Skip to the end of the saga: 120 gallon mixed reef is doing great now.
VERY LONG.
My tank history:
My start in salt water began with my taking care of tanks where I taught high school during summer 2021. I had a maintenance guy come once a month. We had to move the tanks in my first year to a different building and we received a donation of a 220 with all the equipment and the livestock. It took us six months to get the 220 set back up. At one point we had a combined 900 gallons of freshwater and saltwater tanks. Then Christmas night of 2022 happened. Due to frozen pipes we experienced a catastrophic flood. My son, husband, and I wearing head lamps managed to save about 80% of the livestock walking around in 3-4” of standing water using brute trash cans and heaters and rolling them to the building next door. It was 17 degrees. We finished up around midnight Christmas night.
We set up the tanks in the corner of the middle school lunch room (2nd tank move) and finished out the year. Summer 2023 we set up again in the renovated high school (3rd move). Christmas day 2023 you guessed it - pipes break again. However this time it was caught and there was very little damage. I retired May 2024.
Set up my very own 120 gallon tank (a deal too great to pass up!) with my maintenance guy April 2024. I am fairly comfy with maintenance, but plumbing intimidates me a little. The system came with a Trigger sump with built in roller mat. It's great as long as it works. I replaced the roller mat motor last year with a newer version. Fast forward to week before Christmas. The motor was in a power loop. Powered on then rebooted, then rebooted etc. Sent an email to Trigger and have yet to hear back. Decided to get a Clarisea ( I had used them on tanks at school).
Reached out to my maintenance guy and he was slammed and going out of town. I spent a week manually pulling the filter roll (when I remembered) while I waited for the Clarisea shipment. Of course I remember after I placed the order that I would need a 1” slip barb since I have soft plumbing. I placed a second order that would arrive Christmas Eve the day after Clarisea.
I couldn't remember if the slip barb into the back of the trigger sump was glued or not? Well, I guess in my investigation and wiggling of the attachment some snails that were in the drain shifted such that the drain stopped keeping up with the pump. I didn't know this until I was plumbing the Clarisea. I noticed that my return chamber was emptying? I stood up and the water was an 1/8” below tank rim. Holy crap! I could not figure out why. Removed stand pipe, tried to clean drain etc. So eventually I left the return pump off, moved the heater into the display and had my WAV pumps going overnight. FYI make sure you remember to move your temperature probe when you move the heater. Ask me how I know…it only got up to 0.5 degrees higher than it should when I caught it.
Christmas eve morning, everything was still alive. I figured WTH, I am going to go ahead and remove the drain hose from the bulkhead. I was screwed anyway since I couldn't figure out the drain issue. The roller mat had arrived the day before but I was waiting on the slip barb.
Well, with my handy dandy heat gun (I paid attention when my maintenance guy worked
) I carefully removed the hose from the bulk head and then from the sump. It wasn’t glued! I now had a slip barb! Oh, and two 1.5” cerith snails and a nassarius snail fell out. Drain problem solved. So I installed my roller mat by myself! I made four small cuts to the tubing before I got the length right. I was terrified I would cut it too short on Chistmas Eve and be SOL.
Everything seems to be working as it should which is great since while I was cleaning up afterward on Christmas eve, I ended up falling on the driveway and almost breaking my hand! Fortunately X-rays yesterday showed no breaks. Remind me why I do this again? I think I will just hibernate next Christmas.
VERY LONG.
My tank history:
My start in salt water began with my taking care of tanks where I taught high school during summer 2021. I had a maintenance guy come once a month. We had to move the tanks in my first year to a different building and we received a donation of a 220 with all the equipment and the livestock. It took us six months to get the 220 set back up. At one point we had a combined 900 gallons of freshwater and saltwater tanks. Then Christmas night of 2022 happened. Due to frozen pipes we experienced a catastrophic flood. My son, husband, and I wearing head lamps managed to save about 80% of the livestock walking around in 3-4” of standing water using brute trash cans and heaters and rolling them to the building next door. It was 17 degrees. We finished up around midnight Christmas night.
We set up the tanks in the corner of the middle school lunch room (2nd tank move) and finished out the year. Summer 2023 we set up again in the renovated high school (3rd move). Christmas day 2023 you guessed it - pipes break again. However this time it was caught and there was very little damage. I retired May 2024.
Set up my very own 120 gallon tank (a deal too great to pass up!) with my maintenance guy April 2024. I am fairly comfy with maintenance, but plumbing intimidates me a little. The system came with a Trigger sump with built in roller mat. It's great as long as it works. I replaced the roller mat motor last year with a newer version. Fast forward to week before Christmas. The motor was in a power loop. Powered on then rebooted, then rebooted etc. Sent an email to Trigger and have yet to hear back. Decided to get a Clarisea ( I had used them on tanks at school).
Reached out to my maintenance guy and he was slammed and going out of town. I spent a week manually pulling the filter roll (when I remembered) while I waited for the Clarisea shipment. Of course I remember after I placed the order that I would need a 1” slip barb since I have soft plumbing. I placed a second order that would arrive Christmas Eve the day after Clarisea.
I couldn't remember if the slip barb into the back of the trigger sump was glued or not? Well, I guess in my investigation and wiggling of the attachment some snails that were in the drain shifted such that the drain stopped keeping up with the pump. I didn't know this until I was plumbing the Clarisea. I noticed that my return chamber was emptying? I stood up and the water was an 1/8” below tank rim. Holy crap! I could not figure out why. Removed stand pipe, tried to clean drain etc. So eventually I left the return pump off, moved the heater into the display and had my WAV pumps going overnight. FYI make sure you remember to move your temperature probe when you move the heater. Ask me how I know…it only got up to 0.5 degrees higher than it should when I caught it.
Christmas eve morning, everything was still alive. I figured WTH, I am going to go ahead and remove the drain hose from the bulkhead. I was screwed anyway since I couldn't figure out the drain issue. The roller mat had arrived the day before but I was waiting on the slip barb.
Well, with my handy dandy heat gun (I paid attention when my maintenance guy worked
) I carefully removed the hose from the bulk head and then from the sump. It wasn’t glued! I now had a slip barb! Oh, and two 1.5” cerith snails and a nassarius snail fell out. Drain problem solved. So I installed my roller mat by myself! I made four small cuts to the tubing before I got the length right. I was terrified I would cut it too short on Chistmas Eve and be SOL.Everything seems to be working as it should which is great since while I was cleaning up afterward on Christmas eve, I ended up falling on the driveway and almost breaking my hand! Fortunately X-rays yesterday showed no breaks. Remind me why I do this again? I think I will just hibernate next Christmas.
