Top off question.

[kdogg85]

I use a pond pump in my trash can to do water changes and top offs. When I do a top off, would the freshwater I'm putting in hurt anything? It goes in pretty quick and the tank gets hazy for about 20 seconds and then clears back up. Would the water going in this quick be bad for the fish and inverts? I haven't lost anyone yet and my shrimp seem to get in the haziness and play around.

 

[neilanh]

How much total water volume in your system? Are you topping off directly into your display tank? Do you top off manually or is it controlled by a float valve?

 

[Mitchell0605]

Is the haziness like the water going strange with lines in it or is it sand etc stiirred up. If it's the first it's just the water temp difference makes that happen and it's harmless if your water is close (within 2 celcius what that is in F i have no idea) of your current tank temp. If it's sand pour the water on to a plate and that will stop it.

 

[cmor1701d]

It's probably the fw/sw mix that's taking place. If it's actually hazy I would test the top off water.

+1 for Neilan's questions. How big is the tank?
How much water are you adding on a top off?
Is it RODI water?
Are you puttiing RODI water in the same bucket you use for mixig SW?

My top off water goes to my tank overflow so it has a chance to mix there an in the sump before entering the tank. You may want to try a similar arrangement.

 

[kdogg85]

I use ro/di water. I use the same trash can for top offs and pwc's. I rinse it out after pwc's so I don't get salt crust in anything. It's a 75g tank. I usually put about 2 gallons every 4 days. The haziness just looks like heat waves in the water. Like I said, it goes away after 20 seconds or so. I do top off in the display, don't have a sump

 

[Zer0]

That's normal.. The water from the top-off has different properties of that in your tank, so it makes those heat wave looking ripples in the water. Always used to happen when i topped-off. That's the freshwater being diluted in the saltwater. Nothing to worry about.

I wouldn't really call that "hazy" though.. lol. More along the lines of ripply or.. heatwavish looking lol. I mean.. i've only see water get hazy or a little cloudy when the water is REALLY hot. Like hot water coming straight out of the tap is usually cloudy for 30 seconds or something.. until the water cools down. Then it's clear again.

 

[thincat]

'heatwavish looking", I like that,....That little cloudy from the hot water line is usually air and makes the water look cloudy. No harm or worries though.

 

[kdogg85]

Heatwave looking is what I meant to say. Hazy wasn't the right word, but since no harm is done, then good. The water isn't hot going in the tank, it's about 76deg and I keep the tank at 78deg. I was worrying, but not now. Thanks for the relief.

 

[Mitchell0605]

I think just about everyones does that when they top off.

 

[cmor1701d]

I would just be carefull that not snails, starfish, etc. are int he direct path of the fw top off. They are sensitive to SG changes and that is what you are seeing, the mixing of sw and fw.

 

[Zer0]

Oh that's definitely for sure. Never get the top-off water near inverts. In general, i always tried to keep the top-off water away from my coral and other inverts, but since my fish decide to swim directly in the top-off water when i pour it in, i just don't think anything of it.