catdoc
Premium Member
This weekend was just full of tank mishaps. First, the tank that houses my (leaky) skimmer at home developed a leak. Had to take the skimmer/fuge/frag-tank offline until I can fix that situation. The skimmer is now in-sump on a shelf to get it to the right height and the fuge/frag tank is running as a separate unit for now instead of being plumbed into the main system.
I get to work this morning, go to check on my tank there and find HALF OF THE WATER IS GONE!!!! Only 1 power head is running--skimmer, 2 powerheads, and HOB filter are all quiet. :eek1: :eek1: :eek1: Holy cow, what happened??!!?
In a panic, I poured in the 1 1/2 gal of RODI I had on hand (no prepared SW there) to try to cover the exposed colonies. Then, I thought to check the S.G. before running home for some SW to fill the tank. ( used the clinic's refractometer and the S.G. was 1.016! WHAT??? All I could figure was that at some point, maybe I'd done a waterchange with RO water (although a 3 gallon change shouldn't do that.)
I brought in 10 gallons of aged SW from home, tested at 1.024 on my home refractometer. I spent the next 6 hours dripping it into the tank to acclimate the livestock to the new water. At the end, I tested the S.G. again, again with the clinic's refractometer. Still read at 1.016.
30 gallon tank, had just added 10 gallons of properly prepared SW, I expected a bit of a change. I took a sample home and got 1.022.
So, I checked both refractometers with RO water. Both are reading at 1.000 w/RODI. Is there another standard I can use to calibrate the upper limits? I don't know which one to believe at this point. My refractometer is 2 years old. The one at work is at least 10 years old (it's been there at least as long as I have).
I lost a lovely blue acro to RTN right after my last water change, which I was chalking up to something being "not right" with the water chem or temp but never figured it out. Wouldn't have mattered if it had survived that, b/c it was high and dry for at least a day this weekend. The only other completely exposed coral was a lovely purple M. digitata. It looks bad, but I won't give up on it yet. The frogspawn had it's very tips exposed but had retracted enough to keep them moist. It was fully extended when I left. The bta's were a bit deflated when I left, probably acclimating to the new water. The brains, M. caps, hammer, and fish all look perfect.
I get to work this morning, go to check on my tank there and find HALF OF THE WATER IS GONE!!!! Only 1 power head is running--skimmer, 2 powerheads, and HOB filter are all quiet. :eek1: :eek1: :eek1: Holy cow, what happened??!!?
In a panic, I poured in the 1 1/2 gal of RODI I had on hand (no prepared SW there) to try to cover the exposed colonies. Then, I thought to check the S.G. before running home for some SW to fill the tank. ( used the clinic's refractometer and the S.G. was 1.016! WHAT??? All I could figure was that at some point, maybe I'd done a waterchange with RO water (although a 3 gallon change shouldn't do that.)
I brought in 10 gallons of aged SW from home, tested at 1.024 on my home refractometer. I spent the next 6 hours dripping it into the tank to acclimate the livestock to the new water. At the end, I tested the S.G. again, again with the clinic's refractometer. Still read at 1.016.
30 gallon tank, had just added 10 gallons of properly prepared SW, I expected a bit of a change. I took a sample home and got 1.022.So, I checked both refractometers with RO water. Both are reading at 1.000 w/RODI. Is there another standard I can use to calibrate the upper limits? I don't know which one to believe at this point. My refractometer is 2 years old. The one at work is at least 10 years old (it's been there at least as long as I have).
I lost a lovely blue acro to RTN right after my last water change, which I was chalking up to something being "not right" with the water chem or temp but never figured it out. Wouldn't have mattered if it had survived that, b/c it was high and dry for at least a day this weekend. The only other completely exposed coral was a lovely purple M. digitata. It looks bad, but I won't give up on it yet. The frogspawn had it's very tips exposed but had retracted enough to keep them moist. It was fully extended when I left. The bta's were a bit deflated when I left, probably acclimating to the new water. The brains, M. caps, hammer, and fish all look perfect.
