Overnight Disaster!!!

[mpjmeyer]

Went to bed last night with water levels perfect and protein skimmer just under the black cup to break in. ATO was NOT plugged in. Woke up to an overflowing refugium!!!

Where did this water come from?!!





I just siphoned about 8 gallons from the tank to get water level back to normal

 

[mikenestle]

Did it back siphon because the ato wasn't plugged in possibly?

 

[jenreefer]

Was the ATO hose in the tank? Check you salinity ASAP to see where it is.

 

[AndrewNC]

Did it back siphon because the ato wasn't plugged in possibly?

That's what I was thinking

 

[mpjmeyer]

It HAS to be the ato siphon because I noticed when I got water back down, water was coming out. I had to pull pump out of resevoir. But how did water get that high in first place to back siphon?

 

[jsker]

Dumb question time
did the tank level change?
what was the levels of the referendum before?

 

[mpjmeyer]

The end of the ato hose is about 5" from water level

 

[mpjmeyer]

Levels were right here


Where it says water level. It's higher now because I turned everything off to clean up

 

[mpjmeyer]

How would the water level rise by itself 5" to reach that tube?

 

[mpjmeyer]

Here's salt level

 

[jenreefer]

adjust your salinity ASAP. I am not sure how it back siphoned, but it did. Do you have small children who might have knocked the hose causing it to dip into the water? Or maybe it slipped in on its own.
I am sorry for your issues. The goal now should be to test the water and carefully adjust to make sure tank stabilizes. Do not raise salinity too fast or fish will suffer for it.

Oh, just saw your last post. Salinity looks fine? is that before any adjustments?

 

[mpjmeyer]

Good news is last night was first night firing it up so absolutey no livestock. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for the flood of 2017 in my basement. I have most of it vacuumed up and a fan blowing on the carpet in the room. All valves are off and pumps so I can see. That has to be the ONLY explanation. But I have no idea how it rised in first place....unless apex turned return pump off for some reason

 

[mpjmeyer]

 

[mpjmeyer]

Heres for the protein skimmer

 

[jwilliams860]

Is the refugium the black box to the right? It looks like there is an emergency drain in the back left upper corner? is that correct? did it not work properly?

 

[mpjmeyer]

Im sorry, I meant Sump was overflowing...not refugium

 

[Brew12]

Don't confuse the term siphon with back siphon. If your ATO water is higher than your sump level or the empty end of the fill tube, you can create a siphon that will continue filling the tank even if the pump is off.
A back siphon would be water flowing from your tank back into your ATO water container. This is prevented by having the fill tube above the water level.

 

[mpjmeyer]

My first step is to mount the ato water line completely off the sump...maybe attach it to the drain pipes above the sump. Then I need to mess with the pumps to see how the level could have rose like that.

 

[mpjmeyer]

What is "defer time" on my skimmer settings? I'm new to apex and learning as much as I can as I go

 

[Brew12]

My first step is to mount the ato water line completely off the sump...maybe attach it to the drain pipes above the sump. Then I need to mess with the pumps to see how the level could have rose like that.

Two easy ways to fix this. First, have the discharge from the ATO water line above the maximum level of the water level in the ATO container. This will prevent a siphon.
You could also change to a peristaltic pump for your ATO system. These are positive displacement pumps that block water from flowing if the pump isn't turning.