devaji108 Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 6 minutes ago, GtownSalty said: So water ALL over my desk........................... WORST nightmare. I came up to the office to do a few things Sunday and of course check on the tank. I am still scared of an ATO failure and don't leave it on over the weekend I know not great for stability. I am trying to figure something out that does not give me anxiety. So back to the water everywhere, The level in the tank got to high and the little foot for the lid that hangs down was allowing water up out the top. I should say that he water was a not ATO failure it was mine! Thankfully I did not loose the laptop I only lost the docking port. Nothing else but a weeeee bit of damage to the desk which is a cheapy anyway. Part of why I went with such a small water volume. Of course everyone has moved some and I see even less now, but they are happy and I am thrilled the crisis was not that big. I have lowered the water level is display tank, and I ordered a plug timer that goes down to seconds. My plan is to only allow the ato on for a few seconds at a time. I tried the wifi plug but even letting it run for a minute it going to flood the tank if there is a failure. On a side note everything looks great. I think I need to take this orange spot goby to LFS as he is just not happy in the tank and just came in way to big. They have some smaller yellow watchman gobies that might be better. I plan on doing some major reworking of cords this week to get better control of the tiny tiny area in the back. Cord control is not my best area so I am going to get this tankbuttoned up better. I hope everyone had a dry weekend I dont really understand what happened? if the ATO did not fail how could more water be added to the tank? is the ATO on a low level sensor or just timer? 1 Quote Link to comment
GtownSalty Posted March 2, 2020 Author Share Posted March 2, 2020 I over filled the tank not paying attention, I think is what happened. It was not a ATO failure as it was not on. I can only blame myself. The only thing I can figure that happened was I put to much water in the tank. I do not have a good explanation. Quote Link to comment
Ratvan Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 1 minute ago, GtownSalty said: I over filled the tank not paying attention, I think is what happened. It was not a ATO failure as it was not on. I can only blame myself. The only thing I can figure that happened was I put to much water in the tank. I do not have a good explanation. Sounds like the return is too strong? Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 2 minutes ago, GtownSalty said: I over filled the tank not paying attention, I think is what happened. It was not a ATO failure as it was not on. I can only blame myself. The only thing I can figure that happened was I put to much water in the tank. I do not have a good explanation. ah OK... Quote Link to comment
GtownSalty Posted March 2, 2020 Author Share Posted March 2, 2020 1 minute ago, Ratvan said: Sounds like the return is too strong? I think you are right on this as well I have the 606 in here and I think I might have to back to stock. Or see if I can put the 606 with the cover that allows some flow adjustment. Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 1 minute ago, GtownSalty said: I think you are right on this as well I have the 606 in here and I think I might have to back to stock. Or see if I can put the 606 with the cover that allows some flow adjustment. might be a good idea to add some adjustment so you can dial it back a bit. once you have that done I dont think you need to turn off the ATO for the week end. what ATO do you have again. most are pretty good with a cpl backs ups. I have used my auto aqua for many years on a few different tank not once had I had a mess up and it only has once sensor. when I replace I will go with the dul sensor for redundancy. OR you could get one of those hamster bottle type ATO for the week end if no was is there but then the lid would be off and fish could jump. just an idea... 1 Quote Link to comment
SliceGolfer Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 Are you using any type of filter pad for mechanical filtration? I have found that if my filter pad is clogged up, it prevents water from getting into the AIO sump area. The return pump doesn't know differently and happily pushes water into the tank. The result is the AIO sump area gets really low on water and the tank could overflow. Something to look at. 1 Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 That's too bad. I am glad it wasn't worse. I agree that less flow from the return pump is definitely where I would start. Not sure if this is worth doing but If you find the sweet spot for the water level place a temporary piece of scotch tape marking the water line so you can easily see any changes. Once confidence is established remove the tape. 1 Quote Link to comment
GtownSalty Posted March 5, 2020 Author Share Posted March 5, 2020 I had a casualty. I have never seen a rock flower die but this one was dead. And a couple others dont look so hot. The Goni and zoas and other guys in the tank are all fine. I was out with a monster cold yesterday so did not see the tank at all came back to the dead flower. so I siphoned it out thinking about doing a 2 gallon water change. I did not bring any testing equipment up here, so not sure what my numbers are but judging off the other critters they are not to bad. Will run a water sample up to the LFS at lunch. 2 Quote Link to comment
SeaFurn Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 I'm so sorry to hear this. Was the RFA detached? I assume so if you simply siphoned it out. They can sometimes look really bad as they poop if they've been fed a lot. Another sign is if they are melting. Those are the ones you need to get out of the tank right away. Can you post a picture of the ones that don't look so hot? It usually takes a week or two for an RFA to settle into a new tank, sometimes longer. I'm still always a little on edge when I get new ones because even though the ones in my tank are all fine and the water is good- the new ones come in they are stressed and the change can be difficult to them to adjust to. Quote Link to comment
NoOneLikesADryTang Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 Sorry you had a loss - it always sucks! I don't know if @SeaFurn has experienced this, but in my RFA tank (I probably have 60-80 in it), it seems like if one starts to melt, the others in that area may get sick as well. I don't have any scientific proof of this, it's purely anecdotal from my personal experience, but if I see one starting to get sick, I'll either pull it for the good of the tank, or I'll try to move it to an area by itself. (Most of the time, their foot is no longer attached - if their foot is still attached I'll leave them alone.) Quote Link to comment
GtownSalty Posted March 5, 2020 Author Share Posted March 5, 2020 3 minutes ago, SeaFurn said: I'm so sorry to hear this. Was the RFA detached? I assume so if you simply siphoned it out. They can sometimes look really bad as they poop if they've been fed a lot. Another sign is if they are melting. Those are the ones you need to get out of the tank right away. Can you post a picture of the ones that don't look so hot? It usually takes a week or two for an RFA to settle into a new tank, sometimes longer. I'm still always a little on edge when I get new ones because even though the ones in my tank are all fine and the water is good- the new ones come in they are stressed and the change can be difficult to them to adjust to. This was translucent jelly and just fell apart. I took a sample of water before I did the water change just so I can see, but I have never know a water change to be bad so I did it anyway. I will also take a sample of the water after the change to see if we got better. Saltwater tanks have a way of making you remember even if you think you got it SURPRISES can still happen. As soon as the tank settles some from the water change I will see if I can get pictures of the others. I did recently add a ton of pods to the tank do you think that could be a problem though I don't see how. Quote Link to comment
GtownSalty Posted March 5, 2020 Author Share Posted March 5, 2020 26 minutes ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said: Sorry you had a loss - it always sucks! I don't know if @SeaFurn has experienced this, but in my RFA tank (I probably have 60-80 in it), it seems like if one starts to melt, the others in that area may get sick as well. I don't have any scientific proof of this, it's purely anecdotal from my personal experience, but if I see one starting to get sick, I'll either pull it for the good of the tank, or I'll try to move it to an area by itself. (Most of the time, their foot is no longer attached - if their foot is still attached I'll leave them alone.) I have never lost one and I have several in my home tanks, that is exactly what I was worried about. This guy was not in a cluster so maybe it won't "spread". Everyone else is still attached so that is a good sign. The smallest of them all which is about the size of pinkie nail looks great so maybe.......... 1 Quote Link to comment
SeaFurn Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 7 minutes ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said: Sorry you had a loss - it always sucks! I don't know if @SeaFurn has experienced this, but in my RFA tank (I probably have 60-80 in it), it seems like if one starts to melt, the others in that area may get sick as well. I don't have any scientific proof of this, it's purely anecdotal from my personal experience, but if I see one starting to get sick, I'll either pull it for the good of the tank, or I'll try to move it to an area by itself. (Most of the time, their foot is no longer attached - if their foot is still attached I'll leave them alone.) I've only had brand new ones melt - like they don't even make it 24 hours. I'll pull them as soon as I see it start disintegrating. But I've heard anecdotes of exactly what you describe happening in your tank. The few I've lost that weren't new arrivals have succumbed to long this long degenerative disease where their oral disk turns almost completely black (they don't fluoresce) and they become a dis-figured (not round). Their tentacles completely disappear because they stop eating. It's terrible. I end up putting them in the freezer when there's no chance. I recently had one that was bound for the freezer - like days away from it and now it's in recovery. Gonna post the whole story on the RFA appreciation forum at some point. 1 Quote Link to comment
SeaFurn Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 18 minutes ago, GtownSalty said: I did recently add a ton of pods to the tank do you think that could be a problem though I don't see how. No, it's most likely due to the stress of the move or moves. Didn't these 17 come from a show? If so, they went from one tank to the show for some period of time (stress), to your tank (more stress). If you end up only losing one out of 17 that's not too bad I hate to say. Change is hard on these things until they get settled in. Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 oh SO sorry to hear that I had one one my 21 melted with in a day or 2 og getting them. I was bussy so I did not take it out as soon as I should then next few days I got a huge GHA bloom that lasted for 6 weeks or so. I did WC and dosed vibrant then scrubbed the rocks for the win. I hope you got it out in time that you dont go through that. best of luck! Quote Link to comment
GtownSalty Posted March 5, 2020 Author Share Posted March 5, 2020 7 minutes ago, devaji108 said: oh SO sorry to hear that I had one one my 21 melted with in a day or 2 og getting them. I was bussy so I did not take it out as soon as I should then next few days I got a huge GHA bloom that lasted for 6 weeks or so. I did WC and dosed vibrant then scrubbed the rocks for the win. I hope you got it out in time that you dont go through that. best of luck! I hope so as well. I threw in an extra little chemi pure elite hoping to pull some of the toxins out. I think a work tank might be a bit more stressful than a home tank...... Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 Sorry about the loss. Hope it ends up being just the one. Figures it would get sick on a day your not there. Glad your feeling better. Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 4 minutes ago, GtownSalty said: I hope so as well. I threw in an extra little chemi pure elite hoping to pull some of the toxins out. I think a work tank might be a bit more stressful than a home tank...... I am sure it will be Ok in the end. you prob. spend just as much time at work than home...so might as wll enjoy it 😄 Quote Link to comment
NoOneLikesADryTang Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 I would agree with Seafurn, most of my losses have been from the stress of shipping. I almost always lose a couple when I have batch shipped to me. Once they're happy and attached, I've very rarely lost one. Also, can I come work for you?!? Quote Link to comment
GtownSalty Posted March 5, 2020 Author Share Posted March 5, 2020 I am biting the bullet no more worrying about this ato being janky. Looks like the 2 best ATOs are the xp aqua and the autoaqua does anyone have hard feeling on either of them. @NoOneLikesADryTang can you come the week of May 10 when I will be out of the office for a week. I promise my staff is great and the doctors are only slightly divas 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment
SeaFurn Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 I have both ATOs. Both work great! The XP maybe has the edge on the autoaqua because it has two water lever detectors on it's sensor in case the lower one gets blocked. I think it's a little less expensive too. Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 yup both are great. I have the auto aqua and it been perfect for a few years. even used it on large tanks. but the XP might be better as it does have the 2 sensors. but it bigger do you have space in the RT chamber for it? Quote Link to comment
GtownSalty Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 Well took in the water for before and after water change all is good but low salt 1.020. So I am increasing that up slowly. I think there is 2 rock flowers I am worried about now. Will see how they look in the morning. I love to support my LFS, I was actually one of their very first customers over 13 years ago. Anyway they do not do alot of dry goods, but as luck would have it they had the XP ATO there like it was ment for me. I canceled my amazon order and picked it up cheaper from my guys. Will set it up in the morning and stop worrying about it. I am also calibrating a salinty checker to take with me. Oh the joys of a tank! 2 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 let us know how you like the XP ATO. Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.