To Dream Is To Believe…

S

shrimpy brains

Guest
Um...yea....WOW! *smiley with eyes poppin' out*
 

joerdie

Member
Every year or so I stumble onto this guys site. I always end up drooling and reading the entire thing again.
 

jackri

Active Member
His system crashed about a year ago. He started back up with a coldwater system. I have the link to another forum of what happened but it's sitting in my e-mail as I have yet to read it. Very sad to hear it crashed though.
 

scsinet

Active Member
Originally Posted by jackri
http:///forum/post/3150970
His system crashed about a year ago. He started back up with a coldwater system. I have the link to another forum of what happened but it's sitting in my e-mail as I have yet to read it. Very sad to hear it crashed though.
The story I've heard is this...
He had his protein skimmer's drain line plumbed straight to the sewer line in his house. One day he did a water change and left the house shortly afterwards for a while. While he was gone, the skimmer responded to a change in water chemistry as a result of the water change and started going crazy, draining lots of water. The ATO was hooked right up to an RODI unit, which started putting huge amounts of fresh water into the tank, causing a salinity drop and subsequent crash.
I can't remember where I heard that, but I think it was a reasonably reliable source.
 

life~reefer

Member
Originally Posted by SCSInet
http:///forum/post/3151241
The story I've heard is this...
He had his protein skimmer's drain line plumbed straight to the sewer line in his house. One day he did a water change and left the house shortly afterwards for a while. While he was gone, the skimmer responded to a change in water chemistry as a result of the change and started going crazy, draining lots of water. The ATO was hooked right up to an RODI unit, which started putting huge amounts of fresh water into the tank, causing a salinity drop and subsequent crash.
I can't remember where I heard that, but I think it was a reasonably reliable source.
That's what I heard
 

cranberry

Active Member
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.
 

big

Active Member
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.
I second that, it is just too painful to think of that kind of loss....
 

sikpupy

Member
That was a crazy move! I would have just gathered up all the water I could from the sump, filled the tank up as much as I could and let her go till the RODI came back on!? Hmmm.........
 

cranberry

Active Member
The sump was emptied by the skimmer......
It would have taken him a couple of days to make enough RO/DI to make enough SW to replace the 200g lost. He had zero backup water (not sure where his reserves were... I don't remember that part).
 

big

Active Member
Originally Posted by Cranberry
http:///forum/post/3151394
The sump was emptied by the skimmer......
It would have taken him a couple of days to make enough RO/DI to make enough SW to replace the 200g lost. He had zero backup water (not sure where his reserves were... I don't remember that part).
Yes I do think having ready back up water is something many of us fall short on........ It is always a good idea to have it on hand......I try but ofter fail here too.
 

bullitr

Active Member
Steve weast had the best tank 3 years ago and now david saxby currently is the best but in a year ching chai will take the crown hands down because of his attention to details
 

bullitr

Active Member
Steve weast had the best tank 3 years ago and now david saxby currently have the best but in a year, ching chai will take the crown hands down because of his attention to details.His built was translated to english ,thai,spanish,german and more.his tank is only 2 weeks old and A lot of reefer including me will have to stop by thailand just to see his tank.
This is just my opinion
PS Steve weast will built another tank according to his email after his contract is done
"Life is too short for a bad wine"- ching chai
 

steveweast

Member
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.
 
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