RODI mishap

Reefer911 · Dec 18, 2023

Posting here since it’s chemistry related.

A few nights ago I had a mishap with my gravity fed top off water. I unplugged the 1/4” tubing from the float valve to clear the line of some air bubbles and when I reconnected it, I didn’t push the line in all the way and ended up dumping about 10 gallons into my sump. 115 gallon total volume before the mishap. I decided to let the evaporation take care of itself but thought I would ask if it would be better to correct it immediately. I would remove the appropriate amount of water and add salt to the sump until it gets to previous salinity.

I have a few zoas, mushrooms, gonis, cyphastrea, and a leptoseris

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Dec 18, 2023

Reefer911 said:
Posting here since it’s chemistry related.

A few nights ago I had a mishap with my gravity fed top off water. I unplugged the 1/4” tubing from the float valve to clear the line of some air bubbles and when I reconnected it, I didn’t push the line in all the way and ended up dumping about 10 gallons into my sump. 115 gallon total volume before the mishap. I decided to let the evaporation take care of itself but thought I would ask if it would be better to correct it immediately. I would remove the appropriate amount of water and add salt to the sump until it gets to previous salinity.

I have a few zoas, mushrooms, gonis, cyphastrea, and a leptoseris

What is the current salinity of your system? What was it prior to the mishap?

Reefer911 · Dec 18, 2023

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal said:
What is the current salinity of your system? What was it prior to the mishap?

I haven’t looked. Frankly because I’ve been under the weather and I just didn’t want to know.

Reefer911 · Dec 18, 2023

Just checked. Not as bad as I thought, but it’s been a couple of days since…although not a whole lot of evaporation has occurred.
It’s 1.024 and I normally keep it at 1.025

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Dec 18, 2023

Reefer911 said:
I haven’t looked. Frankly because I’ve been under the weather and I just didn’t want to know.

Sorry you're not feeling well

In that case, without knowing how much to adjust to raise the salinity, I would not do anything. Once you measure it, add saltwater to your ATO and let the salinity rise slowly that way.
* If you find the salinity is too low, then you can definitely add some high salinity water to the tank.

Edit--posted before I had a chance to read the reply in post#4

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Dec 18, 2023

Reefer911 said:
Just checked. Not as bad as I thought, but it’s been a couple of days since…although not a whole lot of evaporation has occurred.
It’s 1.024 and I normally keep it at 1.025

Ok, just put your regular saltwater into your ATO reservoir and let it rise that way

Edit-- see post #10

Lavey29 · Dec 18, 2023

Reefer911 said:
Just checked. Not as bad as I thought, but it’s been a couple of days since…although not a whole lot of evaporation has occurred.
It’s 1.024 and I normally keep it at 1.025

That's because adding top off doesn't take any salinity out from what you have just adds minor dilution which should evaporate out as you stated.

PeterEde · Dec 18, 2023

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal said:
Ok, just put your regular saltwater into your ATO reservoir and let it rise that way

Agree. Add salt to ATO until salinity is back to what you want. Don't rush the change

Reefer911 · Dec 18, 2023

I think I’ll just let it evaporate over the next few days and let the salinity normalize that way.
I’ll just have to figure out how to get the skimmer back on without overflowing due to the high level in the sump.

Sound reasonable?

My ATO is a 65 gallon tank…thank God there was only about 10 gal of RODI in it when I had the mishap or I would have been kicked out of the house!

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Dec 18, 2023

Reefer911 said:
I think I’ll just let it evaporate over the next few days and let the salinity normalize that way.
I’ll just have to figure out how to get the skimmer back on without overflowing due to the high level in the sump.

Sound reasonable?

My ATO is a 65 gallon tank…thank God there was only about 10 gal of RODI in it when I had the mishap or I would have been kicked out of the house!

Yes, I was incorrect in suggesting adding saltwater to the ATO. I was thinking about how to raise salinity when it's low due to other reasons. If you have 10 extra gallons in your system that you want gone anyway, then letting it evap is the way to go.
Sorry!

Reefer911 · Dec 18, 2023

Thanks for the help!

braaap · Dec 18, 2023

Reefer911 said:
I think I’ll just let it evaporate over the next few days and let the salinity normalize that way.
I’ll just have to figure out how to get the skimmer back on without overflowing due to the high level in the sump.

Sound reasonable?

My ATO is a 65 gallon tank…thank God there was only about 10 gal of RODI in it when I had the mishap or I would have been kicked out of the house!

You are also asking for a disaster doing that. You should only have an ato that your system can hold. That way you can’t overflow onto your floor.

Reefer911 · Dec 18, 2023

braaap said:
You are also asking for a disaster doing that. You should only have an ato that your system can hold. That way you can’t overflow onto your floor.

I do agree but I only keep about 20 gallons in the container. Still enough to make a mess should something fail but I trust my float valve. I trust that more than an electronic auto top off.
The mishap was my mistake.