teenyreef Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Oh, OK, I understand now. So definitely something went wrong with the timer. The JBJ specs say that once the timer expires, it won't start again until the float switch resets. It also says you can change the timer from 3.5 minutes to 14 minutes, but I assume you didn't do that Was the alarm sounding? I think the alarm is supposed to go off if the timer is activated. So I guess the only possibilities are either a complete failure of the timer function, or something made the controller think the float switch was resetting. Maybe a bad connection, or a snail getting into the switch and moving it up and down. But I know you said there was nothing in the switch, so that seems unlikely. I had problems with snails in my Tunze Nano ATO float switch in my old 4g tank because I had the float in the display area. I had the tank overflow a couple times, but it was never too bad because the timer eventually turned it off. That was why I went with the full-up Tunze ATO in my IM10. The main sensor is non-mechanical, so it's a lot harder for something to make it get stuck on. There's a separate mechanical float switch for overflow protection, and it also has a timer. The engineer in me likes that approach much better You could test the JBJ timer by putting the sensor and water feed in a bowl of water, and manually hold the sensor closed and wait for the timer and alarm to go off. At least that way you can confirm whether the timer works as designed. If it doesn't work..."well, there's your problem" If it does, I'd definitely look at trying to shoehorn that overflow sensor in somehow. I like the idea of putting it on a timer since it would reduce the magnitude of the potential catastrophe, but I'm sure that power cycling the controller will reset the timer. So in the worst case, you'd still be pumping water for three minutes at a time every few hours. I don't know how fast your pump runs - would that still be enough to flood the tank after a couple cycles? Link to comment
tibbsy07 Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 Oh, OK, I understand now. So definitely something went wrong with the timer. The JBJ specs say that once the timer expires, it won't start again until the float switch resets. It also says you can change the timer from 3.5 minutes to 14 minutes, but I assume you didn't do that Was the alarm sounding? I think the alarm is supposed to go off if the timer is activated. So I guess the only possibilities are either a complete failure of the timer function, or something made the controller think the float switch was resetting. Maybe a bad connection, or a snail getting into the switch and moving it up and down. But I know you said there was nothing in the switch, so that seems unlikely. I had problems with snails in my Tunze Nano ATO float switch in my old 4g tank because I had the float in the display area. I had the tank overflow a couple times, but it was never too bad because the timer eventually turned it off. That was why I went with the full-up Tunze ATO in my IM10. The main sensor is non-mechanical, so it's a lot harder for something to make it get stuck on. There's a separate mechanical float switch for overflow protection, and it also has a timer. The engineer in me likes that approach much better You could test the JBJ timer by putting the sensor and water feed in a bowl of water, and manually hold the sensor closed and wait for the timer and alarm to go off. At least that way you can confirm whether the timer works as designed. If it doesn't work..."well, there's your problem" If it does, I'd definitely look at trying to shoehorn that overflow sensor in somehow. I like the idea of putting it on a timer since it would reduce the magnitude of the potential catastrophe, but I'm sure that power cycling the controller will reset the timer. So in the worst case, you'd still be pumping water for three minutes at a time every few hours. I don't know how fast your pump runs - would that still be enough to flood the tank after a couple cycles? Thanks I'll see. So far the tank is ok. Corals are unhappy, but it's probably due to the lack of light, the rapid salinity changes and the extra chemical filtration I put in the tank. It'll all settle eventually. I feel like tinkering lately, but I don't want to mess with anything. This is why the hobby is bad for me, lol. I always want to change something, make it better, spend more money that I don't have, upgrade, downgrade... lol Link to comment
Fishstiks Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Ouch. I'm sorry you had so much trouble this last couple days :-( Hopefully the livestock will recover quickly. It definitely sounds like a problem with the timer in the JBJ. I have the exact ato on my tank. There have been a few times when I fist got it where the float switch would not signal to turn the water on, and I would be left without a topped off tank, but never overflow. Mine is also set to 3 minutes, and if the float valve doesnt reach the top in that 3 minutes, it shuts off, the lights on the front of the jbj turn red, and I have to manually reset it before it will start up again. There is no alarm on it that I am aware of, at least mine has never made a sound :-) How old is it? If it is still under warranty, I would give JBJ a call and see what they can do. If not, putting it on a timer like you suggested might work, but make sure to account that timer for when it turns on, it will always push a little water through into the tank, even if the float valve is up and off.............I think it's just the way it runs until the sensor kicks in. Makes me nervous now..........my tank is at work, that would be no bueno to come in after a weekend to a flooded tank :-( Link to comment
metrokat Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Tibbsy the JBJ was set to 14, whenever you get a chance get it back to 3 and test before putting it back on the tank. Link to comment
tibbsy07 Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 Tibbsy the JBJ was set to 14, whenever you get a chance get it back to 3 and test before putting it back on the tank. I set it to 3 before I installed it the first time. Link to comment
tibbsy07 Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Greetings from the Atlanta airport. My wife and I are heading to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands for a few days. I'm very excited to be going. I won't have much connectivity to the internet or my phone, but I will periodically check in. Our neighbors are taking care of our dog and my tank. Hopefully the tank doesn't have a catastrophe... Link to comment
da1001 Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Greetings from the Atlanta airport. My wife and I are heading to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands for a few days. I'm very excited to be going. I won't have much connectivity to the internet or my phone, but I will periodically check in. Our neighbors are taking care of our dog and my tank. Hopefully the tank doesn't have a catastrophe... You lucky bugger, you! Hopefully the tank will be fine, you did tell him not to dump a bunch of random salt into the tank to make sure the salinity stay up there, right? Have a great trip, tibbsy! Link to comment
tibbsy07 Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 Just back in town and catching up on work. Tank seems ok. Ugly and diatom/algaey, but everything is alive and well. Doing a big water change this week and I have to refill my ATO reservoir. Still tinkering with the skimmer as it's not working great, even with the water level higher. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Glad to hear everything is surviving. Is the ATO working OK now? Link to comment
tibbsy07 Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Glad to hear everything is surviving. Is the ATO working OK now? Yep, ATO is working fine. Was probably an issue with a blockage in the overflow area that led to the display flooding but the rear chambers not having any water, so the ATO turned the water on and kept refilling the rear chamber. I'm doing a big 3.5g water change today. I need a CUC refresher, I think. I have 2 bumblebee snails, a couple of small florida ceriths and 1 or 2 medium ceriths. I have a single medium/large nassarius snail, a stomatella snail, and maybe 2 nerites. Cousteau is 100% dead, probably a bad molt. No sign of him for almost a month now. Beyonce seems ok. Gorg is totally healed, with lots of polyp extension. Hermie is doing ok. It eats a lot, but I've stopped feeding it flakes as it actually just spits out the flake. Hermie attempts to eat it, but because they float, it ends up getting air bubbles in its mouth so it spits the bubble and flake out. It likes the pellets and LRS Reef Frenzy, though the reef frenzy is rather large chunks of stuff, so I feel like the coral are missing out a bit. I just need to find a better way to feed them. Link to comment
tibbsy07 Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 I'm not sure what to do. You might say I am in a bit of a pickle. I need a few more snails/CUC I think. I have some snails (see above) but they really aren't doing the job. Here is the dilemma. Do I drive over an hour away and get a few snails from the LFS for like 12 bucks plus gas, or do I order from John at ReefCleaners for like 15 bucks but get WAY more than I need? I don't need to use all of them, but I don't want to let snails die for no reason. If I order from John I am going to order some pods too. I am also in a lighting pickle. The Bluefish mini is set to drop officially April 2nd. I am currently using my older coral compulsion 14W 18K bulb as the storm controller fried, so my Tide is out of commission until further notice. Do I spend the ~$120 bucks or so for the bluefish to be able to control my light via wifi (only 2 channels) and wait until April 2nd? Or do I contact Dave at Nanobox and buy a new Storm Controller for ~$60 and get it sooner? Will the Bluefish mini actually do much for my tank as it is right now? Link to comment
Steensj2004 Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 I'm not sure what to do. You might say I am in a bit of a pickle. I need a few more snails/CUC I think. I have some snails (see above) but they really aren't doing the job. Here is the dilemma. Do I drive over an hour away and get a few snails from the LFS for like 12 bucks plus gas, or do I order from John at ReefCleaners for like 15 bucks but get WAY more than I need? I don't need to use all of them, but I don't want to let snails die for no reason. If I order from John I am going to order some pods too. I am also in a lighting pickle. The Bluefish mini is set to drop officially April 2nd. I am currently using my older coral compulsion 14W 18K bulb as the storm controller fried, so my Tide is out of commission until further notice. Do I spend the ~$120 bucks or so for the bluefish to be able to control my light via wifi (only 2 channels) and wait until April 2nd? Or do I contact Dave at Nanobox and buy a new Storm Controller for ~$60 and get it sooner? Will the Bluefish mini actually do much for my tank as it is right now? Guess it depends on if you can wait or not... we are talking about only 6 more days until you can snag a BF mini. At the same time, I wouldn't have wasted my time or money on a BF mini if it hadn't come with the light Dave is building me. Since I was ordering one I got the Bluefish. If I just needed the controller, I wouldn't wait for the bluefish, because wifi control just isn't that important to me. For example, email alerts from a controller are great, but at 9am, I get to sit and freak out at work all day when my tank temp spikes to 1000 degrees, lol. I suppose its subjective. Good luck in you decision. As far as the snails, I would get the local ones. I love reefcleaners, but I also hate having 1000 more snails then I need. Not that John isn't the MAN, but I hate the 300 shells everywhere,haha! Again, subjective, but I would support some LFS and get the snails sooner. Besides, who DOESN'T want an excuse to go to a fish store?! Link to comment
tibbsy07 Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 Because of the time it takes to get to the LFS, and he current weather I likely won't be able to get there until Saturday at the earliest. I may just order from John... Tanks looks pretty good, all things considered. I think one of my zoa colonies may have zoa pox... No idea where they came from. I messed with the color on my iPad to show the dots more... I tried removing the dots with a toothbrush and they do not come off... Link to comment
Fishstiks Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Tank looks awesome! :-) Those do look like zoa pox on your zoas. When I had zoa pox, I bought some Furan 2, and dipped them. I don't recall the exact instructions, I just looked them up online, but I think it was a dip once a day for 3 days, rest for 5 days, then dip again for 3 days or something like that. Worked great, I never had any issues and the zoas tolerated the dip well and recovered fine. I had to order the Furan online though, I couldnt find it at any local stores. Link to comment
tibbsy07 Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 Yeah, I'm going to have to order it online I think. Stores here are limited enough as it is, but with the current weather, we're likely to be locked down for a day or two. I'll order some ASAP. I really wish I understood zoas better - they work so well for SO many people, but they just don't last for me. Ugh. Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 it's not you. i have lost my fair shares of zoas. *sigh*. Link to comment
Fishstiks Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I dont have a lot of luck with them either. I have a few that do really well, and I seem to have a little better luck with the larger palys than zoas, but for the most part, they do ok for a while, then bam, they just melt away. I had a nice little cluster of Sunny D's in my tank at work that were so gorgeous, and last week they closed up and melted away in a matter of a few days. Who knows. Zoas are fickle pickles. :-) Link to comment
metrokat Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Doc I REALLY don't see this massive amount of diatoms you're bitchin and moanin about. Really. I see pale rocks. I even zoomed in and if you hadn't said diatoms, I was going to say coraline. Link to comment
tibbsy07 Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 Doc I REALLY don't see this massive amount of diatoms you're bitchin and moanin about. Really. I see pale rocks. I even zoomed in and if you hadn't said diatoms, I was going to say coraline. Diatoms are usually all over the glass, rw4, etc. I took this right after I cleaned and juuuuust before I did my water change. I scrape the glass and vacuum the sandbed, use a soft toothbrush to scrub the rw4, etc etc. The rocks are actually brownish but hard to see with the CC bulb I am using and with phone cameras. Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I have heard you can use chemiclean as well to treat zoa pox/bacterial infections but I'm not sure if this as effective as the Furan dip method or not but always a possibility. Tank is starting to come together nicely as well. Link to comment
natalia_la_loca Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 +1 on the furan 2. It's worked really well for me. Link to comment
Sunstar Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I might have acquired a pair of frags that may have zoa pox. I am obtaining Furan 2 to treat them. Your tank isn't ugly btw. (from the ugly tank thread) It just needs growing out. As for Diatoms, I just went through that phase, it ended and so far so good. I think there is a little but not as much. Your tank is gonna be cute <3 Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I've done the Furan 2 thing too. It worked fine but it seems that the zoa pox always comes back sooner or later, so you may have to do it again. Be patient with the diatoms, they will go away eventually as your tank matures Link to comment
amphipod Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Yeah, I'm going to have to order it online I think. Stores here are limited enough as it is, but with the current weather, we're likely to be locked down for a day or two. I'll order some ASAP. I really wish I understood zoas better - they work so well for SO many people, but they just don't last for me. Ugh. maybe you need to practice more with the other corals, then ZOA's may not be so hard. Also your tank looks pretty well patience is key Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.