pdxmonkeyboy Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 I'm done, I'm over it, that's it. So, my 600G system was chugging along nicely. Recovered from a aptasia outbreak that would give you nightmares. SPS growing, bought some new halide bulbs. Some cyano was cropping up. So I threw some chemiclean in the tank. "Hey, are we going to go to dinner? I'm starving!" "yeah let me dump this in the tank". It is a foolish man that does anything tank related in haste. came home about 2 hours later...was watching TV. Hey? is my pump cavitation. Open the door... OMG! Literally probably 20 Gallo s of water on the floor and I have 2 floor drains!! Looked at my 100 gallon ATO which was at 90 gallons... empty! >chemiclean>skimmer foam>remote 5 gallon skimate carboy... you can figure out the rest. salinity was 1.19. mixed and added like 6 bags of salt. day one..1 sps. day 2.. couple more. following week... 50% dead. two weeks.. a total of 67 different colonies gone. gathered up the stuff that survived. Got store credit at seahorse. Going FOWLR. yes.. monkeyboy is going to have a fowler tank. AND I AM GOING TO DOSE ALGAE FIX IN IT!! LOL. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krux Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 That sucks big time, you had a really nice system going 😞 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaywood Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 So sorry, to help protect from ATO issues, I use an ATO that cannot hold more than my sump can handle in the event of a stuck valve or rapid release. In my case, 11 gallons which get me about a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 yeah, I should have set up something I suppose. In the summer I go through 15 gallons of top off in a day! I am thinking about doing a massive cichlid tank for a bit. I dunno, selling fish is always a PIA. Anyone in the market for a 14" sohol? He is a little kitten, not aggressive or anything. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerbash Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 I HAD THIS EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME LAST WEEK!!! Chemiclean made my skimmer go crazy dumped at least 20 gallon right onto the floor, luckily my ATO has peristaltic pump on it so its didnt dump too much water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 So sorry to hear about your crash. Classic "ATO desalinized my tank." Scares the crap out of me. I've always setup my ATO to only be able to add a maximum amount in any 24hr window, and no more. Under the idea, if I've got a problem, it will take more than one day to truly drop salinity to the floor. Right now I'm setup to add no more than 5gallons a day. It was 4 gallons for a while, but wasn't keeping it fully topped off. Summer need even more Daily Max, and Winter may not need all of it. Again, your crash Sucks! Way to have the courage to post it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefsakes Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Ahhh man! Sorry to hear about this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach0225 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 That’s awful! Sorry to hear about this happening!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted February 1 Author Share Posted February 1 10 hours ago, obrien.david.j said: So sorry to hear about your crash. Classic "ATO desalinized my tank." Scares the crap out of me. I've always setup my ATO to only be able to add a maximum amount in any 24hr window, and no more. Under the idea, if I've got a problem, it will take more than one day to truly drop salinity to the floor. Right now I'm setup to add no more than 5gallons a day. It was 4 gallons for a while, but wasn't keeping it fully topped off. Summer need even more Daily Max, and Winter may not need all of it. Again, your crash Sucks! Way to have the courage to post it. my skimmer drains to a carboy to contain smells. I should have put a flood off switch in there. had all the stuff to make it happen but... life. I may sell my fish and go fresh water cichlid tank. I think I get at least half of my enjoyment building stuff. I rarely sit and watch the fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Tavan Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 [language filter] that sucks big time. Don’t ato stop when they've been on too long? I think my tunze has that fail safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveZ Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 So gutted to hear this @pdxmonkeyboy wish I could have seen the system at its peak. Good points on not doing anything with haste. The wise reefer learns from other reefers and this is a great reminder. Honestly, so many benefits but also potential catastrophic aspects that can come from skimmers. This is one of the few reasons why I just don’t run a skimmer. Little fish to water ratio for me so less worry about nutrient export and large water changes. Hopefully this can be a good reef sabbatical for you and eventually you can come back into it after some good time away. Plenty of stickheads on this group to help you get back what was lost when that time comes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colbymac92 Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 I’m sorry for your loss, this stuff blows, and not how you want it to go down. But on the other hand I’m kinda jealous that you can have a Fowlr now. I’ve had an itch for one the last year, and I just can’t pull the trigger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willapa Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 Oh man, so sorry to hear. I see all of your for sale posts…..you taking a break from saltwater? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted February 21 Author Share Posted February 21 2 hours ago, Willapa said: Oh man, so sorry to hear. I see all of your for sale posts…..you taking a break from saltwater? You could call it a break. Although the whole thing seems like a acrimonious divorce to me. Mistakes, anger, resentment, selling off stuff at a loss... Even the stuff I like.. just get it out of here. Maybe I will turn my 600 gallon tank into the worlds largest ant farm? Other options are massive poison dart frog display or cichlids.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colbymac92 Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 I saw a gallon doing a huge terrarium on YouTube with all sorts of plants, insects and other stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bicyclebill Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 This sucks big time! You had a pretty sweet african cichlid tank when I met you I totally geeked out on. I'd be willing to bet a FOWLR is easier than cichlids though due to the amazing power of the protein skimmer. Could be wrong since it's been 25 years since I had them and I was running with canisters under the tank. Time for some big non reef safe fish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.