Automatic Top Off and Sumps

[Cbravo212]

It seems that there is a lot of talk about auto top offs and I am not really understanding the whole thing. Please let me know if I am missing something. This usually comes up because of evaporation in the sump area. Why can you not put a glass lid over the sump, or at least the refuge and return areas. Would this not cut down on the evaporation that you have.

Or is because the addtion of a sump and not wanting to suck air into the return pump the issue. I understand there will be evaporation, maybe I am thinking it is all from the sump area.

Make sense??

[turretdr]

Not all evaporation is from the sump, it is just seen there. By covering any part of your system, DT, sump, refugium, frag tank, etc. you are limiting the gas exchange.

I, for one, top off with kalk, so I want as much evaporation as possible to keep my calcium level up.

[phenom5]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14570242#post14570242 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Cbravo212
It seems that there is a lot of talk about auto top offs and I am not really understanding the whole thing. Please let me know if I am missing something. This usually comes up because of evaporation in the sump area. Why can you not put a glass lid over the sump, or at least the refuge and return areas. Would this not cut down on the evaporation that you have.

Or is because the addtion of a sump and not wanting to suck air into the return pump the issue. I understand there will be evaporation, maybe I am thinking it is all from the sump area.

Make sense??

You could cover the sump, but you'd still get evaporation from other parts of the system. The only way you could eliminate evaporation would be to have a completely sealed setup, which would be less then ideal for a number of reason.

As turretdr said, the sump, typically the section that houses the return pump is where the evaporation shows up, because the water level is regulated by the overflows in the DT, and the baffles in the sump.

ATO's help maintain a constant SG, prevent the return pump from running dry, and generally make life easier.

Hope that helps :thumbsup:

[Cbravo212]

Thank you both. What you said explained it very well. Thanks for helping me out.

[Michael]

if your home a lot a ato isnt nessassary, you could just add water to the sump in small amounts every few hours to compensate the losses, put a sticker on the water level, this way you wont put too much in