Coral reefer
Past President
Only on the outside of course. Beautiful person!
Rygh's 250 gallon - Rev 3
- Thread starter rygh
- Start date
Kensington Reefer
Supporting Member
The fish just think we’re strange beings
rygh
Guest
Major tank crash.
Over the last few months I had quite a few equipment problems:
One of the sump pumps failed. Not a huge deal, but it took a while to notice, and it really slows flow and skimmer.
Heater failed.
The alk dosing pump failed, causing a big imbalance. That was really bad. Killed all the snails.
So tank was very stressed.
Then I went on vacation, and the lights died.
My AI prime lights have had problems over time. The UV burns out, and sometimes takes other components with them.
Well ... the UV blew on the master controller one, and killed that one completely.
The master controls all the other lights. So all of them went off.
The combination of a stressed tank and no light for a couple weeks was bad.
Almost all hard corals are dead. (lights)
All snails are dead. (alk)
Total mess of Algae and Cyano. (huge nitrates/phosphates from dead corals)
Fish seem fine though. No deaths there! Possibly even happy with all the algae to eat.
Some soft corals seems happy also. I think they like the nitrates.
Rebuild time I guess.
Maybe do a bit different strategy.
Time for some different lights as well. Argh $$$
BEFORE:
NOW:
Over the last few months I had quite a few equipment problems:
One of the sump pumps failed. Not a huge deal, but it took a while to notice, and it really slows flow and skimmer.
Heater failed.
The alk dosing pump failed, causing a big imbalance. That was really bad. Killed all the snails.
So tank was very stressed.
Then I went on vacation, and the lights died.
My AI prime lights have had problems over time. The UV burns out, and sometimes takes other components with them.
Well ... the UV blew on the master controller one, and killed that one completely.
The master controls all the other lights. So all of them went off.
The combination of a stressed tank and no light for a couple weeks was bad.
Almost all hard corals are dead. (lights)
All snails are dead. (alk)
Total mess of Algae and Cyano. (huge nitrates/phosphates from dead corals)
Fish seem fine though. No deaths there! Possibly even happy with all the algae to eat.
Some soft corals seems happy also. I think they like the nitrates.
Rebuild time I guess.
Maybe do a bit different strategy.
Time for some different lights as well. Argh $$$
BEFORE:
NOW:
rygh
Guest
TO DO LIST:
Clean, clean, and clean some more.
Pull out all the dead/dying stuff.
Probably pull out each rock and maybe even power wash them.
It is going to take a while....
Probably reduce rock in DT a bit. It was a bit crowded.
So some rocks may never go back in.
Get water parameters stable.
Big water changes first, then fix things.
Buy lots of new snails for algae.
Decide what to do with lights.
Hold off on coral until new lights are in and everything is stable.
Likely months. Might as well wait until winter, with less vacations.
Considering more fish-oriented tank. Not FOWLR, but more softies, nems, and encrusting corals,
no huge plating corals, no pointy sticks.
Clean, clean, and clean some more.
Pull out all the dead/dying stuff.
Probably pull out each rock and maybe even power wash them.
It is going to take a while....
Probably reduce rock in DT a bit. It was a bit crowded.
So some rocks may never go back in.
Get water parameters stable.
Big water changes first, then fix things.
Buy lots of new snails for algae.
Decide what to do with lights.
Hold off on coral until new lights are in and everything is stable.
Likely months. Might as well wait until winter, with less vacations.
Considering more fish-oriented tank. Not FOWLR, but more softies, nems, and encrusting corals,
no huge plating corals, no pointy sticks.
Thales
Past President
You could fill the device with vinegar or citric acid to dissolve the calcium on the quartz sleeve - but you don't get the visual to know it's clean. This is what drove me away from UV.
Thales
Past President
Ah boo. Can you somehow convert that to fun in your head?
rygh
Guest
Cleaning up a dead mess is pretty hard to convert to fun I am afraid...
But the chance to start over with something a bit different might be.
Plus I may go back to DIY LEDs. That could be a fun project.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Well going on vacation for a couple weeks was your first problem, don't you know you're not allowed to leave a tank more than 24 hours at a time!
rygh
Guest
Yep.
I had quite a bit of automation and redundancy, but never enough I guess.
Actually ... The root cause: I have not been keeping up on cleaning and replacing old equipment.
Things do wear out after 12 years of use.
Coral reefer
Past President
Bummer mark! I’ll probably have some things for you when you’re ready again
rygh
Guest
More bad luck.
My cooling fan on the sump decided to die a couple days ago.
So the cooling failed over those hot days. Tank temperature peaked at 83.7 degrees.
And of course, no alarm from Apex. The recent crash caused all sorts of PH/etc complaints, so I turned it off. Oops.
Ugh...
Fish are fine fortunately.
Softies are doing surprisingly well.
Algae and Cyano are doing fabulous.
Nothing else remains. Snails all died also.
Still struggling with PO4 levels.
I have siphoned like crazy, and added a lot of GFO.
I think there might be phosphates in the rocks leaching out.
Nitrates are basically 0 though now.
What I really need is a few free weekends that are not so hot, for a major rebuild.
I think a major purchase of new equipment might be in order also.
A lot of equipment is up around 12 years old now. It simply does not last forever, especially near salt water.
It is likely no coincidence that I am having so many failures.
My cooling fan on the sump decided to die a couple days ago.
So the cooling failed over those hot days. Tank temperature peaked at 83.7 degrees.
And of course, no alarm from Apex. The recent crash caused all sorts of PH/etc complaints, so I turned it off. Oops.
Ugh...
Fish are fine fortunately.
Softies are doing surprisingly well.
Algae and Cyano are doing fabulous.
Nothing else remains. Snails all died also.
Still struggling with PO4 levels.
I have siphoned like crazy, and added a lot of GFO.
I think there might be phosphates in the rocks leaching out.
Nitrates are basically 0 though now.
What I really need is a few free weekends that are not so hot, for a major rebuild.
I think a major purchase of new equipment might be in order also.
A lot of equipment is up around 12 years old now. It simply does not last forever, especially near salt water.
It is likely no coincidence that I am having so many failures.
rygh
Guest
Any recommendations on a roller-mat brand/model??
Key issues for me:
The Deltec looks pretty good, but is on the high end.
Red sea 1200 looks decent, but lots of parts.
Clarisea (D&D) looks decent, but has a couple of bad reviews.
The Klir seems sketchy and cheap.
Key issues for me:
- Strong and long lasting.
- Easy to find replacement fleece.
The Deltec looks pretty good, but is on the high end.
Red sea 1200 looks decent, but lots of parts.
Clarisea (D&D) looks decent, but has a couple of bad reviews.
The Klir seems sketchy and cheap.
Sorry Bro. That totally sucks.
As for roller mats. I’ve used that German one. I forget the name. It’s the original roller mat. They don’t make it anymore. My advice would be get one with the features that you want and build quality. as for paper. I buy paper on eBay. Coolant paper. I’ve used it for years. It’s cheap if you buy a long roll and cut it down.
As for roller mats. I’ve used that German one. I forget the name. It’s the original roller mat. They don’t make it anymore. My advice would be get one with the features that you want and build quality. as for paper. I buy paper on eBay. Coolant paper. I’ve used it for years. It’s cheap if you buy a long roll and cut it down.
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This is the one I have. I’ve had it since it came to the states. I’ve had it and modded it on 3 different aquariums over 7-8 years ? It’s a work horse. The guy is in Milpitas. Btw. Parts might be hard to get in the future. Brs stopped selling it.
rygh
Guest
It seems the sell the "Compact" Theiling Rollermat still. But not great reviews.Log into Facebook
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This is the one I have. I’ve had it since it came to the states. I’ve had it and modded it on 3 different aquariums over 7-8 years ? It’s a work horse. The guy is in Milpitas. Btw. Parts might be hard to get in the future. Brs stopped selling it.
Leaning heavily toward to Red Sea. Looks like good quality, and it has nice warnings on when you need to change the roll.
Red Sea is the newest set up. It’s been getting good reviews
rygh
Guest
So I had to move the skimmer for the new Rollermat
... and ...
The skimmer controller died.
No idea why. I just moved it a bit. Nothing was wet.
Opened it up, but no obvious fuse or anything burned out or loose.
Fancy Red dragon thing. SECOND time the controller has died now.
Support was OK but slow last time. We shall see this time.
I am a bit tempted to just replace the pump with a Varios or something. It is OLD now.
... and ...
The skimmer controller died.
No idea why. I just moved it a bit. Nothing was wet.
Opened it up, but no obvious fuse or anything burned out or loose.
Fancy Red dragon thing. SECOND time the controller has died now.
Support was OK but slow last time. We shall see this time.
I am a bit tempted to just replace the pump with a Varios or something. It is OLD now.