ATO failed / should I?

[Fishingandreefing]

So came home and found that my tunze ato dumped at least 3g of rodi mixed with kalk (mixed 13 tsp of kalk and I filled rodi all the way to the top of the bucket)

the tank was cloudy for a few hours, some lps were ticked and closed up badly.

My alk was low lately at around 7.5. Now if I check my alk and is at what I wanted, 8.5 and the Calcium is a good number. Is water change help or just leave it since the numbers are now where I wanted?

of course, if alk is higher than 8.5, then I prob do a 30% water change

any advice or comment I’d greatly appreciated.

 

[fishguy242]

hi ,think you will be ok,any large ph difference,? monitor close

 

[Doctorgori]

sounds like a more lucky escape...I’d be inclined to lay back ...but get more samples

 

[Flippers4pups]

So came home and found that my tunze ato dumped at least 3g of rodi mixed with kalk (mixed 13 tsp of kalk and I filled rodi all the way to the top of the bucket)

the tank was cloudy for a few hours, some lps were ticked and closed up badly.

My alk was low lately at around 7.5. Now if I check my alk and is at what I wanted, 8.5 and the Calcium is a good number. Is water change help or just leave it since the numbers are now where I wanted?

of course, if alk is higher than 8.5, then I prob do a 30% water change

any advice or comment I’d greatly appreciated.

I've had this happen back in the 90's. It can really freak you out when you can't see anything and a clown swim up to the glass and back into the white milk!

Check your SG and if it's low, add some saltwater to your ATO till it's back up. Once it's back up, do a small water change.

Replace that ATO soon.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

Well, most corals are ok except on hammer head that is closed up bad and looks like melting.

 

[fishguy242]

pics?

 

[Fishingandreefing]

pics?

Tomorrow I can snap a picture

 

[Fishingandreefing]

Wonder what went wrong. I know it was supposed to turn it off after a certain time.

The float switch was found submerged completely under water and my bucket was empty.

I have this ato set up the same way for almost two years and this is the first had happened.

I am soaking the float switch with vinegar now, not sure if it helps after some cleaning.

is this more like the float switch got stuck or the controllers fault?

 

[fishguy242]

just guessing ,not cleaned 2 yrs ..stuck float

 

[Daddy-o]

You mix 13 tsp into 3 gallons?

 

[Fishingandreefing]

just guessing ,not cleaned 2 yrs ..stuck float

So let say it was stuck, isn’t the pump supposed to be shut it off by it self after a certain seconds? The exit tubing is higher than the ato bucket so it should be syphoning. So now it’s the controllers fault?

 

[Fishingandreefing]

You mix 13 tsp into 3 gallons?

No, 13 tsp into a 5g bucket but I filled it alway the way up so I count that as 6g.

before I left the house, I checked it was half full so it was about 3g ish.

 

[fishguy242]

So let say it was stuck, isn’t the pump supposed to be shut it off by it self after a certain seconds? The exit tubing is higher than the ato bucket so it should be syphoning. So now it’s the controllers fault?

good point..does the unit have 2 sensors,back up float? then yes controller? sorry do not use ato's ,came here on alk em

 

[Pistondog]

So let say it was stuck, isn’t the pump supposed to be shut it off by it self after a certain seconds? The exit tubing is higher than the ato bucket so it should be syphoning. So now it’s the controllers fault?

If its the tunze 3155, after 10 minutes on, the pump should turn off and alarm. The 3152 only has the float and turns off after 5 minutes.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

good point..does the unit have 2 sensors,back up float? then yes controller? sorry do not use ato's ,came here on alk em

It’s the tunze nano 3152 ATO so only one sensor.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

If its the tunze 3155, after 10 minutes on, the pump should turn off and alarm. The 3152 only has the float and turns off after 5 minutes.

5 mins? That’s would pump out at least 2-3g of water. I have heard that you can shorten the time by opening up the controller and mess with the xhip

 

[Fishingandreefing]

I am going to manually plug the ATO on and off every time I feed the fish and come home then, dang it. These ATO ain’t royal ‍

 

[Pistondog]

5 mins? That’s would pump out at least 2-3g of water. I have heard that you can shorten the time by opening up the controller and mess with the xhip

Download the tunze 3152 manual, I think I'm wrong about the time. Either 1.4 or 2 4 minutes depending on the jumper setting described in the manual.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

Download the tunze 3152 manual, I think I'm wrong about the time. Either 1.4 or 2 4 minutes depending on the jumper setting described in the manual.

1-2 mins sounds about right.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

Just tested my alk. Spiked from 7.5 to 9.1.

I think I will leave it since my salt mix is at around 8.5, so if I do a 30% water change, don’t think it matters too much. Will check again tomorrow.