 3, 2016

icecool2 said:
Below 1.020 and I'd be worried. Is the extra 5g just sitting in your sump? If so, just let it evaporate and the level will go back to normal on its own.

Not really. Some obviously evaporated. The rest however, filled the return chamber so in some way "Yes" it is in my sump. I did a water change and got it up to about 1.025, so I will wait until it evaporates

. Anyways, what temperature do you run your reef tank at. I know that there are various temperatures that people recommend. However, what do you think is ideal?

TheEngineer · Jan 3, 2016

If there is extra water that needs to evaporate, you're going to wind up too high. Keep an eye on it. I run my tank around 81 in the winter.

Beausoleiljacob · Jan 4, 2016

icecool2 said:
If there is extra water that needs to evaporate, you're going to wind up too high. Keep an eye on it. I run my tank around 81 in the winter.

What would you recommend doing again? Just remove the extra water?

TheEngineer · Jan 4, 2016

The simplest thing to do would be to pull water out so you are back to the proper water height in your sump. Other options are to use lower salinity water during your next water change, but that's a bit of a pain to figure out how low you need to go.

kendavjac · Jan 4, 2016

I wouldn't do anything. I assume that your sump is extra full from all of the additional top off water. Turn off your ATO until enough "fresh" water has evaporated. Once your salinity is back up to where you want to be, turn your ATO back on. I would move your sensor to another compartment in your sump. I would not add salt water. Once you get some evaporation, your salinity will be to high.

TheEngineer · Jan 4, 2016

kendavjac said:
I wouldn't do anything. I assume that your sump is extra full from all of the additional top off water. Turn off your ATO until enough "fresh" water has evaporated. Once your salinity is back up to where you want to be, turn your ATO back on. I would move your sensor to another compartment in your sump. I would not add salt water. Once you get some evaporation, your salinity will be to high.

The OP already added water to bring the salinity up.

ReefBuzz · Jan 4, 2016

Beausoleiljacob said:
I placed it in my return pump section and the compartment is constantly moving up and down, because when the overflow sucks up to much water it overflows into that compartment. Would it be okay to place in the skimmer compartment?

The return pump compartment is the correct compartment for the ATO all other compartments will remain at a consistent level on their own. Return goes up and down based on evaporation. If your overflow is consistently dumping into this area you may have too much flow. Or your overflow isn't tuned right.

pciscott · Jan 4, 2016

Make sure that your top off water is not higher than the sump water level or a syphon would explain your ATO problem? Sometimes it is safer to run the water into the tank if your resovoir is taller than your sump level.

Beausoleiljacob · Jan 4, 2016

ReefBuzz said:
The return pump compartment is the correct compartment for the ATO all other compartments will remain at a consistent level on their own. Return goes up and down based on evaporation. If your overflow is consistently dumping into this area you may have too much flow. Or your overflow isn't tuned right.

How do you tune the overflow??