How do you keep you salinity at a certain level?
 

Hi there,

I'm trying to keep my salinity at 1.024 to 1.026 but it always goes close to 1.030. I know this is due to evaporation but i keep refilling with fresh water all the time but it always goes higher.

salinity issues can be solved with two things
1) Auto top off (best investment ever)
2) refactometer(sp) instead of a hydrometer.

The ato will keep your levels constant and the refract will ensure you are actually at 1.026sg

auto top off

+1 on the ATO


For the first few weeks that I had mine I thought I had a leak some where...lol, as you will be shocked to find out just how often the ATO pump kicks in to keep up with evaporation.

Have to agree with Jon..... Probably the best addition you will ever make to your system....and if you wan the best of the best then go with the Tunze

+1 on ATO.

1.024 to 1.030, seems like quite the swing, how much fresh water you adding at a time?

before I got an auto-top off I drew a line on my sump that marked the high water level for when the sump was running. If you're always filling it back to that line, your salinity shouldn't be increasing, in fact your skimmer should slowly (in a big system, VERY slowly) decrease your salinity and it removes salt water and you replace it with fresh.

Tunze ATO systems are the best by leaps and bounds

+1 to refractometer and ato. Also when you do water change, make sure the new fresh water has same salinity with the current tank and make sure you fill exact amount that you withdraw.

Tunze ato is good but if you spend a little more, may you can get apex with io breakout box then you are set. Seriously, once you have a controller, it is so easy to take care of the tank. I would never a saltwater tank running without a controller.

I found with my float switches controlled by Apex controller, i can pump fresh water or new water to my tank with the exact amount.

The reason I love the tunze is because it doesn't use a float valve. I just totally destroyed my tunze ATO unit in a flood 2 days ago though (piece of plastic somehow plugged the outflow of my refugium... what a mess), so for my next tank I'll either have to buy a new one, or do something else. Can the apex work with an infrared sensor like the Tunze, or is your only option a float valve?

only float switch, yes it can be a problem if float switch failed but it can support multiple so i have multiple float switch to monitor my tank.

Also it is much cheaper to replace the pump if it failed rather the tunze one. However, cost you more for initial set up.

The Elos digital osmocontroller is well worth considering. No float switch to get stuck, very easy to set up, and so far completely maintenance free.

Tunze pump is only $32:wink:

The only dislike I have about the newer tunze is that the magnets have a tendency to move easily on their own I think cause over time by ANY minor touch or vibration, I've been trying to get mine back to exactly where it was for a week due to bumping it. I can get it there but then the polarity on the oposing magnets seem to shift a little bit every day. But in terms of stable salinity ATO is a must IMO.

I'll trade ya for my old style clamp-on nightmare to assemble bracket:mrgreen:

hehahehaha ah nope, I said it was my only dislike.:twised: