Quick question going out of town

Many people, especially those with larger tanks have ATO systems. They are very convenient, especially when you go away for a weekend.

 

I think Ill just run the T5 lights since they do not get as hot and are turned on with a separate switch.

I have looked at some of the ATO's but was trying to figure out where to put it to ensure water does not end up everywhere. My worst nightmare. Do you know of any good units? GMan I do not have that much space in my cabinet. Thanks for the help...

 

This is just a guess, but I'd imagine that lights don't impact evaporation rate nearly as much as whether or not the tank has an open top. I think another big contributor to water loss is the the water/air surface area of your sump.

Also, I've never heard that protein skimming effects evaporation rate, but Peredhil says his skimmer doubles evaporation. Go figure. I wonder why that is. :-/

To address your question about an auto top off system, to me--it all starts with an RO/DI. I feel this is necessary equipment, but many don't employ one. If you have an RO/DI, you can run a water line to your tank if it's convenient, and have a float valve at the end. As long as the RO/DI has an ASOV (automatic shut off valve), it'll work beautifully.

Good luck!!

 

I got that tip from Brandon, I think it was. So I tested it out before I left.

I have a 3 gallon bucket. It normally takes me less than 3 days to use it up for top off. Having left skimmer off for only two days, at end of second day my bucket was almost full. Used around half gallon in two days.

There are myriad variables - room temp, humidity, etc. of course.

So I definitely vouch for this tip. I have an HOB Octopus BH-100F.

I normally skim about an inch a week - so I don't think the reason it helped was because I wasn't removing water anymore... FYI.

 

I wouldn't set up an auto top off until you get back from your trip. Last thing you need to worry about is an auto top off system that's been set up in haste and which may not function properly at first.

 

That's great advice. The second step after setting up any automated action in our tank is to observe its function. To set it up and skeedaddle, robs you of your ability to observe.

 

I worry less about my 150G tank than my 20G tank. My sump in the 150G has a huge margin of error for evaporation, about 7-10G before the pump starts sucking air. My 20G fuge has about 2G before it does that. I do weekly 4G topoffs for my 150G, but need to add about 1G every 3rd day in my 20G. I'm going on vacation in June, and will be adding my ATO to my 20G real soon. I'll leave my 150 as is during that time, and just fill the sump to the safe max it can handle.