Water change disaster. What did I do?

[Johnny C]

Do you have an ATO and did you remember to turn it off?
[/QUOT
Yes I do have an ATO and yes it was off

 

[Jowieg]

I have a 265 gallon display with what I figure out to be about a 15 gallon sump. I mixed up 33 gallons of water my salts matched up perfectly 35.3 in the aquarium 35.3 in the trash can. I tested other water just to make sure my Hannah salinity checker was working properly. My temperature was very close but not exactly 78 in the tank and 77 in the trash can. I slowly changed out the water. Just over 3 hours this took me. Not even thinking salinity would change at all. Then apex alerts me my salinity plummeted so now I’m playing catch up and trying to get my salinity levels back up. Any ideas what could have happened? What did I do wrong? How can I avoid this from happening again? I’m still way low my levels are now at 31.5 and I am introducing salt back in the tank every couple of hours. Is this the best or correct way to get my levels back up?

My apex probe frequently gives me false low readings. Sometimes I have to give it a stir in the sump and the readings return to normal.

 

[flampton]

Do you have an ATO?

Edit: you do but off? Then there really is only the possibility you added some RO water from some other source. Buckets all labeled and separated?

 

[Johnny C]

I have serious doubts this is a calculation / measurement mistake. Would take about 20 gallons of fresh water (if my math is correct, someone please double check) to bring 265 gallons from 35ppm to 32ppm. My money is still on ATO. Even with a slow water change, water drops below trigger, some fresh water is dumped in by the ATO. Over 3 hour span this would add up.

I have very low water pressure at my house and I have not exactly dialed in my ATO so as of right now I have to physically plug in the pump to turn on my ATO. Which is kind of a pain in the butt so I know for sure my ATO was off

 

[Johnny C]

How do you make a 15g sump work on a 265g tank?

I am new at all this what should it be? My guess is probably 19 gallons to be a little more exact but I’m not fire sure. I see the same set up at the place I bought my tank and his has been working beautifully

 

[Jowieg]

My apex probe frequently gives me false low readings. Sometimes I have to give it a stir in the sump and the readings return to normal.

This BRS video is helpful. It mentions the probe can give false readings from air bubbles or from other electrical equipment.

 

[Krixic]

Apex is about a month old and that’s when I calibrated it last but I use a Hannah salinity checker and I calibrated it right before my water change and both read relatively close

I would not trust the Hannah either lol. I own one and it is ALWAYS without fail 0.003 off from my two refractometers and hydrometer. And believe Ive tried every single thing to get that thing to read accurately (except maybe getting it blessed by a priest). Many other people have this same issue...it tends to be more accuate right after mixing salt water but for some reason is off when testing tank water. Get a refractometer, they are tried and true

 

[Johnny C]

I don’t Cary buckets back and forth my ATO was off. I built a drain that goes directly into the sewer so all I do to drain the sump is turn a valve and adjust how much or how little, how fast or how slow I drain it. These pictures are of my uncompleted sump

 

[Johnny C]

I would not trust the Hannah either lol. I own one and it is ALWAYS without fail 0.003 off from my two refractometers and hydrometer. And believe Ive tried every single thing to get that thing to read accurately (except maybe getting it blessed by a priest). Many other people have this same issue...it tends to be more accuate right after mixing salt water but for some reason is off when testing tank water. Get a refractometer, they are tried and true

Thanks will do

 

[Johnny C]

I used a 33 gallon trash can. I had a submersible pump stirring up the water for 24 hours before I had the chance to change the water. My only guess is that the saltwater was Somewhat separated on top and fresh water was on bottom. When I tested I am testing the salt water when really the rest of the trash can was relatively fresh water. Is this nonsense or logical thinking?

 

[Johnny C]

Would an ATO run for 3 hours non-stop? That should be the next thing to fix.

I didn’t use an ATO to do a water change I brought my trash can up to the sump drained some water out of the sump a little at a time while I had a submersible pump slowly introducing new water fresh water evidently. Should I be doing something different..honestly I don’t think I had my new water fully salted. But for some reason I was getting good readings. I’ll try a refractometor

 

[homer1475]

I used a 33 gallon trash can. I had a submersible pump stirring up the water for 24 hours before I had the chance to change the water. My only guess is that the saltwater was Somewhat separated on top and fresh water was on bottom. When I tested I am testing the salt water when really the rest of the trash can was relatively fresh water. Is this nonsense or logical thinking?

Completely impossible if you had a pump in there mixing for 24 hours.

Did you double check with a refractometer? Apex salinity probes are notorious for being off, so much so I removed mine.

 

[rwreef]

I am new at all this what should it be? My guess is probably 19 gallons to be a little more exact but I’m not fire sure. I see the same set up at the place I bought my tank and his has been working beautifully

I was mainly curious about what happens during a power outage and the DT drains into the sump. Do you use check valve or does very little water drain into sump when return is off?

 

[Reefer1978]

Hmmm welp I am out of ideas. I am not sure how 20g of fresh water got in there with everything you did. Starting to agree with other's and maybe it's the salinity probe going haywire.

 

[Johnny C]

I was mainly curious about what happens during a power outage and the DT drains into the sump. Do you use check valve or does very little water drain into sump when return is off?

Very little water would drain back. But to be double safe I have check valves that are very easy to keep an eye on clean or replace. Really I am sooo new at all of this. I had a fresh water tank as a child. But between losing my wife and child in a divorce and them moving 1400 miles away and siting in an empty house during Covid shut down. I needed something to put my mind to work. So putting together a saltwater tank brought me through some very dark times. And I did fail in a lot of areas but I live in a town where not to many people do this. And during a pandemic shut down this was all on my own. I’m sure I have not even discovered some of my failures yet. But so far I’m loving my results and welcome all the challenges yet to come. Cause they will have nothing compared to what I just came through

 

[Reefer1978]

Very little water would drain back. But to be double safe I have check valves that are very easy to keep an eye on clean or replace. Really I am sooo new at all of this. I had a fresh water tank as a child. But between losing my wife and child in a divorce and them moving 1400 miles away and siting in an empty house during Covid shut down. I needed something to put my mind to work. So putting together a saltwater tank brought me through some very dark times. And I did fail in a lot of areas but I live in a town where not to many people do this. And during a pandemic shut down this was all on my own. I’m sure I have not even discovered some of my failures yet. But so far I’m loving my results and welcome all the challenges yet to come. Cause they will have nothing compared to what I just came through

Johnny do you have a build thread? I'd love to follow and help along the way!!

 

[Johnny C]

I was mainly curious about what happens during a power outage and the DT drains into the sump. Do you use check valve or does very little water drain into sump when return is off?

Oh and absolute worst case possible I installed a drain. If I have any floods it will just go right into the sewer

 

[vetteguy53081]

I would calibrate probe and then place back in at an angle to allow sir bubbles to escape as those bubbles cause false salinity

 

[Johnny C]

Johnny do you have a build thread? I'd love to follow and help along the way!!

Another thing I am not very familiar with is social media platforms but here is my first post

Sometimes my big ideas overwhelm me

Hello my name is John im a born and raised Coloradan. i have always loved animals. I had a fresh Water 90g tank as a kid. In my twenties I built a terrarium. It was awesome except for sometimes the waterways didn’t quite work and would occasionally flood. This is when I met my wife. She always...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Reefer1978]

Another thing I am not very familiar with is social media platforms but here is my first post

Sometimes my big ideas overwhelm me

Hello my name is John im a born and raised Coloradan. i have always loved animals. I had a fresh Water 90g tank as a kid. In my twenties I built a terrarium. It was awesome except for sometimes the waterways didn’t quite work and would occasionally flood. This is when I met my wife. She always...

www.reef2reef.com

Thanks, found it, following and will read it soon. We are here to help Johnny!!