I am in the process of breaking down my mixed reef 125 and starting from scratch. I have moved all of my livestock with some of my live rock and a little sand from the tank to a 100 gal. stock tank. As I was breaking down the old tank, which has been running for 10 years, since I moved it from a fellow reefer, who had been running it for 7 years. When I purchased it I cleaned it really good and set it up just as it had been. It never cycled as I moved everything wet and used his existing sand and rock as well as the majority of his water.
Fast forward to now. Part of the reason for breaking it down was a couple of corner seems had algae that was growing behind the silicon on the glass, not into the joint. So I figured I would reseal the whole tank since it was going to be dry. In order to do that, the corner overflows needed to be removed to access all the seams. As everyone probably knows the overflows have an inside liner and an outside shell. There is about a 1/2" gap between the two shells, this gap is fed by the bottom inlet "screen" and then the water comes up and over the weir, along with the water coming over the top overflow screen. Well on my overflow the gap between the shells was filled with calcium deposits. /to the point that no water was flowing up the gap. I do not have a picture right now of the build up but, each overflow had at least 3 lbs. of build up in it. It is the same thing that was on the drain and return pipes that run withing the overflow box.
![20180816_120607[1].jpg](https://www.reef2reef.com/attachments/20180816_120607-1-jpg.815096/ "20180816_120607[1].jpg")
So my question is how do I keep this from happening again? I am thinking most of us do not tear our tanks down every few years and clean the overflows with muratic acid.
Incidentally, if any one is trying to remove an overflow, a piece of leader wire/piano wire is a great tool for the job. Just attach one end to a short dowel to protect your hand and tie the other end to a long dowel so that it can push the wire to the bottom of the inside or your over flow. Then using the handle and long dowel just work the wire between the glass and the overflow.
Fast forward to now. Part of the reason for breaking it down was a couple of corner seems had algae that was growing behind the silicon on the glass, not into the joint. So I figured I would reseal the whole tank since it was going to be dry. In order to do that, the corner overflows needed to be removed to access all the seams. As everyone probably knows the overflows have an inside liner and an outside shell. There is about a 1/2" gap between the two shells, this gap is fed by the bottom inlet "screen" and then the water comes up and over the weir, along with the water coming over the top overflow screen. Well on my overflow the gap between the shells was filled with calcium deposits. /to the point that no water was flowing up the gap. I do not have a picture right now of the build up but, each overflow had at least 3 lbs. of build up in it. It is the same thing that was on the drain and return pipes that run withing the overflow box.
So my question is how do I keep this from happening again? I am thinking most of us do not tear our tanks down every few years and clean the overflows with muratic acid.
Incidentally, if any one is trying to remove an overflow, a piece of leader wire/piano wire is a great tool for the job. Just attach one end to a short dowel to protect your hand and tie the other end to a long dowel so that it can push the wire to the bottom of the inside or your over flow. Then using the handle and long dowel just work the wire between the glass and the overflow.
