Public Service Announcement: Clean your overflow...

zanemoseley · 05/03/2006, 03:35 PM

Well last night I was cleaning my pumps which lead to scraping the glass which lead me to decide to scrape out the coraline and small amount of green mat algea from the inside box of the Lifereef overflow. Well there was so much that it ended up partially clogging the U tube. So I shut it down and syphoned out all the stuff in the box and removed the U tube for cleaning which was mainly coraline. Well my tank is pretty close to the wall so I normally don't see the outside portion of the overflow. I decided to reach in there to see what I could grab out. A huge chunk of coraline came off but I really couldn't get my hand in there. I took off the compact durso and it looked like tubeworms had been having an orgy on it for the last year as it was covered with these really thin looking tubeworms. So i put that in vinegar. When i reached my hand in the larger portion of the outside box I couldn't believe it, there was TONS of stuff in there. So I squeezed off the outside box, there was so much stuff in there. The chamber where the U tube flows water into was housing like 15 aptasia and I only have like 10 aptasia in my whole tank. The larger chamber had like .5" of junk in the bottom of it. I poured pure vinegar in both chambers and let it sit for 15 minutes or so and its good now.

Moral of the story is don't forget about cleaning your overflow. Mine may have broken syphon in another couple months if left unchecked. I have the sump set up where it probably wouldn't flood the main tank much but would probably kill my return pump. To make my night worse when reinstalling it I overtightened the nylon bolt and broke it leaving me without a skimmer, cal reactor or heater for the night before getting another at lowes today.

Johnsteph10 · 05/03/2006, 05:33 PM

I used to have a dual lifereef several years ago - it was incredible just how much stuff would accumulate/grow in there. I would literally have 100s of stomatellas, feather dusters, and all kinds of algae in there.

It had more critters than my refugium!

By the way, is that a pink mille in your avatar? It is beautiful!

zanemoseley · 05/03/2006, 06:44 PM

Yup its an ORA Scripps Milli. Unfortunately its pretty hard to get it to keep that color. Its not nealy that pink now. Its also very easy to break.

05/03/2006, 03:35 PM	#1
zanemoseley Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cookeville, TN Posts: 2,023	Public Service Announcement: Clean your overflow... Well last night I was cleaning my pumps which lead to scraping the glass which lead me to decide to scrape out the coraline and small amount of green mat algea from the inside box of the Lifereef overflow. Well there was so much that it ended up partially clogging the U tube. So I shut it down and syphoned out all the stuff in the box and removed the U tube for cleaning which was mainly coraline. Well my tank is pretty close to the wall so I normally don't see the outside portion of the overflow. I decided to reach in there to see what I could grab out. A huge chunk of coraline came off but I really couldn't get my hand in there. I took off the compact durso and it looked like tubeworms had been having an orgy on it for the last year as it was covered with these really thin looking tubeworms. So i put that in vinegar. When i reached my hand in the larger portion of the outside box I couldn't believe it, there was TONS of stuff in there. So I squeezed off the outside box, there was so much stuff in there. The chamber where the U tube flows water into was housing like 15 aptasia and I only have like 10 aptasia in my whole tank. The larger chamber had like .5" of junk in the bottom of it. I poured pure vinegar in both chambers and let it sit for 15 minutes or so and its good now. Moral of the story is don't forget about cleaning your overflow. Mine may have broken syphon in another couple months if left unchecked. I have the sump set up where it probably wouldn't flood the main tank much but would probably kill my return pump. To make my night worse when reinstalling it I overtightened the nylon bolt and broke it leaving me without a skimmer, cal reactor or heater for the night before getting another at lowes today.

05/03/2006, 05:33 PM	#2
Johnsteph10 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: The South Posts: 2,537	I used to have a dual lifereef several years ago - it was incredible just how much stuff would accumulate/grow in there. I would literally have 100s of stomatellas, feather dusters, and all kinds of algae in there. It had more critters than my refugium! By the way, is that a pink mille in your avatar? It is beautiful! __________________ John Current Tank Info: None

05/03/2006, 06:44 PM	#3
zanemoseley Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cookeville, TN Posts: 2,023	Yup its an ORA Scripps Milli. Unfortunately its pretty hard to get it to keep that color. Its not nealy that pink now. Its also very easy to break.