got my new tank setup and fighting evaporation

[Compliance]

Originally Posted by Sk8r

The good news is that this is great for a stony reef: bring your params to what I have in the sig line, toss 2 lbs of Mrs Wages Pickling Lime into the topoff reservoir, and forget dosing for quite a while. Evaporation drives the ATO to put that lime'd water into your tank, which supplies enough calcium for good coral growth, up to the point you have so MUCH stony coral you have to get a calcium reactor.

THIS.....

Even a gravity fed drip setup could work in a pinch.

[Addiction]

You could put glass covers on your tank. This will keep evaporation to a minimum, but you will have to clean salt spray off of them on a regular basis as the salt will block light penetration.

[Steveg229]

I have used a gravity fed ATO system for the last 1 1/2 - 2 years. I have a 5 gallon rectangular container next to my sump, in the stand, sitting on a shelf at just above the sump water level. I installed a float at the correct height in the acrylic baffle, a fitting in the bottom side of the container, and it has worked flawlessly. Pretty fail safe because no pumps are involved.

[harley3ky]

Originally Posted by dkeller_nc

I'm afraid your wife (and possibly you) are in for a rude shock. From your picture, it appears that you've the basic equipment, but there's thousands of dollars to go to a fully stocked reef.

Regardless, the Tunze ATO is easily the best designed and most bullet-proof ATO on the market. The safety features alone will prevent you from having a living room flood, or cooking your return pump.

I should have mentioned in the OP that this tank is a FOWLR. I may do a reef at some point but it won't be in that tank since it is 30" deep.

The Tunez system looks pretty sweet but a bit more than I will be spending right now.

[Jables]

+1 on autotopoff.com Their system has worked well for me. Easy, simple, and not too expensive.

[droog]

Nice looking rock you have in there and pretty clear water at this early stage. Should make a great environment.

You might want to tweak the aquascape a little though. All those horizontal plates tend to catch detritus. The scape is also quite densely packed which can cause dead spots with little flow. Both of these factors can lead to nuciance algae down the road. If you can open things up a little bit I think the system will work better long term. Just my opinion of course!

-droog

[slapshot]

I've used this for 39 years. Set it at the level you want in the sump run a line to a bucket of water and presto an auto top off for under $10


http://www.usplastic.com/mobile/item...fq4baqodyyoamg

[kjcoop2]

Yup gravity feed your sump no pump needed best quietest and cheapest way to go good on ya d
roog

[Goldndoodle]

I use this - LINK - connected to my RODI system.

[tim.henley73]

Best thing I ever got was a Smart ATO....just keeps everything stable and I don't have to worry so much if I go away a week

[kenpau]

Originally Posted by tim.henley73

Best thing I ever got was a Smart ATO....just keeps everything stable and I don't have to worry so much if I go away a week

+1, I have an Autoaqua Smart ATO and am very happy, keeps salinity very stable. I also bought an 8 gallon tank to fill with RODI and the ATO pump drops straight in....easy!

http://www.autoaqua.com.tw/en/products/automatic.htm

[Compliance]

If you end up with a float valve in the sump be sure it's protected from snails or any other thing that can hang on it and trick it into staying open. That's why I run a dual float switch system instead. For the redundancy.

[dkeller_nc]

Originally Posted by harley3ky

I should have mentioned in the OP that this tank is a FOWLR. I may do a reef at some point but it won't be in that tank since it is 30" deep.

The Tunez system looks pretty sweet but a bit more than I will be spending right now.

Well, your fish will be far more resilient to salinity swings than will coral, so you're good in that sense. If you decide to set up a gravity-fed system that's controlled by a float valve, be absolutely sure that your make-up container has less volume than your sump can contain. I can assure you from personal experience that gravity-fed, float-controlled ATOs are not fail-proof; the typical failure mode is that the float valve doesn't completely shut off the flow from the ATO reservoir.

That's no big deal in a fish system so long as the volume in your reservoir cannot overflow the sump and cause a wet-carpet disaster.

[thrlride]

Originally Posted by Compliance

If you end up with a float valve in the sump be sure it's protected from snails or any other thing that can hang on it and trick it into staying open. That's why I run a dual float switch system instead. For the redundancy.

This.

I have two float switches in my sump for this reason. I ran a 1/4" line from the garage, behind the baseboards to top off the system. My pump is an aquamedic sp3000. I wish I would have ran larger tubing as any kalk I add to the topoff water causes the line to clog.

[dustinkimpel]

Originally Posted by Compliance

If you end up with a float valve in the sump be sure it's protected from snails or any other thing that can hang on it and trick it into staying open. That's why I run a dual float switch system instead. For the redundancy.

The JBJ brakets are suppose to be snail proof. No issues with it yet.

[Joel_155]

You need an ATO. I'm sure this has been mentioned many times but you need one for a stable reef tank.

[harley3ky]

Thanks for all the input. I have found a 12 gallon drum that will fit under the stand with the sump and I will be putting together an ATO this week.

[uwish]

evaporation rates will vary depending on the temperature of the water vs surrounding air and the largest factor, how much surface agitation there is. Your right smack in the middle range for evaporation.

My Eurobraced 250 Gal with go through 15 Gallon in 4 days easily.

My 130 Gal rimless freshwater tank goes through about 2.5 L per day. It won't take long before you realize an ATO is the best system invented. Don't forget having a stable saltwater tank means having a steady replenishment of fresh water as it evaporates or your salinity in the tank will start to climb (slowly but it will climb).