Sharing a lesson learned that dropped my salinity to 1.010 for my 350g system

[jwaka11]

About two weeks or so ago, I did some maintenance in my basement fish room (replacing RO filters, cleaning skimmer cup, water change, etc..). I havent been back down to the fish room until just an hour ago... and lo and behold, water on the floor. Lots of water on the floor. I dont know how long I've had the water there since I rarely go down to that side of the basement. The culprit--the output hose from my denitrator reactor. It must've gotten knocked down during maintenance and been spewing water without my knowledge.

Why such low salinity? My ATO has been putting fresh water to replace the lost water. I dont know how much I've lost but I know that its a lot. The salinity was @ 1.022 for a 350g system and just checked it now and it was @ 1.010. It mustve been a lot. ::

Because its a FO system, thankfullly I've only lost two damsels--happened earlier this week but I thought it was just a one off. The bigger fishes (few tangs, clown trigger and couple of angels) seem to be okay for now.

I'm currently mixing ~35g of extremely concentrated saltwater for top off that I will introduce slowly to the system.

Lesson learned: After any kind of maintenance, create a checklist of what you need to check before leaving the fishroom--and any output hose of any kind should be on that list!

Next project for me: hooking up a water sensor to my Apex. Anyone installed one of these?

TLDR: My output hose from one of my reactor slipped to the floor without my knowledge creating a mini flood in my basement fishroom.

Back to the fishroom...

 

[MPevine11]

i dont understand, arent you suposed to top off with fresh (rodi) water?



****EDIT
you had a leak that was loosing saltwater, and your ATO was topping all the lost water with freshwater?****

 

[jwaka11]

You're correct. I have a 55g drum of RO fresh water that feeds into my sump using ATO. If the water in that 55g drum drops below a certain level, my RO unit kicks in and refill it with new RO fresh water... so in a sense, its an infinite loop. While its great that I never had to worry about topoff water in the two years since I've ran this system... but it can also be a double edged sword if saltwater is leaking out of my sump unintentionally.

 

[JayM]

Glad you didn't lose much of anything.....you don't need a controller, just ears, and 11 bucks....

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

 

[mason90]

useful thread something to think about thanks

 

[deb b]

Thanks for posting..

 

[jwaka11]

useful thread something to think about thanks

I thought about that... but it wouldnt work for me since currently the fishroom sits underneath our bedroom. And we're currently sleeping with our newborn in that room for the time being. And to those that have gone through it with newborns, when those boogers sleep, its better that they stay asleep.

So a more discreet solution is what I'm looking for--also useful when I'm away on vacation.

Anyone integrated water sensor to their Apex controller?

 

[JohnK]

Wow, glad you didn't lose more. I would bring it back up slowly, don't want to shock the fish, and raising SG fast is much harder on fish than dropping it fast.

I had almost the same problem yrs ago. I did a thourogh cleaning and check of all my equipment the night before leaving for a weeks vaccation. In the process I bumped into the effluent line from my Ca reactor and knocked it out of the sump so it was draining onto the floor. Luckily on my way out the door for vaccation I stepped in the puddle and was alerted that something was wrong. Had I not caught it, I would have nuked my reef system as the ATO diluted the SG replacing the lost water for a week.

Lesson learned, sleep next to tank room. (or check on fish room after going anywhere near it).

IIRC with the Apex you need a break out box, but if you get one it's easy to set up several level sensors.

 

[dcforester1]

I added acouple water sensors, and I added a bunch of float switches. It is really easy to do. You can purchase the break out box for $$$$$$ or just buy a 8pin mini din connector. If you are interested I have one made up and can show you. If you want PM me and I will let you know how to do it. I have my ATO hooked up this way as well.


Derek

 

[jwaka11]

PM your way sir... thanks.

Update on my situation:
In the last two hours, I've managed to increased it to 1.014. Funny thing happened when I increased the salinity... my PH jumped from 8.2 to 8.6! :: I just dosed a bit of vinegar and now dropped it to a manageable 8.1.
My goal is to get it up to 1.016 tonight and call it a night.

 

[frank180reef]

Congrats with the New born

the water sensor from HD is till a good idea.................

 

[JayM]

I thought about that... but it wouldnt work for me since currently the fishroom sits underneath our bedroom. And we're currently sleeping with our newborn in that room for the time being. And to those that have gone through it with newborns, when those boogers sleep, its better that they stay asleep.

So a more discreet solution is what I'm looking for--also useful when I'm away on vacation.

Anyone integrated water sensor to their Apex controller?

I was thinking using the controller and the alarm. I'd rather have an awake newborn and a dry cellar. Kids can be rocked back to sleep. Congrats on your 'booger'

 

[jwaka11]

Thanks guys... as if I need another reason to stay up at night

Tank update: all is well again. After I got home from work, I slowly increase the salinity to where it needs to be. I've also refilled my co2 tank and brought that online to maintain my pH at 8.2.

 

[The_Godfreys]

One other thought on your ATO. What I do is use a smaller container (one that can not dilute my system) and it automatically gets filled once a day. I use an APEX with a float switch but could also use a float valve and a solenoid on a timer. This way my 3 gallon jug gets topped off once a day and because of the timer function the total volume is limited.

 

[Sherri]

I am too paranoid not to check my fish room -- in fact I go down every morning and every evening - twice a day. I want a water alarm too but I think I will go with an audible. No babies here!