Using Saltwater in ATO

[Moneymaks24]

I noticed in the summer my Salinity drops more than usual, I'm assuming its because the fan I use to cool the tank is causing more water to evaporate then usual.

Can I use saltwater in ATO for a while to keep the levels from dropping? Or is that bad for the water pump or something

I use higher Salinity when doing WC to bring it back up but sometimes it's not enough to my desired Salinity level of 1.026 or 35ppm

 

[lnevo]

You can use saltwater for short term in your ato reserve. Evaporation though shouldnt be lowering your salinity. That would cause higher salinity. Usually excessive skimmer output would cause the ATO to engage more and lower salinity as salt water is removed. Usually what i recommend is adding extra salt water (same salinity) to the tank and that will cause your ATO to not be needed as much till your balanced. However not sure in your size tank how much extra water you can add...but yes sw in the reservoir is one way to do it. Just keep your eye on it.

 

[lnevo]

Also something to keep in mind is that some salinity measurements are temperature sensitive like hydrometers...not 100% sure on refractometers. You can float your calibration fluid to make sure its the same temp as the tank. That could be throwing off your readings in the summer too...

 

[Moneymaks24]

It's not my skimmer as it's on dry skim and almost no water is ever in there. It's only a 34 gallon.

How would more evaporation from fan make salinity raise? The way i see it more fresh water is added daily thus lowering salinity. Unless I'm missing something

Thanks I'll put salt in the ATO for a while to bring it up to proper levels.

 

[lnevo]

Because salt doesnt evaporate unless you have serious salt creep happening somewhere. As water evaporates salinity increases as the water level drops the ATO kicks in and refills with fresh water keeping the salinity in line. Usually salinity drops over time because skimmers take out saltwater thats replaced by fresh. But in your case salinity is increasing...not sure how thats possible. Although dosing can increase salinity, but not by much and I think you just started on that so that wouldnt be my first guess...

 

[Bikeboss11]

If it's due to evaporation, your salinity should go up not down..... More immediate causes to me are 1. Minor leak in the system. 2. Bad hydrometer. 3. Dry Skimming( removing salt, gunk and leave the water behind). Oh and yes it is possible to add saltwater through the ATO. I hope you find the problem soon

 

[Dan_P]

I noticed in the summer my Salinity drops more than usual, I'm assuming its because the fan I use to cool the tank is causing more water to evaporate then usual.

Can I use saltwater in ATO for a while to keep the levels from dropping? Or is that bad for the water pump or something

I use higher Salinity when doing WC to bring it back up but sometimes it's not enough to my desired Salinity level of 1.026 or 35ppm

How much is salinity changing? How are you measuring salinity? How much hotter is your aquarium during the summer?

I wouldn't expect to see a large change in salinity during the summer unless the ATO is adding too much water or as previously suggested the system had a leak or some other means of losing saltwater.

 

[albano]

Because salt doesnt evaporate unless you have serious salt creep happening somewhere. As water evaporates salinity increases as the water level drops the ATO kicks in and refills with fresh water keeping the salinity in line. Usually salinity drops over time because skimmers take out saltwater thats replaced by fresh. But in your case salinity is increasing...not sure how thats possible...

+1... Something else is wrong

 

[Moneymaks24]

I use a hydrometer calibrated. I do WC every 2 weeks in that time about 10gallons of fresh rodi water is added by ATO, I don't have any leaks, salinity drops to about 1.023 from 1.026 so I use 1.030 water when doing WC to bring it back up.

 

[Moneymaks24]

It's not a big deal, I don't see any issues w coral, I was just curious about the salt in ATO idea. Thanks for the help

 

[Moneymaks24]

In the summer my fan is on almost all day, as my apex set temp is on 79.5 and during the day my tank temp is about 80 so the fan is almost trying to bring it down to 79.

Normally all year the fan is rarely on as room temp is below 78

I guess I can change the program to 80 and see if the fan turns on less often this evaporating less water during hot days.

 

[lnevo]

This calculator was specifically made to use ATO to increase salinity. http://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/SaltwaterTopOff.php

I think your problem though is the hygrometers are calibrated to a specific temperature (usually 77 degrees) and you have to adjust if the water is not the same. Never mind the inherent inaccuracy of hydrometers. I would just double check with a calibrated refracts ether, but that's me.

 

[Dan_P]

I just did some back of the envelope calculations. If we assume the system is 34 gallons, a change in salinity from 1.026 to 1.023 represents removing about a pound of salt from the water or leaking 4 gallons of saltwater. I think this rules out all explanations except the impact of temperature on the measurement of salinity.

 

[Waleedwale1]

This calculator was specifically made to use ATO to increase salinity. http://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/SaltwaterTopOff.php

I think your problem though is the hygrometers are calibrated to a specific temperature (usually 77 degrees) and you have to adjust if the water is not the same. Never mind the inherent inaccuracy of hydrometers. I would just double check with a calibrated refracts ether, but that's me.

+1 my hydrometer would read 1.023 and than 1.026 right after, than I borrowed a friends hydrometer and it read 1.021, this was on a flat surface with no bubbles and with an instant ocean hydrometer both times. I just got tired of it and ended up buying the BRS refractometer and have and accurate readings since when compared with other refractometers and calibration fluids. It's definitely worth the $45 I paid for it.

 

[Moneymaks24]

I use a refractometer I meant. Don't know brand I payed like $40.

 

[lnevo]

Try floating the calibration fluid in the tank to get them to the same temp and test again.