perhaps I should top off more often...

Netofficer3710

New member
I just checked my salinity for the first time in at least a week and my reef says it is at 1.029 SG

would this explain why I thought a couple of my corals (zoanthids) appeared a tad bit paler than normal today?

also how long should I take to drop it back to 1.025 without hurting my fish and inverts?
 
I dought this explains your corals. Remember whene water evaporates the salt stays behind. Just top off and it will be fine.
 
Might explain it if all other levels are in check. Personally, I'd lower it to 1.026 over a 36hr period.

Aren't you topping off daily? My 55g eats like 750mls a day. I top off in the morning + evening after work...routine.
 
I have a 1 liter reservoir that I fill daily, that drips RO water into my 15gal. Its cheap, and keeps Specific Gravity within .001. I just can't go on vacation yet :). An ATO is in my future.
 
I agree and ATO like the JBJ one is definitely worth the investment. I don't have to worry about the salinity spiking or my pumps running dry which is really nice. I was filling up the sump about 1-2 gallons a day! much easier to fill up a 10 gallon tank and fill that up once a week.
 
How much are premade ato units? And how difficult are they to set up? I'll be traveling quite a bit in nov-march (ncaa basketball) and wanna make sure my soon to be set up aquarium can at least be simple enough for my gf to maintain while I'm gone
 
I was adding water daily until I went on vacation and had my sister feed the fish and add water to the tank. She remembered to feed the fish, but not top off the water. I came home a few days later and the pump had just about run dry! It was about 1/2 in water and 1/2 out of water! I could hear it as soon as I opened my front door, so I took off running to the tank to see what was wrong... I ordered a JBJ auto top off the next day. I now own two, one for each of my tanks. They are very simple to set up and they've worked great for me. Pricing isn't too bad IMO. Now I can go away for a week or more at a time and not worry about it... also, my daily maintenance is reduced, I just refill the water reservoir every weekend... makes the tank more enjoyable IMO.
 
How much are premade ato units? And how difficult are they to set up? I'll be traveling quite a bit in nov-march (ncaa basketball) and wanna make sure my soon to be set up aquarium can at least be simple enough for my gf to maintain while I'm gone

I got mine from premium aquatics as they had one of the best prices. bulk reef supply sells them for $10 less but they seem to never be in stock.

http://premiumaquatics.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PA&Product_Code=JBJ-ATO&Category_Code=
 
I bought a dual sensor from autotopoff.com for about $50.00. Attached it to a pump in a 20 gallon reservoir. Lasts me 2-3 weeks.
 
How large of a pump do you need? and if I were to buy an aquarium controller, could this perform the ATO functions as well as monitor and operate my tank? (sorry I'm not trying to jack your thread!!:()
 
I use a small Maxi-jet. Although the dual sensors actually turn the pump on and off, I have it plugged into my Reefkeeper as a backup. The Reefkeeper supplies power for 1 minute every four hours. This is so just in case both of the dual sensors get stuck in the on position, the sump wont overflow.
 
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