Originally Posted by
Cranberry
http:///forum/post/3151362
I remember when this crashed. He cleaned the skimmer and left the house. The now clean skimmer overskimmed and emptied something like 200g from his sump. He had no RODI made saltwater to replace it and used dechlorinated tap water. The next morning the tank was dead.
I would have walked away from the whole hobby at that point.
This part of the episode is somewhat correct.....this is what happened next...
1) upon returning at midnight on a Saturday night, I came across an empty sump.....which meant no aeration (from the skimmer) or chilling capabilities for the main tank.
2) It would take about 250 gals to resume operation.
3) I believed my only option was to use straight tap since I water changed the day before and had no RO water on hand.
4) Even though our local tap water is quite good and seldom is chlorinated, I decided to use a multi year old bottle of dechlorinator that I had on hand.
5) Tank dead next day.
6) dechlorinator probably morphed into something toxic over the years that I had it.
7) Should have just tried to keep the tank oxygenated through manual means or use the small air pump that I had on hand for the 2 days that it would take to make enough water.
8) on the next system, I'll make sure that I have a higher/faster water making ability.