This is what I come home to!!

[Yates273]

So I come home this evening and as I do every night go into basement to check my tanks. Well tonight I did this and tommy surprise my 32 gallon tank is milk white as seen in the picture. Knowing this was due to my ATO sticking and filling the tank with 4 gallons of a Kalk solution I freaked out. I immediately drained 20 gallons out and refilled with water from my holding tanks. My corals looked ticked and were not happy. Luckily I transferred most of the corals I could into my 40 gallon and they seem to be looking better. Few pieces of the hammer bailed and let go but it def looks better now. I think the only loss right now is my Kenya trees which look melted and I cannot find my wrasse. All in all I think I’m lucky that I had my 40 up and running which may have saved all of my other corals. Sad that I lost my wrasse or at least I think since I can’t find him but amazed my fire shrimp also made it. Whew! Sorry for long post but my god this was a wake up call for the ATO I have and need to make some changes since it only has a single float sensor.

 

[Sailfin11]

The wrasse may be in the sand. Keep an eye out for him!

 

[Hersheyb]

what ato were u running? this is scary...

 

[Yates273]

It’s a wavereef ato with the float. Worked great but it got caked up with Kalk. I had one with the optical sensor but the Kalkwasser kept making the eye cloudy and the alarm would constantly go off when it wasn’t working so I took that one off

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

You should let the kalkwasser settle and only dose with the clear portion on top. This should prevent your sensors from getting caked with kalk. Needless to say, a redundant sensor is a good idea. Perhaps a smaller ATO reservoir as well.

 

[Yates273]

I do let it settle but the issue was the pump was sitting on the bottom and it must have pumped out the sludge. I usually suspend the pump so it’s not on the bottom.

 

[Yates273]

So I checked my tank again this morning and found my wrasse in the return section of tank lying in the sand. He looked dead but when I went to grab him with a net he swam away. Guess he was sleeping. Eventually caught him and he is now back on display. Success!!

 

[steallife904]

I just went through an issue of the ato float valve stuck and poured about 4 gallons of fresh water into sump. Luckily I was just about to top of the ato tank with new fresh and happen to hear the pump turn on but didn't stop like it normally does. Was able to shut off the return pup fast before it went into display. Display tank salinity barely moved but the sump chamber the ato dumps in went from 1.026 to 1.010. had to drain sump and remix in buckets.

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

I just went through an issue of the ato float valve stuck and poured about 4 gallons of fresh water into sump. Luckily I was just about to top of the ato tank with new fresh and happen to hear the pump turn on but didn't stop like it normally does. Was able to shut off the return pup fast before it went into display. Display tank salinity barely moved but the sump chamber the ato dumps in went from 1.026 to 1.010. had to drain sump and remix in buckets.

I am using a Tom Aqua Lifter as my ATO pump. It just dribbles water in. It would take literally hours to add that much water to the sump. In addition, I have the apex programmed so that the the ATO cannot run more than 15 seconds every ten minutes. It also alarms me with a text if the sensor is in the on position for longer than an hour.

 

[jkcoon]

redundancy.... my top off has both a float valve and a 12v solenoid valve... solenoid allows it to fill a few times a day but only for a few minutes each.

 

[Eve]

So I checked my tank again this morning and found my wrasse in the return section of tank lying in the sand. He looked dead but when I went to grab him with a net he swam away. Guess he was sleeping. Eventually caught him and he is now back on display. Success!!

Yay Im so happy he is okay!

 

[ScottB]

redundancy.... my top off has both a float valve and a 12v solenoid valve... solenoid allows it to fill a few times a day but only for a few minutes each.

I need to do this. Got a product link for that 12v solenoid?