Left RO running into tank all day, need help!

[alienbob113]

First and foremost, im buying a float switch so this never happens agian.

My tank is right next to the outlet of my RO/DI unit so i usually just run the hose directly into my tank for top off every day or every other day. Well today i left it on when i left for work so my tank got ~ 24 gallons of freshwater pumped into it over 8 hours. Its a 29g with a 20g sump thats probably 3/4th full, i'd estimate total water volume at 40g's. I think most of the freshwater stayed suspended above the saltwater and skimmed off the top onto the floor because it only dropped it down from 1.025 to 1.019. My clowns are still swimming but i dont see any sign of my goby/pistol shrimp but they might be sleeping. All my sps look like goners and sps and softies dont look too hot either.

What im wondering is if im better off supersaturating the batch of saltwater ive got made (about 10 gallons) to quickly raise the salinity back to 1.025, or do i return it more gradually?

Quick responses are greatly appreciated!!!!

[caelanc5]

raise it gradually

[dread240]

Man I did much worse... I dropped to 1.009 and lost almost all my coral and a few fish, but surprisingly the inverts were not phased in the slightest. It was a very gradual drop since an ro/di system doesn't put out a whole lot (this was on a 75g with a 20g sump)

I raised it back up over the course of about 2-3 days figuring damage was already done to most pieces, and those that were surviving would appreciate a gradual increase compared to anything fast. All my zoa's, ricordea, clownfish and inverts were fine. My toadstool literally died back to a stump of it's former self but it's actually coming back. Most people would have said to toss it but I left it in and it's recovering.

[rfgonzo]

Raise it slow and let us know what happens when back to norm SG.

[alienbob113]

well thats reassuring. While all my sps's polyps are withdrawn they dont look completely bleached (yet) so im assuming there is still some hope. I did a 10 gallon water change with water @ 1.027 and i guess ill do another in the morning. Other than wait it out with crossed fingers is there anything else i can do?

[rfgonzo]

Not really, When you did your 10% change of 1.027 how much did your SG go up? And was your water temp the same as tank water?

[devimik]

Here's a handy calculator you can use to determine what levels to mix for targeted salinity levels. Good luck.
http://www.saltyzoo.com/SaltyCalcs/SalinityAdjust.php

[alienbob113]

Originally Posted by rfgonzo

Not really, When you did your 10% change of 1.027 how much did your SG go up? And was your water temp the same as tank water?

10 gallon not 10%, and honestly it was closer to about 9 gallons i changed out. It was the same temp as i was planning on doing a WC when i got home from work tonight anyway. It went from 1.019 to between 1.021-1.022 on my refractometer. Im hoping that wasn't too much too quick.

[alienbob113]

Originally Posted by devimik

Here's a handy calculator you can use to determine what levels to mix for targeted salinity levels. Good luck.
http://www.saltyzoo.com/SaltyCalcs/SalinityAdjust.php

Hmm i never thought to do it the way indicated there, raising the salinity of discarded water and reusing it. Done this way, what's the fastest you'd recommend i raise it the last bit from 1.021-1.025?

[rfgonzo]

That is a big jump but what's done is done, slow down now to bring it back up. Your coral might get stressed but you should be ok down the road.

[alienbob113]

Originally Posted by rfgonzo

That is a big jump but what's done is done, slow down now to bring it back up. Your coral might get stressed but you should be ok down the road.

yeah i honestly didnt expect it to shoot up so high, but in a bit of a panic didnt bother to do the proper calculations. Ill let everything be over night and do another wc in the morning. With how cold my house is ive been losing a huge amount of water due to evaporation...maybe i can just replace lost water with salt water @ 1.026 until back to normal.

[devimik]

Well, I wouldn't do it quickly. Perhaps since you got it to 1.022, you could just mix some top off water at 1.025 or 1.026 (whatever your target salinity is) and just use that saltwater temporarily for top off until you get to the targeted salinity, then switch back to RODI fresh water for top off? That way it would take days to get it up to the desired level, but slower is better.

[alienbob113]

Originally Posted by devimik

Well, I wouldn't do it quickly. Perhaps since you got it to 1.022, you could just mix some top off water at 1.025 or 1.026 (whatever your target salinity is) and just use that saltwater temporarily for top off until you get to the targeted salinity, then switch back to RODI fresh water for top off? That way it would take days to get it up to the desired level, but slower is better.

Thats what i attempted to suggest in my post above. Ill slow things down and let you guys know how it goes.

Thanks for all the advice.

[devimik]

Originally Posted by alienbob113

Thats what i attempted to suggest in my post above. Ill slow things down and let you guys know how it goes.

Thanks for all the advice.

Yep, that was good timing - saw your post just after posting mine. That should do the trick.

[alienbob113]

Surprisingly, no sign of any losses yet. SPS polyps are still visible, just look slightly irritated. My BTA hasn't spit anything up, its tentacles look slightly thinner, but it hasn't shriveled up and changed out its water that I have noticed, though it may have at some point in the night. Clowns are acting normal, and my YWG is out and about; I heard my pistol shrimp in the night but haven't seen him.

[ca1ore]

Generally rapid salinity declines are less injurious than rapid increases. As you point out, 1.019 isn't that bad. I has something similar happen to may tank back in April (1.024 down to 1.019), and I just gradually increased salinity back to 1.024 over the course of a week by adding salt to my ATO reservoir. Didn't lose a thing!

FWIW, heater and ATO malfunctions appear to be the most common causes of a tank crash. I think it is worth ensuring one has at least double redundancy in these areas.

[syrinx]

I would raise it immediately. It will not shock the corals to be put into water that meets their requirments, wheras it will shock them to remain in low salinity. Fish it really makes no difference. As long as ph and temp are equal. Read up of fresh water dips, and you will understand that the salinity shock is minimal. Slower being better is absolutely not the case, in this rare instance.

[syrinx]

Shrimps and starfish and the like may respond better to a drip acclimation increase- but the less time at low salinity, the better the chance of survival.

[alienbob113]

Originally Posted by ca1ore

Generally rapid salinity declines are less injurious than rapid increases. As you point out, 1.019 isn't that bad. I has something similar happen to may tank back in April (1.024 down to 1.019), and I just gradually increased salinity back to 1.024 over the course of a week by adding salt to my ATO reservoir. Didn't lose a thing!

FWIW, heater and ATO malfunctions appear to be the most common causes of a tank crash. I think it is worth ensuring one has at least double redundancy in these areas.

I've just been lazy about purchasing a proper ATO setup since my RO/DI unit is so close to my tank its just been easy to flick it on when I need to top off, and flick back off when finished; I usually put a timer on my phone to approximate when to shut it off, in this instance I only wanted it to run for about 5 minutes and figured I'd remember as I walked out the door for work. Big mistake. I've already got the reefkeeper and a few aqualifters sitting in my garage unused so I have no excuse to not get a dual float switch for top off. And thanks to the Reefkeeper I've got heater failure covered.

Originally Posted by syrinx

I would raise it immediately. It will not shock the corals to be put into water that meets their requirments, wheras it will shock them to remain in low salinity. Fish it really makes no difference. As long as ph and temp are equal. Read up of fresh water dips, and you will understand that the salinity shock is minimal. Slower being better is absolutely not the case, in this rare instance.

I'm glad to hear this advice coming from someone who apparently has lots of real world experience with this. It seems that my rushed solution actually wasn't the worst idea; raise it quickly to 1.023 and then taper off the rest. This was seems to follow both trains of though - I quickly got the corals out the danger zone but am more slowly acclimating the rest to prevent a potential shock.

My greatest fear was my bubble tip who ive only had about 4 months now getting ****ed off and hurting the tank. I put new carbon in last night as a precaution but all seems ok so far.

[flamron]

Don't ever run the RODI directly to the tank. You are asking for failure to occur.

My plan is to have an ATO chamber built into my sump (already done). I will then plumb the RODI to it. It'll operate on float switches to top off the sump as needed.

Once the ATO level gets low, my apex will ping me via email and I'll open the RODI valve. The ATO will have a float valve installed, so it'll fill until it goes up. At that point, I will recieve another ping from my apex to turn off the fresh water supply to the tank. This limits the failure points to a float valve not shutting down, but I'll get a notification when it is time to shut it down. I'll also have an emergency high float valve to indicate if the float valve fails.