FlyinBryan
Well-Known Member
This evening, my wife and I were just getting ready to walk out the door to go meet friends for a Good Friday dinner. We were suddenly met with strong sewer smell and had no idea where it was coming from, after searching the house with the worst thoughts of what it could be, turns out, it was my 150g fish tank.
The ATO on my 150 didn’t shut off adding too much water which in turn overflowed the protein skimmer and dumping all of the contents back into the sump, thus the sewer smell! There was foam pouring out like it was some kind of a bubble bath.
After unplugging everything and trying to ascertain and assess the situation etc. I figured I could just plug things back in one at a time and it would settle itself down. Well the protein skimmer pump would not turn back on, at all! I also discovered through all of this that I hadn’t plugged in the pump for the carbon/gfo reactor after my water change last week!
So now I have a tank full of skimmate with a skimmer that won’t turn back on, and with elevated phosphates because of no gfo. My quick solution this problem was just to mix and make some water and do a quick water change. I figured I get by with out a PS and clean out the junk that had been dumped in there doing a couple of small ones to get me through the weekend. Then Monday morning I'd just to to my LFS and get a new PS. It was at this point that it dawned on me that I have no RODI water made!
Evening plans, cancelled.
Everything seemed to be heading south very quickly on me and felt I had to make some major decisions really fast, like do I call a buddy for some RODI water, or make the long trip to the LFS. I even told wife I may lose everything in the tank if I didn’t make the right ones quickly.
Strangely enough, PS pump finally did come back on, and I have NO idea why, just very grateful it did. Even when it did, I was really struggling with collection cup continuing to overflow each time I turned it back on because there was just so much junk in the tank and it was trying to do it’s job and pull it all out quickly!
With so many things going through my head out of all the issues I could be facing, it finally dawned on me that the overall tank level was higher than what the PS was tuned for, all of which was why I was in this situation to begin with, the ATO failing to shut off in time. I had done a quick salinitiy check and it came up normal which is why I didn't come to the conclusion of too much water right away. Once I did think it through, I ended up pulling out quite a bit of water and then slowly added it back in. Yes the ATO was turned off during this time as well. I dialed down the PS so it wouldn’t try to pull everything out all at once and slowly retuned it back in.
I think everything is going to make it, and crisis should be averted! I’ll keep you all posted tomorrow. However, I realized that my chickens had come home to roost! I had sown seeds of a bit of laziness with skipping important steps of tank maintenance and almost reaped the whirlwind of a major tank disaster! One of the maintenance items I neglected was cleaning the ATO eye, it's a simple thing, but I just neglected for too long. That one little thing, one little 30 second effort, somewhere in the last couple of months, and tonight's almost disaster would have been avoided.
Had my wife and I walked out the door tonight, and this took place after we left, I would have had a much bigger problem on my hands, and the tank may have been either hard to recover, or I would have a had a major mess on my floor. Had I been traveling and my wife home, she would not have known what to do, or where to start, let alone which plug to pull. That’s not a slight on her at all.
But, it’s time. I have fought and argued against tank controllers for years, reasoning, but the best top of the line equipment do your do diligence of tank maintenance and all will be good. My 150 is the first saltwater tank I’ve ever built, it’s full of rookie mistakes, my other tanks have been much better! I keep dodging bullets, but one of these days I won’t be so fortunate and we will be gone when something goes wrong, and I wouldn’t know, until its all too late.
Tonight I will order a tank controller.
If you made it this far into my story, I really appreciate the read. You may think, this wasn't that big of a disaster, and you're right. But, at the time, when you're right in the think of it all, you just don't know the extent of what it is you're facing, until you get it all figured out. If you have a controller you like please share what you like or don’t like, I truly value your input.
Happy reefing and God Bless!
The ATO on my 150 didn’t shut off adding too much water which in turn overflowed the protein skimmer and dumping all of the contents back into the sump, thus the sewer smell! There was foam pouring out like it was some kind of a bubble bath.
After unplugging everything and trying to ascertain and assess the situation etc. I figured I could just plug things back in one at a time and it would settle itself down. Well the protein skimmer pump would not turn back on, at all! I also discovered through all of this that I hadn’t plugged in the pump for the carbon/gfo reactor after my water change last week!
So now I have a tank full of skimmate with a skimmer that won’t turn back on, and with elevated phosphates because of no gfo. My quick solution this problem was just to mix and make some water and do a quick water change. I figured I get by with out a PS and clean out the junk that had been dumped in there doing a couple of small ones to get me through the weekend. Then Monday morning I'd just to to my LFS and get a new PS. It was at this point that it dawned on me that I have no RODI water made!
Evening plans, cancelled.
Everything seemed to be heading south very quickly on me and felt I had to make some major decisions really fast, like do I call a buddy for some RODI water, or make the long trip to the LFS. I even told wife I may lose everything in the tank if I didn’t make the right ones quickly.
Strangely enough, PS pump finally did come back on, and I have NO idea why, just very grateful it did. Even when it did, I was really struggling with collection cup continuing to overflow each time I turned it back on because there was just so much junk in the tank and it was trying to do it’s job and pull it all out quickly!
With so many things going through my head out of all the issues I could be facing, it finally dawned on me that the overall tank level was higher than what the PS was tuned for, all of which was why I was in this situation to begin with, the ATO failing to shut off in time. I had done a quick salinitiy check and it came up normal which is why I didn't come to the conclusion of too much water right away. Once I did think it through, I ended up pulling out quite a bit of water and then slowly added it back in. Yes the ATO was turned off during this time as well. I dialed down the PS so it wouldn’t try to pull everything out all at once and slowly retuned it back in.
I think everything is going to make it, and crisis should be averted! I’ll keep you all posted tomorrow. However, I realized that my chickens had come home to roost! I had sown seeds of a bit of laziness with skipping important steps of tank maintenance and almost reaped the whirlwind of a major tank disaster! One of the maintenance items I neglected was cleaning the ATO eye, it's a simple thing, but I just neglected for too long. That one little thing, one little 30 second effort, somewhere in the last couple of months, and tonight's almost disaster would have been avoided.
Had my wife and I walked out the door tonight, and this took place after we left, I would have had a much bigger problem on my hands, and the tank may have been either hard to recover, or I would have a had a major mess on my floor. Had I been traveling and my wife home, she would not have known what to do, or where to start, let alone which plug to pull. That’s not a slight on her at all.
But, it’s time. I have fought and argued against tank controllers for years, reasoning, but the best top of the line equipment do your do diligence of tank maintenance and all will be good. My 150 is the first saltwater tank I’ve ever built, it’s full of rookie mistakes, my other tanks have been much better! I keep dodging bullets, but one of these days I won’t be so fortunate and we will be gone when something goes wrong, and I wouldn’t know, until its all too late.
Tonight I will order a tank controller.
If you made it this far into my story, I really appreciate the read. You may think, this wasn't that big of a disaster, and you're right. But, at the time, when you're right in the think of it all, you just don't know the extent of what it is you're facing, until you get it all figured out. If you have a controller you like please share what you like or don’t like, I truly value your input.
Happy reefing and God Bless!
