Best way to add top-off water

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havefun

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
354
Location
Dubuque, Iowa
Anyone have any tips as to how to go about doing this. I don't have a sump so I have to add directly to my main. It looks like a chemical experiment when the fw hits the sw.
Right now I only have 1 clown but whenever he see's the lid open he thinks it's feeding time and ends up swimming right in the middle of the plume :roll:
 
I would consider getting a pump. Pull some water out of the tank into a 5/10/20 gal bucket. Pour in your fresh top off water and make sure it's mixed, that way when you pump it back in, it won't be such a shock for your tank to get pure fresh water... it'll just be diluted saltwater.

Make sure the temp is the same... get a small heater if you don't already have one :wink:
 
Mixing in a bucket like that may change the SG of the water if you don't know exactly how much fresh water to add... IMO When adding water in small amounts it is not necessary to heat first.
How big of a tank??
 
Hmmm... how long are you going in between water top-offs? Sometimes people let their tanks go down 3-5 inches... :lol: ... like my girlfriend's parent's tank. That's like a 15 gal "top off"
 
Rob,

that's terrible. top-offs usually have to be done every day, particularly if you have inverts. they are VERY sensitive to salinity changes, especially creatues like anemones. In a FO tank, it's not as dramatic, but still stresses the fish.

I top off daily, and in doing-so I dose my alk buffer and calcium supplement (I do have a reef, not a FO or FOWLR).

I have a fuge, so I usually pour FW in there, and then some in the display tank, near a powerhead so it mixes more quickly. Corals, more than fish, will suffer from being in FW, but in tanks with proper circulation, it should mix in so quickly that the effect on salinity is negligible. When in doubt, just pour more slowly, or do a.m. and p.m. top-offs.
 
Here is a life and time saver: (havefun this will not help you right now)

Buy a very small trash can or container that can hold 5-10g of water. Buy an auto top off float switch. Place the switch in your sump at the level you want. Connect it to a PH. Fix the PH in your container with a hose line from it to the sump. Every time your water drops a bit, the PH will switch on and top it off.

I put fresh water in the container about 2 times a week in my 125g.

:wink:
 
malkore said:
Rob,

that's terrible. top-offs usually have to be done every day, particularly if you have inverts.

hah... that's what I keep telling them. :roll: It's a Freshwater setup, but it still is bad. I'm constantly advising them on what to do, but it's hard since they live 12 hours away and I'm not there to supervise... every time we go to visit, the tank is always in need of major care. A 55 gal. tank with only one gold fish... seems a bit overkill.

I certainly do not practice bad tank husbandry... I'm topping off once a day right now and go through a 5 gal. jug of RO/DI watter in 3 days. Bi-weekly testing, water changes, and regular mag-floating to clean the glass. Hope you guys didn't think I was promoting laziness or bad tank husbandry. :!:
 
Rob,

sorry I didn't mean to imply you were doing something wrong. I just wanted to make it clear that going 3-5 inches of evaporation between top-offs was bad. Lots of new SW people lurking in the forums, didn't want them to get a bad habit embedded in their heads.
 
Malkore,
The combination of your post and that avatar of yours has me topping off my tank as we speak... and mine hasn't even arrived yet!!! 8O

Rob, send your girlfriend's parents Malkore's picture... and say "if you don't start topping off your tank regularly, THIS guy is going to come after you..."
 
Rev, the problem with your setup for auto topoffs is I amoung most of us do not have enough room where our display tank is to have a trashcan to do that.

my problem is I dont know how much water to add for a top off - if i add to much then i need to add some salt/ if i dont add enough my SA is too low.

I mark my sump so i know to add up to that line....it seems to be the best and only way to know
i do need a RO unit but in the mean time I have done my topofs with distilled water
 
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