Flood from skimmer

BakedLano92

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At work when I receive a call from my girlfriend who tells me the house is flooded. I have a 28 jbj nano. My reef octopus ns80 hang on the skimmer waste goes into a 16oz water bottle when it collects. Well the airline got clogged and yeah you get where that is going.

Tell my boss I gotta go home because my house is flooded. In however long it drained the back compartment overflow dry due to the water not overflowing. Dumped about 3 gallons of top off water into the tank. My girlfriend tried to add to ro water to try and stop the pumps from burning out that was about 2-3 gallons. Anyways salt is usually 1.025-26. Come home measure it with a refractor and it's about 1.015. If not lower because the water my girlfriend added didnt even cycle through because it wasnt going into the overflow. I really dont know how much water was pumped out. But it was a lot. On the way home told her to cut the power. And here I am now.

My question is how bad is it that big of a swing happen in salanity How quickly do I raise the salt back up? What should I mix the water to? What should i expect to lose? Tank is mainly LPS and zoas. I have a 3 spa coral. Cats paw, birdsnet and monti cap.
 

Crabs McJones

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At work when I receive a call from my girlfriend who tells me the house is flooded. I have a 28 jbj nano. My reef octopus ns80 hang on the skimmer waste goes into a 16oz water bottle when it collects. Well the airline got clogged and yeah you get where that is going.

Tell my boss I gotta go home because my house is flooded. In however long it drained the back compartment overflow dry due to the water not overflowing. Dumped about 3 gallons of top off water into the tank. My girlfriend tried to add to ro water to try and stop the pumps from burning out that was about 2-3 gallons. Anyways salt is usually 1.025-26. Come home measure it with a refractor and it's about 1.015. If not lower because the water my girlfriend added didnt even cycle through because it wasnt going into the overflow. I really dont know how much water was pumped out. But it was a lot. On the way home told her to cut the power. And here I am now.

My question is how bad is it that big of a swing happen in salanity How quickly do I raise the salt back up? What should I mix the water to? What should i expect to lose? Tank is mainly LPS and zoas. I have a 3 spa coral. Cats paw, birdsnet and monti cap.
Mix up saltwater to the desired salinity you want, and add it in slowly. Remove your lower salinity water, and add back in your higher salinity water. Add whatever you need to get the tanks water level back to where it needs to be, but then after that, remove a small amount, and replace it with higher salinity water every couple hours until you get it back up to where you need.
 
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BakedLano92

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Those swings in salanity spread over hours will do no harm in the tank? Just as long as its gradual? I got water back in. Salt is at 1.22 or so. Is high salt worst than low salt?
 

Crabs McJones

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Those swings in salanity spread over hours will do no harm in the tank? Just as long as its gradual? I got water back in. Salt is at 1.22 or so. Is high salt worst than low salt?
Major salinity swings either high or low over a short period of time is bad, so you want to slowly bring it back up to where you want it. Generally 1.026 SG
 

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As Arthur Dent might say... Don't Panic.

You've already done the bad... lowering salinity quickly by adding freshwater to make up spilled salt. Once again, don't panic. Mix up regular strength salt water and do small water changes until it gets back to normal... slowly. Crabs has it right. 1.022 isn't going to hurt anything. I know of fish stores that maintain a lower salinity than that constantly, on their non-reef systems. Your animals have already been stressed by dropping rapidly. Don't stress them again by raising it rapidly. Slow and steady. If it takes a few days to get it back where it should be, no problem.

Next I'd address the reason for the problem. AutoAqua makes a stand alone skimmer shutoff... put the sensor in your collection cup, and if it's full, it'll shut down the skimmer. Seems like $60 well spent to me.
 
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BakedLano92

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Thank you for the reply. If anyone is wondering. This is a super effective way to change your water. Almost crash your tank and potentially lose your security deposit on your apartment!

-lonnnnggg sigh-
 
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BakedLano92

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As Arthur Dent might say... Don't Panic.

You've already done the bad... lowering salinity quickly by adding freshwater to make up spilled salt. Once again, don't panic. Mix up regular strength salt water and do small water changes until it gets back to normal... slowly. Crabs has it right. 1.022 isn't going to hurt anything. I know of fish stores that maintain a lower salinity than that constantly, on their non-reef systems. Your animals have already been stressed by dropping rapidly. Don't stress them again by raising it rapidly. Slow and steady. If it takes a few days to get it back where it should be, no problem.

Next I'd address the reason for the problem. AutoAqua makes a stand alone skimmer shutoff... put the sensor in your collection cup, and if it's full, it'll shut down the skimmer. Seems like $60 well spent to me.
Yeah found the reason it happened. Water got in the airline and salt dried up and clogged it up. Replaced the airline with a longer better quality airline and did a good cleaning on the skimmer.
 

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