Tunze Osmolator stuck on overnight (3152)

[JayFish4004]

My tunze osmolator nano (3152 not 3155) stuck on overnight - thankfully they built in the 1.8min auto-shutoff mechanism or this would’ve been worse.

Whats odd to me is the salinity didn’t go down at all in my 20gallon tank - stayed at 1.025 even though a good amount of rodi water got added to my back chamber.

I have not cleaned the sensor and sensor casing in the year I’ve had it, and I think that is my issue so going to clean today. Any advice on cleaning these?

 

[blaxsun]

I soak my gear in EzeClean (or equivalent), alternating between light brushing with a soft bristle toothbrush and additional baths as needed.

 

[JayFish4004]

I soak my gear in EzeClean (or equivalent), alternating between light brushing with a soft bristle toothbrush and additional baths as needed.

How often would you recommend before replacing a Tunze? I know the BRS guys are big on the one year mark but that seems excessive for this device - I feel like 2-3 years would work with proper cleaning but not sure.

 

[blaxsun]

How often would you recommend before replacing a Tunze? I know the BRS guys are big on the one year mark but that seems excessive for this device - I feel like 2-3 years would work with proper cleaning but not sure.

Until it fails or becomes unreliable. It's probably the sensors, but you won't know until they're all cleaned up. Tunze gear generally lasts a long time.

 

[JayFish4004]

Until it fails or becomes unreliable. It's probably the sensors, but you won't know until they're all cleaned up. Tunze gear generally lasts a long time.

I’m almost sure its the sensor casing - there are a few of those little hardened tiny white dots in there and I’m assuming the float sensor got caught up on one of those - now realizing it is imperative to ensure that casing stays free of debris. I got lucky this wasn’t worse.

 

[pecan2phat]

Interesting, I have the full size version 3155 and almost never clean the optical sensor. It's in 3 different systems and at least 3 years since I've ran a toothbrush across any of the 3 sensors.

 

[JayFish4004]

Interesting, I have the full size version 3155 and almost never clean the optical sensor. It's in 3 different systems and at least 3 years since I've ran a toothbrush across any of the 3 sensors.

I can’t trust doing the full size Tunze in my 20gal - the nano version’s auto-shutoff feature at 1.8min is too clutch as I found out today. The nano uses a float switch vs optical sensors.

 

[Reef.]

You need to check how you are testing your salinity as it would 100% have dropped.

 

[piranhaman00]

You need to check how you are testing your salinity as it would 100% have dropped.

Actually not necessarily, the rodi is less dense than saltwater and would float. If the tank was overflowing it would have been mostly rodi water.

Always keep ato on timer for this reason.

 

[EricR]

I have the Nano Osmolator also and have never cleaned the float in the 5 months I've had it so interesting to hear what you end up doing.

FWIW, Tunze spec shows about 0.4 gallons pumped for the 1.4 minute shut-off so that's a pretty small percentage of your overall 25 gallon water capacity,,, so not surprised if you didn't see noticeable salinity drop.

 

[JayFish4004]

You need to check how you are testing your salinity as it would 100% have dropped.

I thought so too but my Hanna Checker is pretty spot on and I can compare it against some of my mixed salt. It didn’t drop hardly at all but I immediately filled up some mixed saltwater to offset a bit but even so without the offset it didn’t drop much which surprised me. It maybe went from upper end of 1.025 to lower end of 1.025 - didn’t drop more than .001 though.

 

[JayFish4004]

I have the Nano Osmolator also and have never cleaned the float in the 5 months I've had it so interesting to hear what you end up doing.

FWIW, Tunze spec shows about 0.4 gallons pumped for the 1.4 minute shut-off so that's a pretty small percentage of your overall 25 gallon water capacity,,, so not surprised if you didn't see noticeable salinity drop.

I think what I’ll end up doing this time around is a mix of white vinegar and water - let it soak for 10-15min and brush off the debris in the casing. I’ll update here once I finish up.

I’ll probably get some EzeClean for next time around but probably don’t have time to wait for that to arrive.

 

[JayFish4004]

I have the Nano Osmolator also and have never cleaned the float in the 5 months I've had it so interesting to hear what you end up doing.

FWIW, Tunze spec shows about 0.4 gallons pumped for the 1.4 minute shut-off so that's a pretty small percentage of your overall 25 gallon water capacity,,, so not surprised if you didn't see noticeable salinity drop.

It feels good to know that even worst case failing on it won’t destroy everything. It was a scary moment seeing that back chamber filled up for sure.

It is super crucial to always keep a couple 1 gallon jugs of pre-mixed water handy for times like these - just fill up beyond the topoff point to offset - this also comes in handy if you’re working on bringing salinity up.

 

[Reef.]

Actually not necessarily, the rodi is less dense than saltwater and would float. If the tank was overflowing it would have been mostly rodi water.

Always keep ato on timer for this reason.

Are you joking, if the op has no return or power heads you may be making a reasonable response…not really helping the op as his salinity will be lower in the real world.

 

[JayFish4004]

Are you joking, if the op has no return or power heads you may be making a reasonable response…not really helping the op as his salinity will be lower in the real world.

It definitely lowered it but hardly at all and it was easy and quick to rebound from. Essentially 20 gallons of 1.025 got diluted with .4 gallons of rodi. I don’t want to do the math but I can’t imagine it was that impactful. If there was no auto-shutoff mechanism or if I had the auto-shutoff set to 3min instead of 1.8 I would definitely be singing a different tune right now as that would have added a full gallon of rodi.

 

[JayFish4004]

Are you joking, if the op has no return or power heads you may be making a reasonable response…not really helping the op as his salinity will be lower in the real world.

This calculator illustrates that - 1.025 drops to 1.0245 in this scenario so that would add up to what I’m seeing.

Resulting Salinity Calculator

Aquarium calculator; Estimate the resulting change in salinity when water is added, replaced, or evaporated.

www.hamzasreef.com

 

[piranhaman00]

Are you joking, if the op has no return or power heads you may be making a reasonable response…not really helping the op as his salinity will be lower in the real world.

Apparently in the real world it is not good assumption

 

[Reef.]

Apparently in the real world it is not good assumption

The salinity would lower in your silly example or in the real world.

 

[Reef.]

I thought so too but my Hanna Checker is pretty spot on and I can compare it against some of my mixed salt. It didn’t drop hardly at all but I immediately filled up some mixed saltwater to offset a bit but even so without the offset it didn’t drop much which surprised me. It maybe went from upper end of 1.025 to lower end of 1.025 - didn’t drop more than .001 though.

That’s good if you are sure of your salinity, my comment was because you originally said it hadn’t dropped, which made me question your testing method.

 

[piranhaman00]

The salinity would lower in your silly example or in the real world.

That’s good if you are sure of your salinity, my comment was because you originally said it hadn’t dropped, which made me question your testing method.

oh yes , very good, you meant that it would drop 0.0005. 100% dropped 0.0005 which is well within error of any instrument. Glad op double checked!!