Tip of the Day – 5/14/2012

Let’s face it, as seasoned aquarium hobbyists, we’re still not always prepared for every little hiccup. A lot of the time, we find ourselves forgetting little things that can have a big impact. For example, if you slack on topping off the water in the sump, the return pump could run dry. When this happens, not only is the pump in danger of getting damaged, but the filtration system for the aquarium is reduced to nothing since there is no water flow from aquarium to sump and back. Fortunately, there are a lot of little tricks that we can do whenever those types of situations come up. In our example of low water levels, simply turning off equipment like protein skimmers and canister filters can add more water back to the aquarium. These are obviously not permanent fixes to any problem, but it could be a temporary one that buys you a little more time to make more freshwater for topping off.