Filling system with water

[zelie_dad]

So, I've looked around, but I can't seem to find an answer to this seemingly simple question: How do I fill my tank with saltwater? I have a remote sump in the basement, so would I add water to the sump and pump it to the DT, or add water to the DT and let the sump fill via the drains, or fill both and adjust as needed?

 

[Breadman03]

Doesn't matter at all. My water station is in my basement, so I added to the sump, pumped to the display until the sump got low, then waited for the sump to fill. I then mixed the salt in-tank as it was empty and waited for it all to heat before moving rock and livestock in.

 

[username in use]

Whatever is easier.

 

[Laredotx1987]

the way i do it is fill up my display tank and then let the water go into the sump getting it to the desire point. but like the other guys said which ever method is easier for you.

 

[zelie_dad]

I filled my sump with fresh water, and I think I probably should have mixed saltwater before I added it. Is it going to be a PITA to get the salinity correct now? The only water in my DT is the some water that I used to rinse my sand with. I used tap water for that. Was that a mistake as well?

 

[username in use]

I would drain the tap water and use RO/DI water to mix salt water and fill it. You can fill your sump, mix the salt, pump it into the DT and repeat until it is full. Or, set up a couple/few brute trash cans to mix a lot at once.

 

[homer1475]

I filled my display with plain RO/DI, let it overflow to fill the sump, got it running, added salt to the display with everything running so it got all mixed up. If you have LR you might want to mix it first, but I started with dry sand and dry rock.

 

[zelie_dad]

I would drain the tap water and use RO/DI water to mix salt water and fill it. You can fill your sump, mix the salt, pump it into the DT and repeat until it is full. Or, set up a couple/few brute trash cans to mix a lot at once.

I would be pretty hard to drain the tap water. It is all mixed in with the sand in my display. I drained off as much of the tap water as I could from rinsing the sand, and then put it into the display. It would be a serious pain to get it all back out and then drain off all the tap water. Also the amount tap water in the display isn't very much. I'd guess less than a gallon.

I'm making RO/DI now and my plan is to mix it to a salinity, of 1.026, add it to the sump, and start pumping, once the display is full, adjust the salinity from there. This is based on the assumption that my salinity will drop as the volume of water increases, and it will be easier to add more than to take it away. Does this sound like a good plan?

I filled my display with plain RO/DI, let it overflow to fill the sump, got it running, added salt to the display with everything running so it got all mixed up. If you have LR you might want to mix it first, but I started with dry sand and dry rock.

I have about 50 lbs of LR from a friend that was downgrading. It's been has been curing for ~2 months. There no life on it as far as I can tell.

 

[username in use]

Also the amount tap water in the display isn't very much. I'd guess less than a gallon.

I thought the display was full. That little water shouldn't be an issue

This is based on the assumption that my salinity will drop as the volume of water increases

Im not sure why there is that assumption. Mix any water being added to the proper salinity and then add it to the system

 

[zelie_dad]

This is based on the assumption that my salinity will drop as the volume of water increases

Im not sure why there is that assumption. Mix any water being added to the proper salinity and then add it to the system

The reason I made the assumption was that there is ~25 gallons of fresh water in my sump. I must have forgotten to mention that. :spin2: If I make my saltwater in a brute can, like I was planning, and get it to the correct salinity, when I add that water to the fresh water already in the my sump, the salinity will drop because of increase in total water volume. I guess I could I go the hypersalinity route and hope that when all the water is in the system, that the salinity is close to where I want it.

 

[username in use]

I would drop a power head in the sump and add salt to it and bring it up to snuff before adding any more water.