madlynb
madtaz
Your advice helped. I removed 5 gal. from DT and replaced w/5 gal RODI (no salt). Took my reading a little bit ago. The salinity is now down to 1.032. YEAH!!!!!
6 days of working w/ATO water
- Thread starter madlynb
- Start date
Ted
Living one day at a time
Good job keep doing it either daily or every other day until you get where you want to be.
dcantucson
Reef pro
Good to hear! Remember as you get close to remove less salt water. Don't want to go to far the other way.
mike surtees
Reefing newb
Hi, I think several things at once are happening. Give yourself 5-6 days and try this... Black your tank out [ wrap it in a binliner bag/s ] Only do top up's with RO water on it's own, With the lights off, the slight drop in temp will increase the oxygen content, all in all you will see an improvement, it may mean only a small scrub up afterwards, or hopefully a clean tank, iff that is what you want, personally a litle algae is good, it depends on tha type of tank you have Try it anyway, it does work, fish and corals are ok, but don't overdo it. Your paramaters will steady in time. Regards.
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project5k
Reef enthusiast
If i remember correctly, the original issue was that the SG in the DT was too high, and the thought was by mixing back some salt with the fresh RO-Di water, this would lower the SG in the DT more slowly, but only if he were using DT water, not adding more salt to the sytem. apparently this wasnt having the desired effect quickly enough.
I agree that the ATO should only be fresh RO/DI and shouldnt have any salt in it at all. Further more, this would only serve to keep the SG where it is, and not lower it, cause the salt isnt leaving the system with the evap, so, fill the ATO with fresh, and then each day take 1-2 gallons right out of the DT and dump it. Over the course of a week or so, this will lower the SG in the DT to where it should be.
This only works if you remove some of the saltwater thats in the system, otherwise, the level wont drop.
I agree that the ATO should only be fresh RO/DI and shouldnt have any salt in it at all. Further more, this would only serve to keep the SG where it is, and not lower it, cause the salt isnt leaving the system with the evap, so, fill the ATO with fresh, and then each day take 1-2 gallons right out of the DT and dump it. Over the course of a week or so, this will lower the SG in the DT to where it should be.
This only works if you remove some of the saltwater thats in the system, otherwise, the level wont drop.
madlynb
madtaz
I did as you suggested Mike. The lights have been off and tank covered for a week. This am I turned all lights back on, checked salinity. Reading is at 1.030 now. Since it is closer to where I want it to be should I just do ATO's and not remove anymore saltwater? Or should I do one more 5 gallon removal of saltwater, replenish with RODI water and RODI ATO?
daugherty
part time reefer
you want to get it down to 1.021-1.026 somewere in that range i keep mine at 1.025-.026
madlynb
madtaz
I know that but since I am at 1.030 should I remove another 5 gallons of saltwater and replace with 5 gallons of RODI or just allow the RODI ATO process to do it?
project5k
Reef enthusiast
if you want the SG to continue to fall, you will have to continue pulling salt out of the system, thus continue removing saltwater and letting the freshwater in the ATO replinish it.
if you stop removing salt, then the level will just stay the same.
my suggestion would be to remove 1 gallon from the display tank each day, and just let the ATO do its thing, check your SG just before removing the water, and if its too high, continue, if its good, then stop.
if you stop removing salt, then the level will just stay the same.
my suggestion would be to remove 1 gallon from the display tank each day, and just let the ATO do its thing, check your SG just before removing the water, and if its too high, continue, if its good, then stop.
dcantucson
Reef pro
+1 Project. Good advice.
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Salt does not evaporate. So if you are replacing evaporated with fresh water, at best you are keeping the salinity levels stable. If you want to drop your salinity, you need to remove saltwater and replace it with fresh. Like I said, the salt does not evaporate, only fresh water evaporates.
mike surtees
Reefing newb
Project5k....is correct, 1gal/day drop until your SG is approx 1.022 - 4 willbring it to exceptable parrameters, you can fine tune it later if you wish. With the tank blacked out for a week, your algae problems should be under control too. When all is settled, bring your CAL - MAG - ALK levels to what they should be, and when their settled start adding your corals first, then your fish last , to the ratio required by your tank size. You should be right now. Go to the liberary and pull out a few good books. Julian Sprung is brilliant. Regards.
mike surtees
Reefing newb
Hi, Project5k advise is good, 1gl at a time, and soon your sg will be ok. But you will also have now the extra benifit of a clean tank as far as algae goes. You can always do it again if it returns, but iff you keep your parameters right you'll have coraline not hair algae, best of luck. Regards.
