SOMETHING WRONG W/ AIO TANK - IM 15

[toor.attar]

Hello!
I have this innovative marine 15 gallon that has been cycling for the past 3 weeks. It is a fishless cycle don’t worry lol. I wasn’t home for the past 4 days and I came back to the back of my AIO tank empty. Meaning the back chamber of the aquariums water disappeared. There are no leaks or anything, I touched around everywhere, the heater was close too exploding I bet because it smelled toasty in the back of the tank, checked the heater it’s fine. I have no clue what happened, can someone explain what possibly could’ve happened???

As you can see the tank water is full, the pump is still flowing water to the tank, but the back chamber was empty, and there was only water where the filter media box is if you know what I mean.
Please help me!!! I have a fish arriving in a few days as my aquarium is done cycling. Thank you

 

[jabberwock]

Check your salinity. Probably evaporation. I bet you are at 1.027 or 1.028. Time for an auto top off system.

 

[Lebowski_]

I have one of these tanks and like @jabberwock says, the evaporation is crazy.
The return chamber is where the water level will fluctuate most.

 

[jabberwock]

I have one of these tanks and like @jabberwock says, the evaporation is crazy.
The return chamber is where the water level will fluctuate most.

I have a 25 gallon IM lagoon. I probably ATO 3.5 gallons a week.

 

[Stephen8169301]

I don’t have an aio but could you have a water restriction and the return pump is to fast for the amount of water being supplied

 

[toor.attar]

Check your salinity. Probably evaporation. I bet you are at 1.027 or 1.028. Time for an auto top off system.

This much evaporation in 4 days? I added water in it asap and never got a chance to check the salinity

 

[toor.attar]

I have one of these tanks and like @jabberwock says, the evaporation is crazy.
The return chamber is where the water level will fluctuate most.

So is this pretty normal? Because the return area with the filter media had water, but the other side of the chamber where the heater and overflow pump was didn’t have as much water. Just don’t want a problem in the future you know.

 

[Propane]

Ice cap makes a little gravity feed ato that’s 15 bucks has a little bottle that lasts about a day and a half. You can put a larger bottle on there but needs to be thick like an Evian bottle so it won’t squeeze in on itself. My 15 IM evaporates like crazy as well

 

[jabberwock]

This much evaporation in 4 days? I added water in it asap and never got a chance to check the salinity

I mean, if it ain't on the floor, it evaporated.

 

[Propane]

So is this pretty normal? Because the return area with the filter media had water, but the other side of the chamber where the heater and overflow pump was didn’t have as much water. Just don’t want a problem in the future you know.

It was evaporation. Did you put rodi or salt water back in to replace it

 

[Propane]

This is the unit after filling it late last night

 

[toor.attar]

Ice cap makes a little gravity feed ato that’s 15 bucks has a little bottle that lasts about a day and a half. You can put a larger bottle on there but needs to be thick like an Evian bottle so it won’t squeeze in on itself. My 15 IM evaporates like crazy as well

I’ll take a look at it and make one myself, yours don’t look too shabby haha!!

 

[toor.attar]

It was evaporation. Did you put rodi or salt water back in to replace it

I put in rodi water as that was the only water I had. If it happens again I’ll make sure to check salinity too see if it was evaporation or a leak for sure.

 

[saltcats]

I have a similar sized IM AIO and yes - before I had my ATO if I didn't top it off within 24 hours the pump was pulling in air. The water level can drop fast in those back chambers from evap alone.

 

[toor.attar]

Ice cap makes a little gravity feed ato that’s 15 bucks has a little bottle that lasts about a day and a half. You can put a larger bottle on there but needs to be thick like an Evian bottle so it won’t squeeze in on itself. My 15 IM evaporates like crazy as well

Just searched it up and realized it was a auto too off system and not a do it yourself thing, my bad lmfaooo

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Evaporation is a real thing…

 

[Propane]

Just searched it up and realized it was a auto too off system and not a do it yourself thing, my bad lmfaooo

Lol. I was gonna try a do it yourself until I found it for 15 bucks.

 

[Amber.]

When I first got my AIO’s I did not know that the back chambers evaporated and the front display never changed. It really blew my mind. On my Nuvo 15’s I have found that the “sweet” spot is to leave a 1” space into the last drop to the pump. When I top off with fresh water, I just pour it directly into the pump chamber up to my “imaginary” line. Have not had any problems. Water evaporates extremely fast especially if you are in a dry climate. My 20G goes through 1 gallon every two days and the nuvos are about 1/2G each every two days.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Auto top offs in this hobby are a must to keep salinity stable. I would definitely get some thing larger than a 1 gallon reservoir but with that being said, make sure you have failsafes because it’s not a matter of if your auto top off will fail it’s when.

 

[Kellie in CA]

Before I got an auto top off I would need to add water 2x a day to my nanos.