Ok, asking this in anticipation of a potential problem. Expecting a blizzard at home this week, with power loss a real possibility. Unfortunately I'm out of town for a few days. Should my pumps stop and the ATS screen dry out (though it is in an almost sealed acrylic box) what should I do? Start a new screen from scratch. Just rehydrate the dry screen? Anyone have direct experience?
ATS Screen Dried Out
- Thread starter ca1ore
- Start date
spamreefnew
New member
this happened to me, 4 days no power, my screed dried out , everything was just fine UNTIL the power came back ON, as soon as it did the screen must have released toxins because my yellow tang went belly up and a few of my LPS corals croaked. It all happened within an hour of the power coming back on.
silentscream
New member
My screen dried out when a mesh filter sock got sucked into the pump that feeds the ATS. I don't know how long it was like that but my estimate is 3-4 days. The algae was still green (but dry) when I discovered it, so I unclogged the pump and started running it again in hopes it would re-hydrate. My skimmer went nuts for a couple hours and when I checked the screen the next day the algae had turned completely white and did not look like it was going to come back; it was matted and gross. I scraped it clean and started all over.
alexx2208
Member
As Bill has said, I think that the toxin, if any, would be coming from the dead algae, and not the plastic. Just throughly clean it off.
Apparently you didn't really read my post
As it turned out, we did not lose power. If home, I simply would have placed the screen in the sump in the event power was lost, but I was not home, thus the question.
wildman926
Active member
Today, I found that my pump was turned off for four days accidently while doing some maintenance over the weekend. When I turned on the pump, my skimmer went nuts as well. I will see if I have to start over or not. After seeing your post, I feel I will have to.
wildman926
Active member
This morning, I ended up cleaning the ATS. That was a very RANK smell inside that thing. No wonder my skimmer went nuts. Good news is, once I removed the white slime algae, there was normal dark green growth, albeit short as if I had just cleaned it. I cleaned the inside of the ATS more thoroughly than normal.
When I found the pump off, the screen had dried up, and the plastic screen was twisting from the heat of the led lights. After turning it back on, it did not take long for the screen to straighten back up. My screen is separated from the light source. They are from Floyd R Turbo.
If this ever happens again, I will first put the screen in a container of tank water, and let it hydrate, and scrape what will come off. Then I will restart it.
When I found the pump off, the screen had dried up, and the plastic screen was twisting from the heat of the led lights. After turning it back on, it did not take long for the screen to straighten back up. My screen is separated from the light source. They are from Floyd R Turbo.
If this ever happens again, I will first put the screen in a container of tank water, and let it hydrate, and scrape what will come off. Then I will restart it.
Similar threads
