Auto Top-Off.... for those who tie a knot in the tube and drip your topoff water

AngeloM3 · 07/20/2006, 01:58 PM

I'm planning on going away for a couple of days and need to get my auto-topoff working. Seeing that I only need a temporary topoff setup, I'm just going to use a 5g bucket and tie a knot in the tube and drip my RO/DI water in my sump.

Just curious what drip rate is good? Or what drip rate other fellow reefers use for this setup. Right now I'm testing it out at: 1 drip every 2 seconds.

Kabong · 07/21/2006, 01:19 PM

There's too many variances to give you good advice on you.
To many thing's determine your evaporation rate you'll have to trial and error to figure out a drip rate.

rich415 · 07/21/2006, 02:45 PM

I had nothing but problems with my gravity fed trip. I knew the drip rate but it never stayed consistent. My drip would plug up after two days. When I went away for two and a half days, I filled the sump up a couple of inches above the line and prayed that the drip would continue for at least two days. When I returned there was just enough water left in the pump chamber to keep the pump going but it was sucking air. My salinity went up barely and after I added water the corals perked up the next day. I immediatly bought a float switch set up and have never looked back.

ReefNuggets · 07/21/2006, 03:25 PM

I am in the same position. Going on vacation over the weekend and am running the same setup as you, but I am trying to dial it in right now...what a PITA. I should really be trying to figure out how to run a float switch on the skimmer box of the remora. Angelo how much do you evap over 24 hours? I am about 9/10 of a gallon a day on my 55 and currently dripping at one per 3 seconds.

07/20/2006, 01:58 PM	#1
AngeloM3 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 1,016	Auto Top-Off.... for those who tie a knot in the tube and drip your topoff water I'm planning on going away for a couple of days and need to get my auto-topoff working. Seeing that I only need a temporary topoff setup, I'm just going to use a 5g bucket and tie a knot in the tube and drip my RO/DI water in my sump. Just curious what drip rate is good? Or what drip rate other fellow reefers use for this setup. Right now I'm testing it out at: 1 drip every 2 seconds.

07/21/2006, 01:19 PM	#2
Kabong Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Brentwood Bay B.C. Posts: 454	There's too many variances to give you good advice on you. To many thing's determine your evaporation rate you'll have to trial and error to figure out a drip rate.

07/21/2006, 02:45 PM	#3
rich415 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 172	I had nothing but problems with my gravity fed trip. I knew the drip rate but it never stayed consistent. My drip would plug up after two days. When I went away for two and a half days, I filled the sump up a couple of inches above the line and prayed that the drip would continue for at least two days. When I returned there was just enough water left in the pump chamber to keep the pump going but it was sucking air. My salinity went up barely and after I added water the corals perked up the next day. I immediatly bought a float switch set up and have never looked back.

07/21/2006, 03:25 PM	#4
ReefNuggets Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Lehigh Valley, PA Posts: 161	I am in the same position. Going on vacation over the weekend and am running the same setup as you, but I am trying to dial it in right now...what a PITA. I should really be trying to figure out how to run a float switch on the skimmer box of the remora. Angelo how much do you evap over 24 hours? I am about 9/10 of a gallon a day on my 55 and currently dripping at one per 3 seconds.