Left RODI on and forgot to shut it off

[Fumbles]

The panic has cleared, but now I’m here cleaning up thinking how unbelievably dumb I am.

I was too lazy to fill my ato so I added water directly from the RODI into my sump. It only needed about 5 minutes so I ran upstairs to do something quick, but forgot to come back down (It’s been a busy day).

Basically water filled the rest of my sump, the base of my stand(water proof), and then about a 6’x6’ area of my basement carpet.

My tank is at 1.020 sg and most of the corals do not look happy. The temp dropped from 78 to 75. Can I mix concentrated salt and add it to the sump to get my salinity back up? Is there a safer way?

 

[klm2500hd]

Have had this happen (ato filled sump), what I did was dump in saturated salt water, I think I did 2 cups to a half gallon, to get up to 1.021-1.022. Then my makeup water was saltwater at normal salinity (1.024) daily until main tank reached desired level.

 

[Fumbles]

Have had this happen (ato filled sump), what I did was dump in saturated salt water, I think I did 2 cups to a half gallon, to get up to 1.021-1.022. Then my makeup water was saltwater at normal salinity (1.024) daily until main tank reached desired level.

Thank you

 

[12gallonsofhex]

Have had this happen (ato filled sump), what I did was dump in saturated salt water, I think I did 2 cups to a half gallon, to get up to 1.021-1.022. Then my makeup water was saltwater at normal salinity (1.024) daily until main tank reached desired level.

+1
Thats what i would do. Good catch on the mistake before it became a crash.

 

[Paul Sands]

This is why I always ask Siri to set a timer. Totally something I would do to.

 

[Fumbles]

This is why I always ask Siri to set a timer. Totally something I would do to.

I usually do

 

[Saltyreef]

This is why I always ask Siri to set a timer. Totally something I would do to.

Siri-us-ly

 

[jtl]

I have forgot to turn off the rodi so it ran all night. Fortunately it is in the garage so the water over filled my Brute container and under the garage door and down the drive way.

 

[loui]

I would let the fresh water evaporate normally once your sump gets back to a normal level check salinity and make adjustments from there. Last thing u want to do is shock the tank a 2nd time by making to large a change on the way back up. Slow and steady wins the race.

 

[WVNed]

I just slowly add salt to my overflow box. If you get a fish in hyposalinity water you can acclimate it in 2 hours. You are doing the same thing.
Done it dozens of times.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Sucks man sorry. My ATO dumped 5 gallons into my sump and dropped salinity to 1.022 and a month later I am still dealing with the issues. Sps not happy and some have died. You will need to slowly let salinity come back up with evaporation or saltwater in the top off res.

 

[DoctaReef]

I'm pretty sure we've all been there. My last RODI accident, and the one that removed me from the hobby for 5 years, was the one where I had the new RODI running to the tank in my unfinished basement. On this day, I pulled the waste water line inside (was running out through a window, it was cold out) and thought I turned the water all the way off... but somehow I only turned it 90% off...and I didn't go back down there for maybe 2 days.

Needless to say, when I went down there next, I had a freshwater tank and about 1/4 inch of water on my floor.

The event turned out to be some degree of "euthanasia" for the tank, because a month later we got a bad October snowstorm that knocked out power for a week and the temps in my house went down into the 40s and 50s or less at night, so everything would have died anyways.

In my new tank which is only about 3.5 mo old, I've got a Neptune ATK set up to a 10 gal tank as a reservoir so even if it goes haywire, the most it can add is 7-8 gal and wont overflow my sump. I made a salt mixing station with a float switch in the RODI side, but its not connected to the tank. I sleep better now.

Then there was the time before that when my wife and I were renting a condo and the RODI overflowed and we watched the popcorn ceiling peel off onto the kitchen floor as the water leaked through... Actually, now that I think about it, how am I still married?

 

[Tamberav]

I made a mess a few times but not in the tank. Just overflowed containers.

I bought one of those flood guardian censors and have been smooth sailing since.

 

[Dom]

At 1.020, I would do a water change with the replacement water at the correct 1.026. Use this method to bring up your salinity gradually as coming up too fast will create more problems.

I once put a split valve off of my RODI. Once side was for filling my mixing basin and the other side went right to my ATO reservoir.

Then one day, like you, I forgot I was filling the reservoir and went out.

I came home 4 hours later to find an inch of water in my living room, running down to the basement. Even had water seeping out of the house along the foundation where the header beams rest on the foundation.

All because I wanted save $35.00 on an Eshopps float valve.

I've since purchased the valve. LOL

 

[Jennyw]

I am clueless about fish, but unfortunately I'm getting better at drying carpet.

Fans of course, but go get a giant bag of baking soda from Costco/Sam's and pour it on the carpet. It soaks up water really well. Scrape off as much of the wet baking soda as you can, and vacume the rest.