Luky
New Member
I have a 70 gal tank with about 5 gal water in the sump. I estimate ~65gal of water in the system (with sand and rock). I have recently upgraded to DC return pump, circulation pumps, skimmer, and added a dosing pump and compact rollermat. Have a 1/4hp chiller on the return pump that used to be fed by a Magnum 350 cannister I have been using for 20-25 years. I also added a Tunz ATO and some new Current USA Marine LOOP LED fixtures. It has been FOWLR with some softies (Leathers, colt, mushrooms, palys) and I recently decided to try getting into LPS/SPS so I made these upgrades and have about eight frags (Blasto, Favia, Gonipora, gorgonian, montipora, candy cane, zoas, xenia). I removed the cannister a week ago trying to reduce my nitrates under 10ppm and lower the phosphates. I had placed a mesh bag with some phosorb and carbon in my overflow box a few days ago to pull out more phosphates. I noticed over the last day or so that my ATO seemed to be running more than usual.
Upon investigation today I saw my tank water level was high as a result of mesh bag restricting return flow too much. So my sump ATO added about 3-4 gal of extra RODI that dropped my salinity to 1.023. (Normal is about 1 liter/day ATO). It was 1.025 yesterday, and I have been trying to get it up to 1.026 through evaporation (add extra ocean water at water changes). Now I am looking to add some concentrated mixed-salt+ RODI water in to get my salinity up to 1.026. I have been using free ocean water for all water changes for last ~25 years since I moved to San Diego so the salt mix I have is about 25 years old (Coralife Scientific Grade Marine Salt). It is still sealed from the back of the closet and feels slightly "moist" but I think should be OK.
Using the calculator at https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/DirectSaltCalculator.php shows ~1200grams of salt needed for this increase (1.023 to 1.026). I mixed about 600grams of salt with about a 1gal of RODI and have a powerhead mixing it (so I can do again once this increase is stable). Just curious for the best way/rate to add it back to the tank and over what period? I was going to siphon it back into my overflow box with airline tubing so it could slowly mix in the sump before going back into the tank. Is this too fast to add it back (maybe over an hour or two)? I already removed about 3 gal from the system to get my sump back to the proper level.
When I checked on May 31st I had:
PH 8.3
76.8F
Salinity 1.025 (now 1.023)
Alk 8.0
Calcium 400
Nitrates 10.2ppm
Phos 0.07ppm
Dose 8ml of All for Reef each day
Doing a 10-12 gal water change weekly with filtered seawater from Scripps/Birch Aquarium.
A pair of Percs (been laying eggs), citron, cleaner, engineer, diamondback, tiger gobies, pencil urchins, brittle star, emerald crab, blue/red leg hermits, multiple kinds of snails and recently added some Berghia.
Upon investigation today I saw my tank water level was high as a result of mesh bag restricting return flow too much. So my sump ATO added about 3-4 gal of extra RODI that dropped my salinity to 1.023. (Normal is about 1 liter/day ATO). It was 1.025 yesterday, and I have been trying to get it up to 1.026 through evaporation (add extra ocean water at water changes). Now I am looking to add some concentrated mixed-salt+ RODI water in to get my salinity up to 1.026. I have been using free ocean water for all water changes for last ~25 years since I moved to San Diego so the salt mix I have is about 25 years old (Coralife Scientific Grade Marine Salt). It is still sealed from the back of the closet and feels slightly "moist" but I think should be OK.
Using the calculator at https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/DirectSaltCalculator.php shows ~1200grams of salt needed for this increase (1.023 to 1.026). I mixed about 600grams of salt with about a 1gal of RODI and have a powerhead mixing it (so I can do again once this increase is stable). Just curious for the best way/rate to add it back to the tank and over what period? I was going to siphon it back into my overflow box with airline tubing so it could slowly mix in the sump before going back into the tank. Is this too fast to add it back (maybe over an hour or two)? I already removed about 3 gal from the system to get my sump back to the proper level.
When I checked on May 31st I had:
PH 8.3
76.8F
Salinity 1.025 (now 1.023)
Alk 8.0
Calcium 400
Nitrates 10.2ppm
Phos 0.07ppm
Dose 8ml of All for Reef each day
Doing a 10-12 gal water change weekly with filtered seawater from Scripps/Birch Aquarium.
A pair of Percs (been laying eggs), citron, cleaner, engineer, diamondback, tiger gobies, pencil urchins, brittle star, emerald crab, blue/red leg hermits, multiple kinds of snails and recently added some Berghia.
