starting over

[tomnscrubs]

Hi, As in this hobby we often here of our mistakes and not a lot on sucesses, I've fallen into the mistake side at this point.
A few weeks back I put new lights in and checked what I concidered a bullet proof system, in it was till I adjusted the protien skimmer and walked away.
what happened next was a slow death of all the coral bought and what started growing
the protiem skimmer.. at some point overflowed slowly
watching my corals change I belived had been due to the new lights breaking in, never checked the salinty level untill christmas eve...deadly levels to the coral, never to recover
this is not a sob story but to remind members to never think there system is "bullet proof" and as the new year approaches to get reaquanted with the hobby and on going sucess and share them.
with starting over I'd really like to here what might be improved as I do believe that this has happened to others
what did you do to improve your hobby as this might have happened to others
in the up coming months as I can best bring the tank back will be looking for corals slowly if you have any drop a pm or post.... please
(yes I'm not a writer mostly a reader thanks for sharing)
tomnscrubs

 

[BenjieC]

Sorry to hear about your tank. If you need any help/advice feel free to ask.

 

[bassist6108]

Sorry to hear about the problems! I have some clove polyps if you want them, and a small frag of green zoas. Lemme know if you are interested when the tank's back to normal.

 

[kawicivic]

Good luck on the new tank... any visions of what you are trying to create? (lots of fish, SPS system, mixed reef, etc)

 

[tomnscrubs]

thankyou for your encouragement
for a year I have had no problems(even coraline was going )
things I'd like to know about are or should
empty all the water
clean all rock
or
wait for above to start growth
and most important how long before restocking
oh, do the dieing corals leave toxins in water???
fish are ok
thanks for any help or ideas

 

[goat585]

Sorry to here about your loses. I have some different coral frags you can have once you get back up and going.

I would remove any and all of the dead corals skeletons and any other animals that died. I would run a lot of carbon for a couple of weeks. I am not sure I would change all the water but I would do a large water change once you get everything in the tank cleaned up. I would let the system for a month maybe 2 while it cycles. I would test it occasionally to see where the cycle is at. Do water changes as necessary. Once the test come back okay I would start adding some things.

I am a little confused on what happened. To what level did you salinity go to cause this? Can you explain a little further?

Thanks

 

[tomnscrubs]

I had been trying for a mixed reef with 8 fish
also tried aquascaping will try again
loved the beautyfull colors of the soft corals frogspwan hammerhead mushrooms starpolyps and lots of unknown polpys (brown)
also had seen candycane and all above ate well ( rod's food)
only surivor by a thread is clam

 

[tomnscrubs]

what i did was highten the bubbles on the skimmer
the pump must be wearing out surging up n down is all I can figure ,every time I went to the basement things were working as they should, then the 24th I found salt stains on the floor to basement drain realized the overflow from the skimmer had been wet from changing skimmer.... all my fault... should have left it alone

 

[tomnscrubs]

oh there is a auto top off instaled from ro, never saw water level change
salinty was too embarassing to mention... just deadly to coral
emptying tank out of skeltons now

 

[goat585]

Thanks for the explaination. I was trying to figure out how the Salinity got so low.

 

[RobTop]

Sorry to read this.
One thing you should learn is to never attach the ro unit directly to your system. This is why. Some other system should be used. Some reefers use a bucket and fill that to feed the sump via a drip/float valve or switch.
Others get crazy and have 165 gal set-up to mix salt and top off.

Whatever way you go, ro to tank is always bad.

 

[vessxpress1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11495662#post11495662 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RobTop


Whatever way you go, ro to tank is always bad.

Agreed. I would never risk it. I have a bucket I use for my osmolator that only holds 2 1/2 gallons or it leaks (out a hole I didn't seal from the kalk dispenser). This lasts me for 4 days. There is a backup float valve to supplement the eye sensor in case of emergency which will cut it. But in any case, my system could handle being diluted by a few gallons.

The next thing you (and I) have learned is that it pays to have a barbed nozzle or something of the like attached to the collection cup. I used to clean up water spills on my floor from the skimmer overflowing at 3 a.m. This was before i had ATO. Crazy.

I stuck a tube on the collection cup and now if it overflows, it pours back into the tank. Yes it makes me mad if it dumps a bunch of junk back in but it's better than flooding the kitchen.

The problem I run into with my skimmer is calcium buildup in the air line. I have to run hot water through it once in a while to clear the clog in the air line, or eventually it plugs itself. Then you have much less to no air mixing with incoming water, thus more water enters the skimmer body, raising the level until it overflows. IMO, out of sump skimmers need an emergency outlet, no matter how well you think you can adjust one.

Good luck moving forward.

 

[tomnscrubs]

thanks for the ideas
still trying to figure out how to keep enough pressure in bucket to matain constaint water levels
tank is coming back alright, clam looks good and found a few small schrooms never noticed before

 

[tomnscrubs]

update... tanks is doing good dealing with agle I think from shutting down some pumps amd wave controler quitting,
when weather gets warmer could be in the market for some frags
thankyou for everyones ideas and support...I check in every other day or so