The One Piece of Tank Maintenance That If You Aren’t Doing, Could Cost You Your Tank
If you have a reef ready tank with a built in overflow, make sure you check and clean your your down pipe breather tube regularly! (If you run a hang on the back overflow box, you’re insane)
I awoke at 2am this morning to the sound of a pump running dry and I ran down the hallway to my tank to find my sump running below half full. It turned out that the breather tube that vents air into the down pipe (see pic) was clogged so very little water was getting from my tank to my sump.
I quickly heated up some RO/DI in the microwave and poured it into the tube to clean out what was blocking the flow of air. 5 minutes later, everything is back to normal including my heart rate.
Checking downpipes and especially their breather vents is an essential part of tank maintenance and if you aren’t doing it regularly, add it to your routine to avoid overflows and a lost tank! Learn from my mistake and (almost) disaster!
Browse the Store! Questions?
How often would you say to clean the vent to your overflow?
Jesse…toothbrush
I run a 120 gal. I have 1 1/2″ durso through the bottom w/ a Weir. Two returns at 1″. I have 3 airlines going into my durso cap. Every 2-3 minutes, I get a small back flush. Thinking about adding a 4th to see if it corrects the problem. Good idea on keeping an eye on them. Use clear tubing so you can see if they clog.