OK I HAVE A 30g SUMP THE WATER ON MY RETURN PUMP CHAMBER IS EVAPORATING TOO QUICKLY I NEED TO ADD WATER EVERY COUPLE OF HOURS I JUST CHANGED FROM A 20g SUMP TO A 30 I DID NOT ADJUST THE VALVE THATS RIGHT OVER THE RETURN PUMP COULD IT BE THAT I SHOULD CLOSE THE VALVE A LITTLE MAYBE SLOW TO RATE OF THE WATER GOING IN THE TANK...IDK ITS JUST A GUESS...
A bit annoyed already
- Thread starter aquaman515
- Start date
What other pump u have running in the sump and u might have to turn it down a little
I get evaporation on my 20g sump too I have reactor ,skimmer and main pump . All I do is put water in the morning , afternoon, night takes 2 min to do that's all .
I get evaporation on my 20g sump too I have reactor ,skimmer and main pump . All I do is put water in the morning , afternoon, night takes 2 min to do that's all .
- Location
- BUSHWICK BROOKLYN
Yeah that happens to me too i was thinkg its time for a ''ATO'' unit...
How much water is evaporating? Are you sure you don't have a small leak? Is the water level in your dt increasing above where it should be as the level in your sump decreases?
I am trying to understand why you're thinking shutting your valve down some will help with your issue.
The only time I had to adjust my valves was when the water was returning to my dt so fast that it threatened to flood over the top of my tank. The return pump needs to keep up with the drain not the evaporation. And yes, ATO is a great invention. I need to add one to my fowlr.lol My reef has one!
I am trying to understand why you're thinking shutting your valve down some will help with your issue.
The only time I had to adjust my valves was when the water was returning to my dt so fast that it threatened to flood over the top of my tank. The return pump needs to keep up with the drain not the evaporation. And yes, ATO is a great invention. I need to add one to my fowlr.lol My reef has one!ok there is no leaks the water in my dt remains the same the water in my sump decreases very quickly.. maybe YOUNG REEF is right time for a ATO and i agree with you it is a great invention...How much water is evaporating? Are you sure you don't have a small leak? Is the water level in your dt increasing above where it should be as the level in your sump decreases?
I am trying to understand why you're thinking shutting your valve down some will help with your issue.
evaporation is normal and an ATO is a must have unless you like running to your tank to top-off water. a high rate of evaporation means high swings in temp, try maintaining a stable temp this way you get a good read on how much water you are using.
what was the evaporation rate on the 20g sump...changing to 30g should not have changed the rate (by any significant amount), what else changed? Something else is happening, with all this 'replacement' water, is your SG changing?
- Location
- Westbury L.i
reefing cannot go without ATO...
got any pics to show how your system is setup...
there can be a bunch of reasons why the water level is dropping fast...
you drain and return might not be balanced....but without knowing more of your setup...everything is just gonna be a guessing game.
got any pics to show how your system is setup...
there can be a bunch of reasons why the water level is dropping fast...
you drain and return might not be balanced....but without knowing more of your setup...everything is just gonna be a guessing game.
You say a 30 gal sump right?What's the size of the display tank?Do you have a cover on the display tank?How low in the sump is the water intake on your return pump? And how high is the water line from the bottom of the sump?Can you keep the water line higher in the sump .
Have you ever heard the term keep things simple is better?Well with that said i just want to say that for the short time i'v been a member of MR at least two people lost their reef system to an ATO malfunction .+1 on the other issue though.
It can be a number of things... Do you have any filter media right before your return pump that might need cleaning... This will slow the water down from getting to your return pump and cause you to add water changing your salinity level... Like others have said temp is a big factor... This can frustrate and make the hobby more of a job, I was adding water every two days but an ATO changed all of that... More info on your situation and Im sure somebody will have an answer...
It sounds like the last chamber where your return pump is located is too small. You may have to reconfigure your baffles to allow more water in the final chamber to allow for evaporation. It seems that a small loss in the over all surface area turns into a large fluctuation in the return chamber.
First off i was not quoting you and i am still waiting to hear what you recommend for a 100% full proof ATO unit.Do you feed your fish and corals?Maybe you have a AFU for that as well.Do you look at your fish and corals every day?So what's the problem with adding fresh water to your tank every day or so?I do it.
Dre, I don't think Wes is trying to argue with you. And neither am I.
Adding water everyday for some of us is not as simple as all that. For instance for me it is an ordeal because my ro/di is in the basement, and I have my physical limitations.
As to ATO failure, you are right no equipment is fool proof. And as such you can't just set it & forget it.
All equipment should be checked periodically. I definitely check mine daily. To me it doesn't matter wether it is an inexpensive or expensive one it still needs to be checked.
MR_X
if your tank is hitting 83 during the day and dropping to 77 at night for example. that much of a temp swing has more an evaporative cooling effect on a tank so you will be using more top-off water.
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- Location
- Westbury L.i
there can be only so much you can do to keep things simple in a reef...
alof of the automated devies is to make life easier so you can enjoy the tank.....
.im not gonna say you cant top off manually....but thats where you come up with a post about your return section evaporating too fast...
with a quality ATO kit...you will not notice that evap as much...you only gonna see your resevior getting lower by the day and then you just add rodi water to it probly once a week...
i used to manually top off too...but im so much happier not having to do that everyday....
i dont know about the 2 reefers you seen with malfunctioning ATO's...thats 2 out of thousands of members so far...and who knows how they have thiers setup...you notice a few members have thier system crash...but look at all the quiet ones that never had a problem with thier ATO's
like i said...show us some pics of your system or its a guessing game
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