How to you correct an unexpected drop in salinity?

[Taxus812]

How would you correct for an unexpected drop in salinity? Like if your ATO tried to overfill your tank?

This is as total noob thing. I am kinda embarrassed to be honest. Totally self inflicted.

The long story: ​

My skimmer was in need of tuning (still learning). The cup was filling up a lot with mostly water. My ATO was compensating for the drop by adding fresh water. After a couple of days of this I decided I should test my salinity. Sure enough I dropped from my 1.025 to 1.024. Not a biggie because I only have fish right now and they kinda liked it. I am getting some coral this weekend I wanted I wanted to just bump that back up to my normal parameters of 1.025.

So me in my infinite wisdom decided that I needed to bring the salinity back up by adding about how much I lost via the skimmer with a higher salinity water. Now how much saltwater ? I was looking at calculators (you might guess where this is going). Anyway most are in PPT and I have been measuring S.G. . I took a quick look at changing my Hanna salinity meter but it was not a simple menu choice so I abandoned that idea for now and went on my way.

I added new saltwater per the calculator , waited and measured. It was at 1.028 and I freaked. (I really had not added much water yet in hindsite) Me in my infinite wisdom, proceeded to scoop out water and let the ATO fill in fresh. I measured it a few times along the way. After about a gallon I thought dilution cant be this much. It seemed like a lot of water was coming out and the salinity measured at different parts of the tank were still high?

Then I remembered I was mucking with changing S.G. to PPT uuuug ;Facepalm. I took out my backup and took a reading. 1.023. (I did just the opposite of what I wanted to. ) I must have hit the calibration and cleared it. I recalibrated the meter and it is reading properly now. I have a choice to do a water change to get it to 10.25 or to fill the ato with saltwater and let it raise slowly.

What is the best way to correct this ?

This is the meter I have

​

 

[shred5]

I use saltwater in my auto top off system instead of freshwater when this happens so evaporation raises the salt levels slowly.

 

[tastyfish]

Depending on your set-up, simply either add a litre or so of salt water per day or lower the ATO level slightly each day and then refill to normal level with fresh saltwater, resetting the level of the ATO back to normal.

Slowly, slowly does it. You don’t need more swings.

 

[BeejReef]

lol.. sounds like you've been on an adventure!

You're in no big rush, so slow and steady is how I'd go. If too high, I'd scoop out a cup or two a day until the ATO dilutes it (which you essentially did by accident).
If too low, I'd put saltwater in my ATO and test every 12-24 hours until it was where I wanted. I expect the real experts will do carefully calibrated water changes.

 

[Taxus812]

Thanks for the help. When you are in freak out mode you just don’t think clearly.

I get the added stress of having my gallbladder removed tomorrow morning uugg.

Fortunately I made my Ato so it used the 5 gal containers that natural saltwater comes in. I also had some at the ready. So I hooked up my ato to a container of saltwater. I will have to switchover to fresh tonight so if there is a complication an I get stuck in the hospital I won’t go the other way.

 

[Taxus812]

One question how much damage might this do to my little ATO pump ? (pumping saltwater)

 

[Art2249]

One question how much damage might this do to my little ATO pump ? (pumping saltwater)

I wouldn't put saltwater in my ATO. Just take out a little from your sump and add a little salt to your filter sock, or mix up saltwater and add that for a while by hand until it gets back in line.

 

[shred5]

One question how much damage might this do to my little ATO pump ? (pumping saltwater)

What kind of pump is it? One of mine is a maxi jet and the other is a small pump that comes with allot of systems and is saltwater safe.

 

[mta_morrow]

Been there, done that.

I just dump some salt water into the sump in the morning and at night and let evaporation raise it back up.

For your size tank, maybe a quart in the morning and a quart at night.

It’s not a big deal, you’re gonna be ok.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

In all actuality you could adjust the SG in the tank over an hour or so. Tidal changes can be anywhere from 1.021 to 1.026 if measured at high or low tide. If you are truly at 1.023 and want to go back to 1.025 or 1.026, an hour is all that is needed. Especially if it is fish only. Think about it, we do not acclimate fish to a tank when we get them for 3-4 days.

I would check and double check my salinity, make a batch of brine with RODI and salt, add a little, wait a bit and let everything circulate then test again, and do the adds slowly. I recently did this when I plumbed a 45 jbj that I drilled into an existing setup. Left the ATO on while I was filling the 45 and pumping into it as well. This caused the ATO to run as the second pump was taking out just a bit more than I was putting in. I corrected mine in an hour and went from 1.022 to 1.026. No ill effects.

 

[Taxus812]

I wouldn't put saltwater in my ATO. Just take out a little from your sump and add a little salt to your filter sock, or mix up saltwater and add that for a while by hand until it gets back in line.

I have an AIO so no filter sock.

What kind of pump is it? One of mine is a maxi jet and the other is a small pump that comes with allot of systems and is saltwater safe.

This is the pump. I have been looking online and just discovered it is the same pump used in the AWC Auto Water Changer (They use three of them). So I guess I answered my own question. It should be safe.

 

[Taxus812]

Thanks so much. I’m all set. I went the brine (add/wait/measure) route due recommended by @Eagle_Steve do to me not being home tomorrow. I’m at 1.025 (or 1.026 depending on what tool I used to measure so I expect its close to 26) and reconnected my ato to fresh water.

Thanks again for the help

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Optimally, you would just add mixed saltwater to your tank and let evaporation raise it. Make note of your calculations so you can figure out exactly how much to add in the future. Personally, I'm too lazy for that. I know how much dry salt will raise my salinity by x amount, so I just pour dry salt in my overflow. By the time it works its way through the sump, it's all mixed up and good to go.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Thanks so much. I’m all set. I went the brine (add/wait/measure) route due recommended by @Eagle_Steve do to me not being home tomorrow. I’m at 1.025 (or 1.026 depending on what tool I used to measure so I expect its close to 26) and reconnected my ato to fresh water.

Thanks again for the help

Awesome. Hope all goes well and if you are like me, you will mess up the salinity a little again at some point lol.

 

[Taxus812]

Optimally, you would just add mixed saltwater to your tank and let evaporation raise it. Make note of your calculations so you can figure out exactly how much to add in the future.

I think I probably should have written those numbers down then - LOL. Actually I made a brackish mix I think was about 1.04 SG. in 3 gallons of RODI. I and took a cup (actually 4 cups measured) out of my tank and then added a full measuring cup of my mix to my AIO sump return. I waited and measured and repeated as needed. I really don't know how much I ended up adding in the end. If I had more time I would have gone the evaporation route.

 

[shred5]

I have an AIO so no filter sock.


This is the pump. I have been looking online and just discovered it is the same pump used in the AWC Auto Water Changer (They use three of them). So I guess I answered my own question. It should be safe.

That pump is used in several ATO systems including IceCap...

I have 3 different ATO's laying around that came with that pump.

 

[BeejReef]

Optimally, you would just add mixed saltwater to your tank and let evaporation raise it. Make note of your calculations so you can figure out exactly how much to add in the future. Personally, I'm too lazy for that. I know how much dry salt will raise my salinity by x amount, so I just pour dry salt in my overflow. By the time it works its way through the sump, it's all mixed up and good to go.

yeah, I've got a similar trick. I disconnect my skimmer from its pump and that section of the sump really starts whirling and churning. Then I'll take a 1/2 cup of salt and sprinkle it in over the course of 10-15 minutes.