New ATO setup, A few questions.

I recently setup a Tunze ATO in my DT and so far i love it! the only questions are:

How long is the water good for in my reservoir?

What should i look for in the reservoir to tell if the water is still good?


The water was from my LFS and is the water i usually do my water changes with.

I am also hoping to use this system to do slow water changes to help not stress out the fish.

 

Is this premixed saltwater or RO/DI water? you do NOT want to use saltwater as top off for evaporation, it will raise the salinity because the salt does not evaporate.

as long as there is a good lid on it it will hold for a week or 2 easy. If posible add a powerhead to it to prevent stagnation

 

So the idea is to add RODI and add salt to the tank to raise salinity or what? or do my water changes do this. I dont have the proper equipment to read my salinity so dont get angry with me for not knowing this :/

 

no problem, I highly recommend checking out ebay for a refractometer... usually $25 to 30 dollars
for normal top off water to replace evaporated water you just want to use RO/DI with no salt added
for water changes you will mix in salt to make the replacement water and you will need the refractometer to insure you have the proper level of salt.... most people aim for a reading between 1.023 - 1.025

 

I would recommend reading a few articles on the basics of saltwater chemistry, I agree with the information that was given but if you're interested in getting a good overview of everything else these are good articles, and feel free to skim over any super technical parts if you want.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/rhf/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php

 

Having a hydrometer or better a refractometer is a basic piece of equipment that you'll need to pick up ASAP. (not to sound mean, but I don't know how you set up the tank without one unless you bought pre-mixed salt water) As far as ATOs go, you should only add fresh, RO/DI water to the reservoir. It should last indefinitely, water doesn't go bad. The only time you should add salt water to your aquarium is when you do water changes or if you need to raise your salinity. Salt doesn't evaporate, only H20, so as your water evaporates, the concentration of dissolved salts increases, an ATO adds fresh water do replace the evaporated water, thus maintaining the salinity at a constant level.