My 165 aquarium gone south !!!

Juscuziam · Feb 27, 2019

ive been running a 165 marine tank for 7 months all has been amazing, seen lots of growth weather clear never an issue until the other day. I run a sump with chaeto coralife 16x UV sterilizer, Aqua clear 110 in the sump with sponge and carbon, and a Skimz monster 161 Protein skimmer

My issue was I woke up the other day in my tank was completely cloudy upon trying to figure out what might be the issue I found my protein skimmer wires were frayed and putting electrical current through the sump I’m not sure if that kill the bacteria or cause the in balance but now my tanks going into disaster mode and it’s completely cloudy and I’ve lost a starfish and a couple of snails in my corals and anemones are not looking good . I’ve done several water changes already and I’m wondering with the skimmer pump as I cannot find one available for that skimmer is there a way of re-connecting the wires and possibly using liquid electrical tape or some other way of putting them together that would be watertight so I can get my skimmer working again any help would be amazing thank you

Lowell Lemon · Feb 27, 2019

Juscuziam said:
ive been running a 165 marine tank for 7 months all has been amazing, seen lots of growth weather clear never an issue until the other day. I run a sump with chaeto coralife 16x UV sterilizer, Aqua clear 110 in the sump with sponge and carbon, and a Skimz monster 161 Protein skimmer

My issue was I woke up the other day in my tank was completely cloudy upon trying to figure out what might be the issue I found my protein skimmer wires were frayed and putting electrical current through the sump I’m not sure if that kill the bacteria or cause the in balance but now my tanks going into disaster mode and it’s completely cloudy and I’ve lost a starfish and a couple of snails in my corals and anemones are not looking good . I’ve done several water changes already and I’m wondering with the skimmer pump as I cannot find one available for that skimmer is there a way of re-connecting the wires and possibly using liquid electrical tape or some other way of putting them together that would be watertight so I can get my skimmer working again any help would be amazing thank you

Do not reuse the pump!!! It may have already fried the internals and that may be the source of the cloudy water. You should add high grade carbon and continue the water changes while monitoring the ammonia levels. You can run with out a skimmer until the new pump arrives.

CJS80 · Feb 27, 2019

Supposedly marine heat shrink is water proof, but I have not tested it out.

CJS80 · Feb 27, 2019

Lowell Lemon said:
Do not reuse the pump!!! It may have already fried the internals and that may be the source of the cloudy water. You should add high grade carbon and continue the water changes while monitoring the ammonia levels. You can run with out a skimmer until the new pump arrives.

+1

LiveWire · Feb 27, 2019

If it were me I would not reuse the pump and would order a new one. The tank will be fine for the couple days not being skimmed. I would also test all my parameters and plan on changing carbon a lot to get whatever is in the water column out that is making the water cloudy as well as daily water changes.

LiveWire · Feb 27, 2019

Lowell Lemon said:
Do not reuse the pump!!! It may have already fried the internals and that may be the source of the cloudy water. You should add high grade carbon and continue the water changes while monitoring the ammonia levels. You can run with out a skimmer until the new pump arrives.

+1

Flippers4pups · Feb 27, 2019

I agree with everyone, please do not use that skimmer pump! Please think of your safety first!

As others have stated, you can go without a skimmer for long periods of time.

Epic Aquaculture · Feb 27, 2019

Flippers4pups said:
I agree with everyone, please do not use that skimmer pump! Please think of your safety first!

As others have stated, you can go without a skimmer for long periods of time.

I concur...

Durandal · Feb 27, 2019

My initial thought is your tank may have copper/tin in it from the electrolytic oxidation of the exposed wires, which happens with any bare conductor in salt water not made of noble material at any potential above a few volts.

This sounds consistent with your report of struggling inverts. If the fish seem fine but the snails are dying, copper is likely poisoning them. It is a time and concentration dependent toxicity. Act quickly or they will die as the molecular pumps that help them scavenge copper from natural sea water concentrate the copper to toxic levels in their tissue.

You may need to get ahold of cuprisorb ASAP to save them. A polyfilter may help, but is not as effective as cuprisorb.
Water changes do work to reduce metal ions, but copper is so toxic to inverts that it is not inconceivable that you could have, say, 100x the toxic level in your tank. In that case, even a 90% water change won't do the trick, you would need something like a 99% change....or use affinity resin like cuprisorb.

Good luck!

Durandal · Feb 27, 2019

Mass die off of inverts could be to blame for your water turbidity.... I would check ammonia to ensure that my biofilter was not being overwhelmed...that could lead to you losing your vertebrate livestock as well. ;Dead

Juscuziam · Feb 27, 2019

The thing is no one seems to have the pump for my skimmer available does anyone know if there’s a replacement pump for this one?

ES2800 REPLACEMENT SKIMMER PUMP

JasonK84 · Feb 27, 2019

Found a thread on a different forum that is saying they retrofitted to accept a different easier to find and cheaper pump. I’ve found this Bubble Magus sp4000 pump everywhere for $119.00. It’s worth checking into? Good luck.