Auto top off water..

ramasezz · May 3, 2017

Hi Randy and all the other experts.. greetings... I have a 220 gallon mixed reef.. to keep up water levels consistent, I have set up an ATO... using commercial sensors and household electrical apparatus.. my question however is on the chemical composition of the water.. I have an evaporation rate of about a gallon a day. I have a 30 gallon drum into which I have filled potable drinking water and this replenishes the evaporated water as required.. the PH of this reservoir is naturally at 7. At a gallon a day, should I really be worried about PH swings or it would be too miniscule an impact in my aquarium considering total water volume is 220 gallons in DT and another 70 by way of the sump.
Tks in advance.
Ram.

Cory · May 3, 2017

ramasezz said:
Hi Randy and all the other experts.. greetings... I have a 220 gallon mixed reef.. to keep up water levels consistent, I have set up an ATO... using commercial sensors and household electrical apparatus.. my question however is on the chemical composition of the water.. I have an evaporation rate of about a gallon a day. I have a 30 gallon drum into which I have filled potable drinking water and this replenishes the evaporated water as required.. the PH of this reservoir is naturally at 7. At a gallon a day, should I really be worried about PH swings or it would be too miniscule an impact in my aquarium considering total water volume is 220 gallons in DT and another 70 by way of the sump.
Tks in advance.
Ram.

Is it just reverse osmosis/ deion resin water? If yes, the ph is neutral, it wont add any ph to your tank. What adds ph is alkalinity and co2 will decrease ph.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 3, 2017

ramasezz said:
Hi Randy and all the other experts.. greetings... I have a 220 gallon mixed reef.. to keep up water levels consistent, I have set up an ATO... using commercial sensors and household electrical apparatus.. my question however is on the chemical composition of the water.. I have an evaporation rate of about a gallon a day. I have a 30 gallon drum into which I have filled potable drinking water and this replenishes the evaporated water as required.. the PH of this reservoir is naturally at 7. At a gallon a day, should I really be worried about PH swings or it would be too miniscule an impact in my aquarium considering total water volume is 220 gallons in DT and another 70 by way of the sump.
Tks in advance.
Ram.

The pH of reasonably pure top off water has essentially no impact on the tank pH. The effect of totally pure water at pH 7 is zero.

ramasezz · May 3, 2017

That's very reassuring to hear. Thank you very much..

ramasezz · May 3, 2017

Cory said:
Is it just reverse osmosis/ deion resin water? If yes, the ph is neutral, it wont add any ph to your tank. What adds ph is alkalinity and co2 will decrease ph.

Well it's just bottled water that's sold in supermarkets for human consumption. I just buy it in bulk for my aquarium.

Cory · May 3, 2017

ramasezz said:
Well it's just bottled water that's sold in supermarkets for human consumption. I just buy it in bulk for my aquarium.

Ah ok this might be a different thing all together as bottled water sometimes has tds

ramasezz · May 3, 2017

Cory said:
Ah ok this might be a different thing all together as bottled water sometimes has tds

Now that's something I hadn't considered.. but what I had done was to check the Params of the eater after I mixed salt (for my regular water changes) especially for nitrates, phosphates and silicate.... didn't find anything so I just went along with the thought that the water should be fine.. I do have a little bit of an issue with brown algae on my sandals but that's because I purposely overfeed a bit and broadcast feed as well for the benefit of my corals and other inverts in the tank. I will figure out a way to test the TDS and if there's a catch there will come back to you for advice.

ramasezz · May 3, 2017

ramasezz said:
Now that's something I hadn't considered.. but what I had done was to check the Params of the eater after I mixed salt (for my regular water changes) especially for nitrates, phosphates and silicate.... didn't find anything so I just went along with the thought that the water should be fine.. I do have a little bit of an issue with brown algae on my sandals but that's because I purposely overfeed a bit and broadcast feed as well for the benefit of my corals and other inverts in the tank. I will figure out a way to test the TDS and if there's a catch there will come back to you for advice.

Jeepers that's sandbed somewhere in there not sandals as my phone seems to have auto corrected me.. lol..