Questions about older SUMPs and stuff

[That Reefer Man]

Hello forum, long time lurker but i finally made an account to post!

So i have a friend that got a 60 gallon saltwater setup. Its been sitting in the same spot for about 10 years-(without being upgraded). Ive had over 12 years of experience dealing with cichlids and brackish setups but never saltwater so this is all new to me. my friend wants me to help out with some stuff. I was there recently and we cleaned out all the HA. the gravity was correct and we did a water change with RO/DI water. it sounds like the owners of the tank before were putting mostly tap water in to top it off so that doesnt help but now we are fixing that.

my questions are mostly about the SUMP setup below. it looked like it only has a chiller, skimmer and sump tank. i didnt see any other kind of filtration or bio-balls, i also couldnt find the valves to shut off the water from going into the SUMP, will it overflow the SUMP if i just turn the power strip off? it seemed like it was going to, so i turned it all back on.
it almost looks like the water line coming from the tank goes directly into the skimmer, then into the sump then back out again, theres no type of refuge or anything, no GFO reactor, nothing extra like that.

my other question was about the coral. when cleaning parts of it, it seemed to crumble into sand really easily, is there a reason for this? we havent tested anything in the water yet

ill try to provide some close up pics for you guys to see, i wont be there for a few more days tho

thanks for any feedback!

 

[The Rook]

Don't want any bio balls, etc. As for overflowing, couple items. First make sure the returns (in the tank) are close to the surface. When power is off, the water only drains back til the returns break the surface.

 

[That Reefer Man]

Don't want any bio balls, etc. As for overflowing, couple items. First make sure the returns (in the tank) are close to the surface. When power is off, the water only drains back til the returns break the surface.

thank you for the reply. The water return is close to the top, yeah, i just wasnt sure and didnt want to cause an issue,

without seeing pictures, everything else sounds normal?

 

[The Rook]

As you said without pics, its tough. My sump runs around 8"-9" full with around 6"-8" empty above for power outage.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Welcome!! Glad you've joined the discussions! #reefsquad can help with some of these questions too.

 

[jsker]

All I have in my sump right now is a return pump, skimmer and and some live rock with a led light that run when the light out. As stated before bio ball are great when first setup the system to get the nutrients up, but most pull them after about 6 months in a new system.

Yes is would be good to know the
Mg
Ca
Alk
No3
Po4
readings. they we can help you with the brittle coral closer instead of guessing.

 

[That Reefer Man]

thanks for all the great feedback!
ill do some test when im there next and bring the numbers here so you can tell me whats up

i have test kits to be able test everything except the Mg, how important is that reading? how does a tank get Mg naturally without adding it from a bottle?