Equipment Failure

HZiranski · Mar 20, 2021

I need your help! Two nights ago I got an alert from the apex at 3am that said the ORP levels dropped drastically and the salt dropped drastically. I got up and went to check on the tank but the fish were fine and all corals asleep so just kind of figured maybe a probe malfunctioned or something. When the lights came on at 8:30 that morning, none of the coral would wake up and looks shriveled. A bunch of snails were dead too. I checked all parameters which were on point and couldn’t figure out what in the world was going on. The ORP level was sitting at 150 and still giving alarms. I then noticed the UV sterilizer was leaking rapidly from the end so we turned that off. When my husband got home from work, he took it down and we found the bulb inside had blew or shattered. I’m assuming metals or gases leaked from that and that’s what’s causing my corals stress?? We did a 25 gal water change and the ORP hasn’t budged and the corals are still stressed and hardly opening today. Some I’m seeing skeleton now. Any ideas on what I should do? Bigger water change today? Do I need to get something to dose? Idk what to do!!

Saltyreef · Mar 20, 2021

Activated carbon reactor will help pull anything out quicker than floating a bag and get yourself some boyds poly filter pads as well.

Snoopy 67 · Mar 20, 2021

The solution to pollution is dilution, so do as big a water change as you can for the next 2 days.
More if needed.

ca1ore · Mar 20, 2021

I’d guess the bigger problem is that the SW that leaked out was replaced by FW in your ATO. How low did the salinity go and how quickly did you restore it? UV have a quartz sleeve around the bulb. Unusual for that to shatter, though the bulb would immediately follow. I’d think that’d blow a breaker. Quartz sleeve can break if the UV is allowed to run dry.

ORP isn’t a particularly useful diagnostic tool, but when you get multiple shifts it generally rules out a probe problem

CMMorgan · Mar 20, 2021

@ca1ore ... I was thinking along the same vein as you. What happened prior to the shatter to cause the UV to run dry or was that just the leak? What caused the leak? It's like putting together a puzzle and starting from the outside edge and filling in the gaps. Right now, OP is reacting to the effect (all good answers --- water change, carbon, polyfilter...) Next, look back to what kicked over the first domino so it does not repeat.
Hang in there!!!