Near tragedy

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Scoot

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Mar 14, 2006
Messages
670
Location
Nebraska
I have an auto-topoff setup - which has been a huge time saver. But I found out the down-side to it this week.

My protein skimmer (CSS125) went nuts, and was slowly pumping water into the bucket it drains into - all night long.

That meant my auto-top-off was replacing all that with fresh water.

By the time I noticed, the next morning, my SG was down to 1.016. I bought some new salt, and by that night I moved it back to 1.018. I waited a day, then I pushed it back up to 1.020. Today (after another day's break) I'm working on pushing it up to 1.022 or 1.023.

I've been dripping a high concentration of saltwater into the tank, off and on, for the last 3 days.

I'm pretty sure my Xenia aren't going to make it - they look bad. Grey and shrivelled.

I have a brittle star that rarely comes out during the day, sitting in the front of the tank, and he's barely moving.
Everything else seems fine - the 2 anemones, fish, zoos, gsps, etc.

I can clearly see the advantage of having an in-sump skimmer now - plus, I need a way to handle overflow situations if and when it goes nuts.

My new 180 (which is going into the cabinet next week) will have an in-sump skimmer, but I'm still going to be maintaining this for a few more months, and don't want this to happen again.
 
Good to know what you are going though. In the past 5 years, I have contemplated doing the auto top off thing yet never did for fear of the same thing. I know there is a method to it however, I am still doing the manual 1 to 2 gal a day.. :)

I think the xenia will be fine. How does it look today?
 
Two of the small clusters are still pink, but shrunken. The larger cluster is still grey, but not falling apart yet.

I'm almost up to 1.022.

The auto-top off wouldn't be an issue, if I had 1) a skimmer that didn't go nuts when every time a fish poops, or 2) had an in-sump skimmer.
 
I don't understand your in sump skimmer non concern. Even if the skimmer is in sump, the waste is still going to be collected in a container and not pumped back into the system. If the in sump skimmer decides to go crazy and foam out of control, you will still have the same issue. Right?
 
The skimmer cup water will go out the overflow hole and back into the tank staying in the sump. I think that is what he means.
 
I guess I am confused. The water that makes its way into the skimmer cup is essentially waste. I know at least my in sump skimmer has a collection cup and it is running into a waste bucket. It never goes back into the aquarium. Seems to me that would defeat the purpose of removing DOC's. Now in the case of an eratic skimmer, I know all foam does not lead to the nasty muck, so therefore wouldn't hurt, but am I making sense here?
 
Mine does not go into a bucket I empty the cup every week. But it has a hole on the cap and if what happened to him went back into the sump then the top off system would not have come on and lowered the salinity. Yes the waste water went back in the system but at least the top off system didnt water down the salinity. I hope that makes sense.
 
I gotcha, mine has a long tube attached that allows me to not have to empty the cup and it has holes in the top as well. ok.......
 
Exactly - if the skimmer collection cup suddenly filled, it would overflow out of the vent hole in the top, dumping everything back in the tank.

Better to add some waste back in then drop the SG to, well, eventually zero, if you weren't checking it regularly.

My current setup, i drain the collection cup with the tube, into a gallon pitcher. If the skimmer goes nuts, it starts pumping tank water out - while the auto-top-off tries to replace it. Of course this lowers SG, and caused my problem.

Another 2 weeks and I'll have my EuroReef 180 (or AquaC, havent' decided), which I hear is NOT very susceptible to this kind of stuff.
 
I plugged the tube from my collection cup that should go to an external container for just that reason. Before I left the country for a month I got a 45 gallon Brute trash can to hold my top off water. I had friend stop by every 2-3 days for feeding and checking so I couold have a big disaster if my skimmer went crazy (yes, it's in-sump).
 
I have a second float on mine for a high level stop. So if the sump water gets too high, it kills the top off pump. Plus my top off is not fed directly from the RO/DI. I limit the top off to about 20 gal of water. Suckes to fill it up every few days but give me piece of mind. When I went on vacation, I just use a bigger container.

I recently had my frag tank overflow due to a clogged drain. Nearly pumped my sump dry. I burned up my skimmer pump but did not hurt my return thankfully. I hope to set up a low side float to kill my main pump if the sump level gets too low.
 
I've been wondering how I could add a "high level" stop with my current setup. I need some kind of pressure switch, like the auto-shut-off that comes with the RO units.
 
I believe their are floats just for that. I think they are only about $15-20. I have considered trying this. I would just want some redundancy if my RO was tied directly to the system.
 
I'm moving all of this into a new setup in a month, so I'll probably just keep a close eye on it.

My CSS125 used to be very stable, but lately it's been hit and miss. I keep the strainer on it's pump clean, and everything else is setup perfectly, but the "micro bubble" level changes dramatically from day to day - it's become very difficult to keep stable. My current sump/fuge isn't big enough to put it in. I might setup the bucket I drain the skimmate into, to overflow back in the tank. Usually, when the skimmer goes nuts, it's not really waste material anyway - just SW, get dumped out.
 
Xenia is starting to look pink again, although when it was all grey and withered, a tiny starfish mowed right across the middle of the biggest cluster, and had a nice snack.

I'm scooping out starfish left and right.
 
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