Welcome to our Marine Aquarium

Aquarium Setups and Livestock - Visual Checking

Here are some general instructions that we provide for a house sitter when we take a holiday and leave for more than one night. This helps them do simple health checks of the aquarium system, and be able to provide further information to any aquarium specialist who is called in for emergency trouble shooting.

We have two tanks running that require attention – both downstairs, the recreation room tank (the 375 gallon) and the laundry quarantine room tank (a 72 gallon bowfront tank.

The 375 gallon tank also has auxiliary water systems which support the fish tank, providing replacement for evaporated water, water filtering, heating, and cooling as required. These functions are fully automated but it's always good to look in on them.

The support system is comprised of three main components;

a refugium in the downstairs closet under the staircase (picture shown at left below),
a sump under the 375 gallon tank in the recreation room (picture shown in the center below, and
a replacement water system in the furnace room downstairs (picture shown at right below)

Quick Check

check that the lights are on. All of them are on between noon and 10:00pm ... some come on earlier and some stay on later.
check that pump and fan noises can be heard and water circulation is evident
check that water is not leaking or pooled on the floor (an alarm system may signal this as well)
check that the fish look active
if all is well, that's it for the visual check. Further detailed notes and responses are provided below

Water Systems

With many fittings, lengths of tubing, and water containers, there is the possibility of a water leak. However, the overall system has been installed for over 5 years with no failures (other than human forgetfulness), so the likelihood of a major leak is small.

To help detect any leaks before they get out of control, there are four alarms placed in areas of likely water accumulation; one in the refugium room (on the floor to the left and right of the refugium), one in the sump area (on the floor in front of the right hand container), one in the furnace room, and one behind the quarantine aquarium. Should one of these go off, you'll hear it throughout the house. To turn it off, take the sensor out of the water, and dry it.

For water in the sump area, take the following actions:

the likely cause of water spill is a plugged filter sock. Simply untie the sock and put it in the sink ... you're done
if the water source is from somewhere else, turn off the powerbar in the second doorway under the 375 gallon aquarium (the switch is on the right end and will be glowing red - assuming there's not also a power failure)
turn the feeding timers to 2 hours to turn off additional pumps
pull out the three plugs in the bottom two outlets
give us a call for further diagnosis, or the locally designated backup individual in the event that we can't be reached within 2 hours

For water in the refugium area, take the following actions:

a common cause of water spill is a plugged filter sock. Simply untie the sock and put it on the in the sink ... you're done
if the water source is from somewhere else, return to the feeding timer area, and disconnect the top plug in each of the bottom two outlets (labelled refugium supply)
if the leak is occurring from the skimmer, disconnect its pump power, and that part of the filtering system will shut down, and the water will drain back into the refugium
give us a call for further diagnosis, or the locally designated backup individual in the event that we can't be reached within 2 hours

For water in the furnace area, take the following actions:

disconnect the power from the two pumps in the room
return to the sump area, and turn off the red water handle to the upper right of the sump doorway (inside, under the sink)
give us a call for further diagnosis, or the locally designated backup individual in the event that we can't be reached within 2 hours

For a water leak from the 72 gallon bowfront tank, determine which device is the problem, and disconnect its power plug

Lighting Systems

Between noon and 10:00 pm, the lights on the 375 gallon tank should be on. The 72 gallon bowfront lights will only be operating if there are fish being quarantined. The lights are controlled by timers, and in the event that they stop working, as long as the other systems are operating (i.e. a power failure has not occurred on one of the power circuits), the ambient lighting from the windows will suffice for a couple weeks. Keep the blinds open to improve the natural lighting level in the tank.

Power Systems

Assuming that the power outage is not the whole neighbourhood, check the breaker box on the wall beside the deep freezer downstairs, and switch on any that have tripped.

If a neighbourhood wide outage has occurred, you will simply need to ride it out, and the aquarium systems will restart when the power resumes. Should this happen, you will also notice that a stream of air bubbles will begin in the 375 gallon tank ... this helps maintain the oxygen content of the water.

Tank Occupants

should any of the fish show sluggish eating, the addition of a couple drops of Kent Garlic into the food (located on the stove counter) is recommended. This will help trigger the feeding instinct, and hopefully turn things around.
the 375 gallon tank has fish that clean each other, and this will also help to control or slow down the advance of any disease breakouts that might occur during our absence. However, should any fish die, just scoop it out and throw it into the garbage (a net from the refugium room may be required to reach the bottom of the tank). Those things happen ...

Emergency Support

edited out

Pansy-Paws

Presenting a Chow Chow's perspective

Aquarium Setups and Livestock - Visual Checking