Auto water top off or to part?

[R.Weller]

definitely want to go to the refugium Route. When do I add it to a new tank?
Kalk?? Do you mean kalkwasser? Would it be better to do 10% water changes every week? Or just topping off RO water Daily?
yes a sump with two filter socks, refugium chaeto and ref light, maybe a piece of live rock, couple bio blocks, aquamarine protein skimmer, hygger 1000 gph dc return pump, zetlight LED light, caribsea liferock custom structures by me, (2) hydor Power heads, coralline sand bed,
Neptune; apex, power bar and dos,
tropic marin pro reef salt, 5 stage brs RO water filter 150 gpd, Hanna checkers for alk and phosphoru, Red Sea nitrate, salifert calcium and magnesium, I think I’m gonna go to old school hydrometer for testing salinity
what do you think about it so far?

Looks like you are on a roll. Our system doesn’t require water changes. Biology does the work with a large refugium & algae scrubber. We also have a skimmer, so cleaning the collection cup every 5 -7 days & scrapping the screen every 2 - 4 weeks is the only manual maintenance work aside from pump cleaning. I would avoid using the filter socks from the start until you determine if they are needed. We have never used one.

I’d start the refugium when you add livestock. You will need waste from the livestock for the refugium to flourish unless you plan to feed it with phytoplankton. That’s a topic you’ll run into again as your tank matures.

After your initial cycle, there’s very little benefit for routine water changes. The chemistry forum has a lot of great threads on this topic. Most people do these to remove waste, ie, export nutrients. If your biological filter is able to keep up & consume those nutrients, then it seems unnecessary to throw away salt, which adds up, & I’d rather spend that money on corals.

You will absolutely need daily topoff with RO. We measured the evaporation rate from our system & keep a constant gravity drip replacing it. This keeps salinity stable. If you add calcium hydroxide (kalk, limewater, kalkwasser) to your top off & slowly add this in via either drip or ATO pump, then you are replacing all of what most corals need to grow. Kalk also has a very high pH, so if you drip this in at night, it will help with the pH cycle after your lights go out.

This is all about stability & it’s fairly low maintenance.

 

[Dmat21]

My first tank, I manually calculated my daily evaporation rate and mixed a kalkwasser solution in a bucket and gravity dripped it into my tank daily. Today I'm much lazier and use a kalk stirrer that maintains a saturated kalk solution that I only have to fill once every couple weeks that's tied into my auto fresh water top off (tunze 3155) and that adds a balanced ratio of alkalinity and calcium to my tank.

How do you manually calculate your daily evaporation rate? Do you milHow do you mainly calculate your daily evaporation rate? Do you mix kalkwasser in your daily auto water top Off?
how do you get the gravity drip to work properly?

 

[Dmat21]

Looks like you are on a roll. Our system doesn’t require water changes. Biology does the work with a large refugium & algae scrubber. We also have a skimmer, so cleaning the collection cup every 5 -7 days & scrapping the screen every 2 - 4 weeks is the only manual maintenance work aside from pump cleaning. I would avoid using the filter socks from the start until you determine if they are needed. We have never used one.

I’d start the refugium when you add livestock. You will need waste from the livestock for the refugium to flourish unless you plan to feed it with phytoplankton. That’s a topic you’ll run into again as your tank matures.

After your initial cycle, there’s very little benefit for routine water changes. The chemistry forum has a lot of great threads on this topic. Most people do these to remove waste, ie, export nutrients. If your biological filter is able to keep up & consume those nutrients, then it seems unnecessary to throw away salt, which adds up, & I’d rather spend that money on corals.

You will absolutely need daily topoff with RO. We measured the evaporation rate from our system & keep a constant gravity drip replacing it. This keeps salinity stable. If you add calcium hydroxide (kalk, limewater, kalkwasser) to your top off & slowly add this in via either drip or ATO pump, then you are replacing all of what most corals need to grow. Kalk also has a very high pH, so if you drip this in at night, it will help with the pH cycle after your lights go out.

This is all about stability & it’s fairly low maintenance.

How do you properly measure the evaporation rate? And how do you properly set up the constant gravity drip system without having to get dosing pumps or anything? Do you put the kalkwasser in your water for your auto water top of drip system or separate?

 

[RobB'z Reef]

How do you manually calculate your daily evaporation rate? Do you milHow do you mainly calculate your daily evaporation rate? Do you mix kalkwasser in your daily auto water top Off?
how do you get the gravity drip to work properly?

My ATO reservoir has etched marks for volume level. If yours doesn't, you could measure and mark it using either tape (if it has a clear side) or a sharpie. Measure the inside dimensions. A gallon of water is 231 cubic inches. I mix my kalk in a kalk stirrer from Avast Marine to keep it separate, extend the life of my pumps and keep the reservoir clean. Here is a link to my setup on my build thread.

Large Build - Rob's Really Rad 180 Reef Rally

Blah blah blah... just show us the video already!!! Hahaha!!!

www.reef2reef.com

 

[R.Weller]

How do you properly measure the evaporation rate? And how do you properly set up the constant gravity drip system without having to get dosing pumps or anything? Do you put the kalkwasser in your water for your auto water top of drip system or separate?

The rate is very easy to determine & rarely changes from day to day. Mark the target water level in your return chamber of your sump & check it 24 hours later. Length * Width * Height (change in height) / 231 is your 24 hour evaporation rate assuming your measurements are in inches. We use more water in the winter when the furnace is on & there is less humidity.

We use a 1/2” pvc gate valve to set the drip rate. No pumps. We mix calcium in the top off water, so it serves several purposes (top off for salinity & calcium for coral skeleton & pH stabilizer during the overnight hours).

 

[Dmat21]

The rate is very easy to determine & rarely changes from day to day. Mark the target water level in your return chamber of your sump & check it 24 hours later. Length * Width * Height (change in height) / 231 is your 24 hour evaporation rate assuming your measurements are in inches. We use more water in the winter when the furnace is on & there is less humidity.

We use a 1/2” pvc gate valve to set the drip rate. No pumps. We mix calcium in the top off water, so it serves several purposes (top off for salinity & calcium for coral skeleton & pH stabilizer during the overnight hours).

Where do you position your water Reservoir?

 

[R.Weller]

Where do you position your water Reservoir?

It‘s installed on a stand above the primary sump tank next to the return chamber.

This thread has more details of the configuration:

DIY evolving sump for large system

Our journey with a sump started years ago with a 20gal tall supporting a non-drilled 60gal display. That provided some interesting learning, so when we upgraded to a large system, we had a jumpstart on a design that would work for our new system. After a few months of reading & discussing with...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Canadareefer666]

Only auto top off of ro water? How do you Replace your minerals In your tank after they deplete from just adding water in your tank after they deplete from just adding water? I know you’re salinity will stay the same but what about your trace elements

I had a lot of success with kalkwasser in my ATO. It is cheap, fairly easy to to dial in and has great results. I would use trace elements and amino acids if you have coral with kalkwasser in my ATO. For the kalk set up. Test your water calcium and alk on one day at a certain time then begin dosing a very small amount of kalk to start and test your water at the same time the next day. If the calcium or alk is higher than the previous, too much kalkwasser as it will build up overtime. If the calcium or alk is lower, use a little more kalkwasser and test again. If it is the same, number your good but still continue to test...

 

[laverda]

I see a lot of good information being given above, but most is probably overwhelming you at this point.

You do not need 2 part or kalk now.. Depending on what you end up having in your tank and the salt you use, you may never need to use 2 part or kalk. Some salts are higher in alkalinity and calcium than others, so they may satisfy the needs of your tank if not too high. If all your keeping is soft corals, the same salt may be to high in alkalinity and calcium. If you end up with a lot of SPS and or clams, many people use a combination of methods to keep up with alk and ca demand.

For now some method of topping off your tank daily is needed. You can do it manually by just pouring in some RO/DI water daily, by gravity drip, or one of many ATOs available. You need ideally a refractometer to measure you salinity before and 15min after to learn how much to add using the first two methods. You will still want a refractometer with an ATO, but should only need to check your salinity weekly. I suggest you top off manually to start, while learning more about ATOs and choosing one.

Before you start adding many corals you will want to get a good quality alkalinity test kit. Besides salinity,, Alkalinity is the single most important thing you need to keep stable. Alk and Calcium are used at a consistent ratio in most cases. However there is much less alkalinity in your tank than calcium, so it will deplete much faster. It is one of the controlling factors affecting PH so doubly important. Once your thinking of adding corals you want to make sure your alkalinity is in the proper range and test weekly. I personally try to keep mine around 8.6. Most consider 7-10 acceptable, but consistency is the most important.

Once you get your ATO sorted and have an idea what corals you want, then look into 2 part, kalk or even calcium reactors if you plan on SPS and clams.

I would recommend you start with soft corals at first as they are much more forgiving as you learn all there is to learn.
Good luck and enjoy!