Water Top off and LR

[gauthier613]

Should I add LR to my 50 Gallon Water Top of bucket?  Would it be pointless as no light shines inside? 

Should I airate that water top off bucket with an air stone?

[groan]

Topoff water should just be fresh water, not salt as it is used to replace evaporated water and salt does nto evaporate so your live rock would not survive in the topoff bucket.
as for the airation, i'll let someone else reply.

[Julie]

As groan mentioned, top off (due to Eva )water is fresh from the tap (no salt so no live rock required).
Aerate it first preferably because Ph will swing.

Actually when you say top off water are you referring to top off during a water change?

[Hookup]

Barring answers from the above posted questions/comments.... I'll offer the following.

You should have two buckets holding water.  One of them full of RO/DI water.  This is "fresh water" that feeds your system to replace evaporated water.  Ideally on an auto-top-off (ATO) system, however top-off done daily or every few days is a common and accepted approach to dealing with evaporation.  You might choose to aerate this water, however I do not.  I simply pump in some water every other day and let the RO/DI keep the bucket itself full with it's integrated ATO system.

The second bucket would be a bucket of salt-mix water.  Fill this from your first bucket every time you want to get ready for a water change.  I do this 1-2 days before a water change event.  To that I add the salt and keep a pump in there stirring and heating the water for 24-48hrs.  Mainly cause I do my changes on weekends and I set this up during the week some time.. BUT I want the salinity to be "true" so I wait at least a few hours before testing and adjusting salinity to match my tank.  Then at water change time, I pump out the old stuff (into my floor drain) and pump in the new stuff that is pH, Temp and Salinity matched.  that bucket now sits empty till my next need for a water change.

I use a 24gal garbage bin (to be upgraded to a 50gal bucket soon) for my fresh water, and a 50gal bucket for my salt-mixed container because I try to do 40gallon water changes on my 250gal system every 4 weeks.  Using this system it honestly takes about 20min and that is because my pumps are lower-powered.. i'm turning on one pump, wait 10min, then turning on the other pump and wait 10min... water change done.

Top-Off is done when I clean out the skimmer, which is about every 2-4 days.  I know what level my tank should be at (sump area) so I just add fresh RO/DI water till Ive replaced all the evaporated water.

[gauthier613]

No it's a giant 50 Gallon bucket, an old Olive Bucket from Preston Hardware.  I have a little Giant Float switch when the water drops in the sump this adds the water to the sump.  However my water top if is pretty diluted at 1.020 to 1.019 sometime lower it seems to work this way.  It's just easer to have it all mixed works for my water changes as well.  I monitor the Salt and it doesn't fluctuate that much.  But now I'm thinking I should change my ways.

But thanks for the LR answers I didn't think it made sense either to add it.  However I will start to airate it.


Thanks Everyone!

[veron]

DO NOT use saltwater as your topoff you need to use freshwater only. topping off with even diluted saltwater will raise your salinity fast killing your tank.
WATER CHANGES, are done by removing saltwater and replacing with saltwater at exactly the same salinity.
were did you get the idea of topping off with saltwater?? curious

[gauthier613]

I have lots of Ideas I come up with when I drink the xmas cheer   Looks like I need another one of those Olive Buckets though now.

[nissannx]

when i originally started i first thought that i would ned to top off with salt water aswell. im glad i talked to a few people first before i was up and running.

[gauthier613]

Well it's all good I will use that big 50 gallon thing for water changes only it's still easier to have it then not to.  I will have to figure out how to get my RO unit line to auto top off this weekend somehow.  Might be easier then buying another big container.

[groan]

tadaa
http://www.melevsreef.com/plumbing/auto_topoff.html

[gauthier613]

Thanks I was just looking at this



19.99$ USD and 39.99$ CAD how the hell can they double the price for Canadians that just drives me nutz.  Thank god I have a US address too.

[Hookup]

It is not recommended to use float-switches for salt-water due to the possibility, and common occurrence of salt-creep affecting the switch mechanism, resulting in a flood.  Optical sensors are recommended as they do not suffer the same problem, of course, if you think the floats are expensive... the optical ones are outrageous.

http://ottawainverts.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=244

And I think you need the mounting kit as well, which will run you a few more clams.

[nissannx]

http://www.reefaquatica.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=1_3&products_id=117
17.99 and canadian

Thanks I was just looking at this



19.99$ USD and 39.99$ CAD how the hell can they double the price for Canadians that just drives me nutz.  Thank god I have a US address too.

[groan]

that's crazy, considering it looks like a standard toilet float switch.
I hadn't considered the salt creep aspect, good point.
there is a way the float could be customized to use a piece of Styrofoam attached to the float switch so it doesn't actually touch the water. I have a switch lie the one at Meleve's that I think i will try customizing it the way I hope it will work.

[xiaan]

I reccomend this:

http://www.bwiplumbing.com/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=105

I have two of these units one for controlling the pump to top off the tank and the other is connected to a solenoid on my RODI so it fills up the 10G reservoir. You should never directly attach your tank to your RODI system as if the switch fails you will dump way too much fresh water into your tank. Also you should never run your ROID in small batches as this can cause to much TDS in your water (it will not be as pure). To solve this my RODI only runs for 2 Hours each day to fill up my holding tank. In my case I need to have 4 switches fail (2 in the sump and 2 in the reservoir) in order for my system to top off the water constantly and only for two hours a day. (I think my Top off pump might burn out by then only topping off about 5-6G)

I think the simplest way is to just use one set of sensors, a pump and a small container (2-5G). The dual switches are very reliable and provide the safety that your top off system will not go crazy. You can then just top off the fresh water every week or so in the container (Instead of every day for your tank).

[groan]

That's the switch I have. You don't find any problem with salt creep?

[xiaan]

Nope I have had that for over 6 months and no problems yet. I do clean it every once and awhile.

[veron]

that is a good switch,doubled up for protection.
AUTOTOPOFF.COM sells them but REDBELLY here on OVAS can get something similar. this is to be used for your freshwater bucket to your sump, with a powerhead and hosing. do not use this for your RODI unit. very dependable. if you want to automise your actual RO/DI unit to your bucket thats a whole different ballgame.

[Hookup]

automise

Extra Christmas Points for "automise"... LOL

[redbelly]

Thanks I was just looking at this



19.99$ USD and 39.99$ CAD how the hell can they double the price for Canadians that just drives me nutz.  Thank god I have a US address too.

These are a ticking time bomb IMO.
I have been called on several emergency service calls now where these failed and turned very large tanks into fw tanks overnight.

Please do not use these to top off you main tank!
That is NOT what they are designed for.

These can be used to auto top off your FW resevoir bin (such as a brute garbage can or a 50g barrel) and for this they work very well.