Using Prime for Freshwater Top-Off?

[CCXGT]

Can you simply use Prime (or any other dechlorinator) to treat normal tap water and top off a saltwater tank with it?
Or does it have to be RODI?


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[Mattyfelts]

Originally Posted by CCXGT

Can you simply use Prime (or any other dechlorinator) to treat normal tap water and top off a saltwater tank with it?
Or does it have to be RODI?


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you CAN... but you should use RODI especially in a reef

[BigRedsReefs10]

Originally Posted by Mattyfelts

you CAN... but you should use RODI especially in a reef

+1, and especially in a 10

[CCXGT]

Righto..
I have four 5G jugs so I guess I can spare one for RODI.


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[Mebbid]

You can also use distilled water for top offs if you need to.

[CCXGT]

Question No.2..

After a drip acclimation, what should I replenish the water with?

Salt or fresh?


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[BigRedsReefs10]

Depending on what your dripping, and the salinity it came from it usually doesn't take much out of the tank, I usually just leave it a little low until the next wc

Edit:
You can see in this pic the water level after I dripped 2 separate new sps frags this week (purchased on different days) my level is normally even with the black rim so you can see it doesn't take much water.

[CCXGT]

Originally Posted by BigRedsReefs10

Depending on what your dripping, and the salinity it came from it usually doesn't take much out of the tank, I usually just leave it a little low until the next wc

Edit:
You can see in this pic the water level after I dripped 2 separate new sps frags this week (purchased on different days) my level is normally even with the black rim so you can see it doesn't take much water.

Right... So the water loss from dripping DOESN'T up the salinity then?


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[Mebbid]

It depends on the tank size. Larger tanks will be impacted less than smaller tanks. I usually do about 3g of water to drip a coral. My 90g tank doesnt care while a 10g or 20g would care a lot. Replenish with salt water.

The only thing you replenish with fresh water is evaporation.

[BigRedsReefs10]

Originally Posted by CCXGT

Right... So the water loss from dripping DOESN'T up the salinity then?


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Why would the salinity change? Your removing water not letting it evaporate. And mebbid why so long of a drip? 3 gallons seems a little excessive, and would take a long time.

[CCXGT]

Originally Posted by BigRedsReefs10

Why would the salinity change? Your removing water not letting it evaporate. And mebbid why so long of a drip? 3 gallons seems a little excessive, and would take a long time.

Well sorry... I'm not 100% on how salt works...


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[Mebbid]

Originally Posted by BigRedsReefs10

Why would the salinity change? Your removing water not letting it evaporate. And mebbid why so long of a drip? 3 gallons seems a little excessive, and would take a long time.

If you remove water and top off with fresh then you're decreasing the salinity which is why you need to top off with salt water to prevent the salinity change.

I use 3 gallons on average because that works for me. I've seen many times that people suggest dripping even more water. It will depend on the difference between the water parameters. Dripping a coral or fish doesn't require as much dripping as inverts. It's situational how much I use.

[CCXGT]

So.. To summarise...

Evaporation = fresh water

Syphoning anything = salt water

Correct?


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[Mebbid]

Originally Posted by CCXGT

So.. To summarise...

Evaporation = fresh water

Syphoning anything = salt water

Correct?


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Yuppers

[CCXGT]

Ughhhhhhh I wanna get this build going!!

I've promised myself to not start it until I get a job and I'm starting to regret that!!


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