Salinity - ppt vs S.G. (Need Help Knowing How To Properly Measure)

[JSkeleton]

Many/most ATO have some kind of failsafe built in but it still isn’t unheard of for them to fail. Having an ATO stay on when it shouldn’t can potentially be catastrophic for the tank and your house depending on how much water it can pump into your tank from the reservoir.

As for evaporation I evaporate about 1.5g a day from my roughly 100g tank and about 2g from my 125g tank. There are a lot of factors that effect evaporation rates including amount of surface agitation, type of covers on the tank, your ambient humidity, etc.

The more times you manually top off the tank the better but I would think that once a day should be the minimum. If you don’t want to buy an ATO right now you can figure out how much water you need to add and setup a dosing pump to add that much daily. I don’t know how much cheaper it would be than a ATO though. That is how I keep salinity in my qt tank stable.

If all ATOs are prone to malfunction, why get one and risk damage to tank and home?

What’s a dosing pump do? You set up how much per day for it to pump into the tank? Must be pricey though and close to same as an ATO I assume?

 

[Gtinnel]

If all ATOs are prone to malfunction, why get one and risk damage to tank and home?

What’s a dosing pump do? You set up how much per day for it to pump into the tank? Must be pricey though and close to same as an ATO I assume?

I wouldn’t go as far as to say they’re prone to malfunction, but it’s always a possibility. I’ve only had an issue with an ATO once and it was my fault from a improper install.
Yes a dosing pump just pumps a set amount of water into the tank daily. I use one for my qt tank just because I had some spares sitting around.

 

[Jedi1199]

If all ATOs are prone to malfunction, why get one and risk damage to tank and home?

What’s a dosing pump do? You set up how much per day for it to pump into the tank? Must be pricey though and close to same as an ATO I assume?

This is all basically irrelevant. You do not NEED an ATO. It is a handy piece of equipment to have, but not necessary.

If I recall, you have a 55g system. You will lose about 1g/24hr. This is not enough to be alarmed, or even mildly concerned over.

Top it off every couple days when you notice the water level is getting low and done. The ATO just makes that task easier since it maintains a mostly stable level (you still have to fill the reservoir). What nobody has told you is that even the most advanced high end ATO units need to wait till the water evaporates to a point that triggers them to respond. So if you think about it, you are constantly raising and lowering your salinity by minute amounts.

Dosing pumps are designed to add trace elements to the system at a regulated amount and schedule. I am unsure if they are designed to double as an ATO, but I suppose it is possible. (I kinda doubt it though.)

 

[trainbob]

If you mix your saltwater in the same container every time just mark a line and fill to the mark. Trial and error should get you close. I use a 10 gallon brute and it takes 5 cups of IORC to get close to 35 ppt