Sk8r
08/06/2011, 08:40 PM
The story starts with new kitten and window-painting. We have to keep the basement door (where the sump is) shut for fear of kitten-mayhem.
I haven't checked my topoff reservoir under as close observation as usual---and we've been busy outside with renovating some old wooden windows.
Things seemed fine this morning.
This afternoon, every coral in the tank was sliming like mad, the tank was full of slime and bubbles, the starry blenny was lying on the Sea Swirl outlet looking dead, and there was no other fish in sight.
Feared paint fumes might be at issue---but ran downstairs to discover the topoff reservoir probably ran dry a week ago. The sump level was way down---meaning evaporation had taken my tank down to the point the pump was having issues and the salinity was concentrated and through the roof.
I grabbed a gallon pitcher and a barrel of ro/di fresh water and poured about 4 gallons into the system (54 g tank, 30 g sump). Waited a while and the blenny got off the outlet and the damsels showed up. I poured in more water downstairs and started tuning the skimmer to get back into action. Every little bit, more ro/di. By the time I'd hit halfway to normal (from the disaster point) the corals had stopped sliming and the skimmer was operational (low water level throws it)---
This evening the skimmer is busy pulling crud, the fish are out and happy again, and the corals are fine. I don't think I lost anything. If corals weren't 'noisy in their behavior' and inclined to be mine-canaries (you know, the innocent birds in cages miners used to carry to detect gas: if the bird fell off its perch, you head outa there)---I wouldn't have known until I had dead fish. As was, the corals react fast when things get to a tipping point, or close to it. No credit to me---and all credit to a big bank of hammer and frog doing their jobs---nothing died, nothing's even seriously put out.
This is why though some people are scared of corals as if they're hard to keep---I really rely on them as a barometer of what's going on in the tank. In this case they saved the tank.
And I've resolved not to get that distracted by the renovation again.
I haven't checked my topoff reservoir under as close observation as usual---and we've been busy outside with renovating some old wooden windows.
Things seemed fine this morning.
This afternoon, every coral in the tank was sliming like mad, the tank was full of slime and bubbles, the starry blenny was lying on the Sea Swirl outlet looking dead, and there was no other fish in sight.
Feared paint fumes might be at issue---but ran downstairs to discover the topoff reservoir probably ran dry a week ago. The sump level was way down---meaning evaporation had taken my tank down to the point the pump was having issues and the salinity was concentrated and through the roof.
I grabbed a gallon pitcher and a barrel of ro/di fresh water and poured about 4 gallons into the system (54 g tank, 30 g sump). Waited a while and the blenny got off the outlet and the damsels showed up. I poured in more water downstairs and started tuning the skimmer to get back into action. Every little bit, more ro/di. By the time I'd hit halfway to normal (from the disaster point) the corals had stopped sliming and the skimmer was operational (low water level throws it)---
This evening the skimmer is busy pulling crud, the fish are out and happy again, and the corals are fine. I don't think I lost anything. If corals weren't 'noisy in their behavior' and inclined to be mine-canaries (you know, the innocent birds in cages miners used to carry to detect gas: if the bird fell off its perch, you head outa there)---I wouldn't have known until I had dead fish. As was, the corals react fast when things get to a tipping point, or close to it. No credit to me---and all credit to a big bank of hammer and frog doing their jobs---nothing died, nothing's even seriously put out.
This is why though some people are scared of corals as if they're hard to keep---I really rely on them as a barometer of what's going on in the tank. In this case they saved the tank.
And I've resolved not to get that distracted by the renovation again.