I'm back! It was a great holiday, but it's even better to be home. I have plenty of news to report, but I'll address the other contributors first.
melev - Thanks for the banner info, and I agree with MOST of your answers.
Bax and
thedude15810 - Good data regarding GSPs. I understand that they're very hardy and spread easily, but if they're all as easy to remove from the rock as the ones I have, I'm not at all worried about them spreading out of control. The GSP that I mounted onto my overflow were literally peeled off of their rock, akin to peeling an orange but much easier. I'll certainly "keep an eye on it" as you suggested, Bax, and I'll try to keep them isolated from the primary rock structure. That's the beauty of the overflow - if they spill over the sides, I should be able to simply cut them back, like pruning a bush. By the way, nice clam Bax! I'm gonna get me some of them soon, right John?
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6329157#post6329157 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thedude15810
Nice looking zoos and GSP Mike :smokin: .
Thought you'd like'em, since you sold them to me
. Did the overflow mount turn out like you thought it would? Interesting comments about that Reef Mix salt, too. I'm looking forward to any updates you have about it's "performance" in your tank.
And now for the update. As you recall, I tried to prepare for my week away, and thought that I had covered all the bases. Well, apparantly I didn't. In another episode of "Something Terrible Went Wrong But I Can't Figure Out What It Was," I have been stung once more. My biggest concern about leaving for a week was that my topoff reservoir would run dry and my salinity would increase while away. I considered placing my Osmolator (topoff) pump into a 20 gallon trashcan filled with RO/DI to prevent this, but I didn't want to take a chance on a pump failure (stuck on) and the possibility of 20g of water ending up on my floor, so instead I topped off my 7 gallon reservoir "to the brim" just before walking out of the house. Well, I arrived home at about 11:30 p.m. last night and went straight to the tank. I immediately noticed copious bubbles along the surface, and they were coming from one of the returns (either the CL or the sump return). It was dark and I should have looked more closely to figure out which one, but instead I went directly to what I felt was going to be the source. All of the livestock appeared well during the split second that I checked. I opened the cabinet door and found the water level in my return compartment BELOW the sump pump intake, with the pump running dry. The topoff reservoir was, of course, empty. My immediate response was to fill the sump to its normal level with RO/DI, since I figured that this represented evaporative water loss. I added about 3.5 gallons of RO/DI water and the return pump ran without a hickup. I thought this was the end of the problem, but unfortunately this was just the beginning.
As I unloaded the car, my wife noticed that the paint was peeling off of the floorboard of the column behind the tank. This could mean only one thing - MOISTURE :eek2:. I turned on the lights and the floor all around the cabinet and into the adjacent room had a fine layer of precipitated salt. The Persian rug was wet. Oh ####
(insert multiple explitives here).
I interrogated all of the plumbing, and there were no leaks. The fittings to the Mag pump (for the CL) inside the cabinet were certainly dry, although there was some salt water around the topoff reservoir. After carefully inspecting all of the surfaces around the sump and tank, I've concluded that the spill occurred over the display tank itself, and not from the sump. I gather this due to the thin rim of precipitated salt on the cabinet around the entire circumference of the tank. This must mean that my overflow stopped working for a time, and perhaps the flood was not worse since my topoff reservoir ran dry and the water level dropped below the sump return pump? The only other option I can think of is that maybe the Osmolator pump did get stuck in the "on" position and ran until it was dry, although I doubt this since this wouldn't have deposited salt water onto my cabinet shelf where the topoff reservoir rests. As with the earlier losses of my fish(es), I'm not sure what went wrong and don't know what to do to prevent it from happening again. ANY IDEAS OUT THERE?
One thing I'll do whenever going away is to have the person who feeds the tank check my topoff reservoir, or just have them fill it half way into my trip so that it doesn't run out. Or maybe I'll need a reefer or someone who knows about tanks to take care of it instead of someone who wouldn't recognize a problem if they saw it. I gave her instructions to call me if anything looked unusual or if the temperature deviated from 78-82 degrees, but that's all I had her check. She fed the fish and emptied the skimmer collection cup twice. I spoke with her today and she never saw any water on the floor. She was here at 2 p.m. yesterday and did admit that there was some "churning" near the top back left of the tank (this is where one of the CL returns is), but she didn't notice any air bubbles in the tank. I'm not sure if the minor flooding occurred after she left or between her visits. The wet rug implies a recent event, although the floor was absolutely dry. Hmm, just don't know.
At any rate, realizing that the water level was low due to salt water loss and not evaporation, and realizing that I had just dumped 3.5 gallons of RO/DI into the tank, I checked the salinity right away. 1.0235. I then got about 3 gallons of salt water and added that to the tank, figuring that as the excess water evaporates, the salinity will slowly rise. My topoff will not turn on since the level in the sump is currently above the infrared sensor.
Here are my parameters today:
salinity 1.0245
pH ~8.2
Ca 350
alk 5.4
nitrate 0
So far I think my plan to correct the salinity is working. I'll scrape all of the salt creep back into the tank as well to help inch it up to 1.026. The Ca and alk concern me, although I must say that my tank inhabitants look great! Isn't that the true measure of a healthy system anyway? The corals are all alive, and with polyps expanded. The little acro frag layed down a nice base since I left. My fish is well and ate hardily today. I'm not going to freak out about the numbers. I'll correct them over time. I added B-Ionic today, but I've run out so I'll need to get more.
Interstingly, I saw only 2 flatworms on the glass, so happily they haven't had a population explosion. I'm going to set up my QT (probably tomorrow) in preparation for my flatworm killer, a sixline wrasse. I didn't get my IceCap fan or moonlight over the holiday, nor did I get the pH monitor I wanted. Oh well, I'll just have to work those items into the budget. Although they've dropped down a notch in priority, below the primer and paint that I have to buy in order to repair the flood damage
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. But I agree with you, and maybe next time it will work out better. I would really hate to get rid of the one I have, it's very healthy and almost, if not already a "she."
