HELP!!!. RO UNIT LEFT ON

[alpha]

Hey guys. My auto top off on my 125 gallon was left on and i think 30 gallons of RO unit went into my sump. Luckily it didn't overflow.
Now... what i did without researching
Drained 30 gallons of water from the sump.
Took 5 Gallons of Water from Display tank and added (5) 1/2 Cups of Instant Ocean salt. and repeated this step 5 times
My salt level before doing this would not even read on my refractometer.
Now my salt is sitting at 1.023
My fish are not dead, and I've got about 5grand worth of corals...... anything else i can do to ensure my livestock stays alive?

 

[flower]

Hi,
The good news is that the levels dropped so slow that maybe it didn't shock the corals and fish into death...
I hope you gave the salt time to dissolve, otherwise it will climb as it does and cause other problems. Salt burns so if you didn't give it time to dissolve I'm not sure what that will do to the fish and corals.
You should never have your RO water hooked directly to your lines, rather put the RO top off water in a seperate container... so the ATO won't keep running and lower the levels so bad.
My ATO had a second sensor that shut off the ATO if the water got too low in my reserviour, so it wouldn't burn up the pump. Turned out to be a good thing, my skimmer leaked and it dropped the water line, and as it did, my ATO kept adding fresh RO to make up the difference...if I had my RO directly connected it would have been disaster,
By hooking the line from the RO directly to the tank is very dangereous as you have found out. All RO water should be in a seperate container that you draw from. Mine is under my kitchen sink...a 3g holding tank, when it is full the RO unit shuts off. You can have a larger holding tank, but you should not have it as a direct line.
I hope that makes sense.

 

[acrylic51]

I'm following you Flower......I was kind of baffled at first when the ATO was mentioned, and was rather curious how the ATO kept running and how large the ATO was.......I'm under the same assumption as you that the RO was hooked directly......

 

[alpha]

I custom made my top off out of a toilet float valve. Apparently the valve failed and it stayed wide open. Yes the float valve is directly in the sump.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///t/391418/help-ro-unit-left-on#post_3471070
I'm following you Flower......I was kind of baffled at first when the ATO was mentioned, and was rather curious how the ATO kept running and how large the ATO was.......I'm under the same assumption as you that the RO was hooked directly......
I have read from a few folks that they do a direct line and use an ATO to monitor the water level, I think it's very a dangerous practice. Leaks happen, but with a direct line to the RO water you compound a problem 100xs since freshwater is a killer of even the rock and sand.

 

[acrylic51]

Agree it can be done, but it's to easy for a sensor to fail or hang up....Would be a bit safer and redundant to run the RO line to a separate holding container and then from the container to the sump with the ATO......

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by alpha http:///t/391418/help-ro-unit-left-on#post_3471085
I custom made my top off out of a toilet float valve. Apparently the valve failed and it stayed wide open. Yes the float valve is directly in the sump.
Where is the RO water for top off connected? Do you have a reservoir to hold the water, or a direct line running to the sump? I understand the valve being in the sump..it has to be there to monitor the water level to be an ATO.
You need a seperate tank to hold your RO water...a pump and hose to push the water from the container to the sump...a sensor or float valve to keep tabs on the water level...when the level drops the pump in the container should come on and refill the sump to the desired level of water. I'm not handy, so I purchased a JBJ ATO unit...it sells for around $80.00. It come with two sensors, one for the sump (tank) and the other for the reservoir so it won't come on if the water is too low to make sure to not burn out the pump.
I would absolutly not have a direct line from my RO freshwater to the tank...ever.
Just to clarify: my little holding tank is not attached to the fishtank at all...it is just the available water I have on hand. I can only get 3gs at a time for anything. As I empty it..it refills. I have a seperate container for my ATO water which I top off each day anyway...it's only real purpose is to keep the SG at a constant level. I can fill my contaner and not have to mess with it for a week, which is very useful for vacation.