Water top off and coral question

[GuyontheCouch]

How do you guys figure out how much freshwater you have to top off? Is there any formula you use, or do you just put water back in so it reaches the level it was at yesterday. I would love to use an IV dripper but where the tank is at, it would be improbable.

 

I was also wondering if anyblody here has bought that "nano polyp" pack from Live Aquaria. It says they try to give you 5 different color zoas, and was wondering how good it was.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Mr. Fosi]

... do you just put water back in so it reaches the level it was at yesterday.

 

That is what I do.

 

My specific gravity falls over a period of months due to salt creep that never makes it back into the tank, and I combat this by adding a tsp of salt to my 500ml of topoff water (every few weeks) when I notice it is low. Straight FW the rest of the time.

 

Never used Live Aquaria, so I know nothing about them.

[YeahitsK]

On my NC24, I've done the fuge mod in the 2nd chamber so I put a small piece of tape on the back of the tank to mark the water level I would like to maintain. On a daily basis, I add enough fresh water to bring it back to the mark. My tank is new enough that I haven't had the salt creep problems yet but I would probably try to adjust the specific gravity through water changes with the change water containing a higher/lower concentration of salt.

[brent-konieczny]

My auto top off handles my evaporation, but you should just fill your tank with fresh to maintain the steady water level. I had a line marked on the back of my tank to see where exactly to fill up to. Also, If you do a water change every two weeks or so you shouldn't have to worry about the very slow process of de-salinization due to salt creep.

I wouldn't recommend the nano pack from live aquaria. Their prices are too high for what you will get (have experienced before). Look at a website called seacrop.com (if you haven't already). They have good prices and you will know in advance what corals/zoos you are getting.

[Prowland]

I made a surface skimmer mod to my intake pipe. It works best at a certain level so its a good reminder of where to fill the water too. I would recomend getting a refractometer to test sal. and sg as it is a quick and easy way to see where your levels are at.

[GuyontheCouch]

thanks for the responses!

 

Ok, as long as we are all in agreement with the water top off. I have refractometer, so testing the salt wont be a problem.

 

Thanks for the advice about live aquaria, glad i didnt make a 100 dollar mistake!

 

Im going through the cycle now with LR, so I will post some pics soon!