Disaster. It was just a matter of time I guess!!!!!!

dgasmd · 03-02-2003, 04:33 PM

Well, I woke up this morning, walked the dogs, went into my main office where most of the high deals and major planning of my life occurs: the bathroom in front of the stair to the basement where my tank is. As I got into some heavy thinking, I realize that there was something odd. Everything was very quiet. Why can't I hear the gurgling of the overflow in the tank? I pinched that thought, did some quick cleaning (I know it is a lot more than you wanted to know), and ran downstairs.

As I walked into the basement, I realized a couple of things: the water is completely calm, the carpet is completely soaked, there is no noise from the equipment in the garage, and the freaking tank has overflowed!!!! I run to the garage to check the equipment and notice a few more things: the garage floor is completely full of water, the sump is bone dry, and all the pumps are dead (iwaki 100 for skimmer, iwaki 30 and iwaki 40 for returns, AmpMaster 3000 for close loop, and mag 18 for the UV filter). I run back inside to check the circuit box and both of the 20 amp dedicated circuits had tripped. I take a step back, take a deep breath, and go into mental DEFCON 5. First things first. Why did the tank overflow in the first place and then drain all 70 gal of water from the sump? I get a ladder and see what happened. One of the 2 bags of ChemiPure I had added a couple of days ago to "try them out" had been sucked into the overflow box's drain pipe and blocked it off completely. It is a 1 1/2" pipe for god's sake!!!! I take the thing out and proceed to go to the garage to dry out all the stuff, which is now soaking wet including the wires and plugs for most thigns.

I first checked the status of the living things in the tank. The fish seemed to be swiming around, the temp had gone down to 78 from 80 baseline (not bad at all), but the pH was 7.91 from a baseline of 8.1 at night (likely the Ca reactor had backed flow into the sump). After I was done with the drying, I proceeded to put 30 gal of salt water I had just made last night into the sump to at least be able to run the return pumps. That is if they were not all burned from running dry for god only knows how long. I reset the circuit breakers I started to plug things back up one by one to make sure if I came to something that was still wet inside I wouldn't cause fire or electrocute myself in the process (or both). All pumps except for the mag 18 worked fine. Everything worked. Lights have not come on yet, so I can't comment on that. To say I was angry, sad, and other things is a huge understatement. 12 years with fish tanks and this was my first disaster. The worst part is that it was something that stupid that I should have seen it coming a mile away that caused it.

We are back in bussiness now, but I can tell you I have learned a lot of things here, most of which I will apply when I re-do the entire thing in one year after I move. I also believe I didn't have much worse problems because I had taken so many precautions already. This is what I have learned and a lot I already do:

-put all your ballasts as far off the ground as possible.
-do not have anything electric touching the floor.
-make sure all the plug-ins are off the ground and at least have a u loop before them in case they get wet.
-cover all electrical plug-in with some form of plastic so water can't get to them
-have at least one separate pump connected to a different circuit.
-place all electrical connections on GCFI
-place all electrical connections in the opposite side of the room where all the pipes and water connections are and place them off the ground
-make it a habit of checking ALL equipment for function and performance once in the AM and once in the PM. This I have done religiously.
-have a spare pump, timer, and heater available
-always keep some saltwater made for a water change
-have a wet/dry vac available. At least know the neighbor that has one.
-have some towels available that you use for the tank only.
- do not place anything that you won't mind loosing on the same floor as the tank and equipment is ever. Yes, I mean ever. My computer's hard drive could have been completly toasted!

I am sure there is a couple of hundred tips I could write here, but I need to go back to damage control.

I guess this proves we are not bulletproof afterall!!!!!

**Ninong** · 03-02-2003, 04:44 PM

Good luck restarting everything. Good thing it happened while you were home to catch it and not while you were out of town for a few days.

tendar · 03-02-2003, 05:06 PM

Well from the way it sounds over all everyhting is good other than wet floors and a dead mag18.
So what you are saying is no ones tank is full proof from over flows. I dont like that idea dang it.

dgasmd · 03-02-2003, 05:12 PM

Actually, what I was trying to say was that even when you plan and plan and think everything that could go wrong has been planned and accounted for, it isn't. I would have never imagine that the overflow had such a sucking power that would pick up a chamipure bag sitting 2 feet below it in the overflow box. I would ahve never thought it would get stucked there even if it did.

From now until the end of times the only thing going into the overflow is the water and the occasional stupid fish!!!!!!!

mrok12 · 03-02-2003, 06:42 PM

I have not had that happen yet! Thank god. But my tank crashed completely in november. Overheated while I was away. I know how bad this can suck. I am glad that things were not worse for you though.

MROK

tendar · 03-02-2003, 06:58 PM

Stupid fish is right. I have chased my fair share of fish out of overflows and even lost a small niger trigger that stuck down inside a durso overflow that I didnt notice was missing for 3 days but did notice the water wasnt flowing right after a few when I found him there dead.

03-02-2003, 04:33 PM	#1
dgasmd 2-much-mojo-4-my-shirt Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Owings Mills, MD Posts: 48	Disaster. It was just a matter of time I guess!!!!!! Well, I woke up this morning, walked the dogs, went into my main office where most of the high deals and major planning of my life occurs: the bathroom in front of the stair to the basement where my tank is. As I got into some heavy thinking, I realize that there was something odd. Everything was very quiet. Why can't I hear the gurgling of the overflow in the tank? I pinched that thought, did some quick cleaning (I know it is a lot more than you wanted to know), and ran downstairs. As I walked into the basement, I realized a couple of things: the water is completely calm, the carpet is completely soaked, there is no noise from the equipment in the garage, and the freaking tank has overflowed!!!! I run to the garage to check the equipment and notice a few more things: the garage floor is completely full of water, the sump is bone dry, and all the pumps are dead (iwaki 100 for skimmer, iwaki 30 and iwaki 40 for returns, AmpMaster 3000 for close loop, and mag 18 for the UV filter). I run back inside to check the circuit box and both of the 20 amp dedicated circuits had tripped. I take a step back, take a deep breath, and go into mental DEFCON 5. First things first. Why did the tank overflow in the first place and then drain all 70 gal of water from the sump? I get a ladder and see what happened. One of the 2 bags of ChemiPure I had added a couple of days ago to "try them out" had been sucked into the overflow box's drain pipe and blocked it off completely. It is a 1 1/2" pipe for god's sake!!!! I take the thing out and proceed to go to the garage to dry out all the stuff, which is now soaking wet including the wires and plugs for most thigns. I first checked the status of the living things in the tank. The fish seemed to be swiming around, the temp had gone down to 78 from 80 baseline (not bad at all), but the pH was 7.91 from a baseline of 8.1 at night (likely the Ca reactor had backed flow into the sump). After I was done with the drying, I proceeded to put 30 gal of salt water I had just made last night into the sump to at least be able to run the return pumps. That is if they were not all burned from running dry for god only knows how long. I reset the circuit breakers I started to plug things back up one by one to make sure if I came to something that was still wet inside I wouldn't cause fire or electrocute myself in the process (or both). All pumps except for the mag 18 worked fine. Everything worked. Lights have not come on yet, so I can't comment on that. To say I was angry, sad, and other things is a huge understatement. 12 years with fish tanks and this was my first disaster. The worst part is that it was something that stupid that I should have seen it coming a mile away that caused it. We are back in bussiness now, but I can tell you I have learned a lot of things here, most of which I will apply when I re-do the entire thing in one year after I move. I also believe I didn't have much worse problems because I had taken so many precautions already. This is what I have learned and a lot I already do: -put all your ballasts as far off the ground as possible. -do not have anything electric touching the floor. -make sure all the plug-ins are off the ground and at least have a u loop before them in case they get wet. -cover all electrical plug-in with some form of plastic so water can't get to them -have at least one separate pump connected to a different circuit. -place all electrical connections on GCFI -place all electrical connections in the opposite side of the room where all the pipes and water connections are and place them off the ground -make it a habit of checking ALL equipment for function and performance once in the AM and once in the PM. This I have done religiously. -have a spare pump, timer, and heater available -always keep some saltwater made for a water change -have a wet/dry vac available. At least know the neighbor that has one. -have some towels available that you use for the tank only. - do not place anything that you won't mind loosing on the same floor as the tank and equipment is ever. Yes, I mean ever. My computer's hard drive could have been completly toasted! I am sure there is a couple of hundred tips I could write here, but I need to go back to damage control. I guess this proves we are not bulletproof afterall!!!!! __________________ "Water keeps a ship floating, but it is also what sinks it"

03-02-2003, 04:44 PM	#2
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 20,691	Good luck restarting everything. Good thing it happened while you were home to catch it and not while you were out of town for a few days. __________________ Ninong

03-02-2003, 05:12 PM	#4
dgasmd 2-much-mojo-4-my-shirt Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Owings Mills, MD Posts: 48	Actually, what I was trying to say was that even when you plan and plan and think everything that could go wrong has been planned and accounted for, it isn't. I would have never imagine that the overflow had such a sucking power that would pick up a chamipure bag sitting 2 feet below it in the overflow box. I would ahve never thought it would get stucked there even if it did. From now until the end of times the only thing going into the overflow is the water and the occasional stupid fish!!!!!!! __________________ "Water keeps a ship floating, but it is also what sinks it"

03-02-2003, 06:42 PM	#5
mrok12 Mayor Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Van Buren, MI Posts: 1,052	I have not had that happen yet! Thank god. But my tank crashed completely in november. Overheated while I was away. I know how bad this can suck. I am glad that things were not worse for you though. MROK __________________ Who knew it was so addicting?

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03-02-2003, 05:06 PM	#3
tendar Governor Join Date: May 2000 Location: tempe,AZ Posts: 1,114	Well from the way it sounds over all everyhting is good other than wet floors and a dead mag18. So what you are saying is no ones tank is full proof from over flows. I dont like that idea dang it.

03-02-2003, 06:58 PM	#6
tendar Governor Join Date: May 2000 Location: tempe,AZ Posts: 1,114	Stupid fish is right. I have chased my fair share of fish out of overflows and even lost a small niger trigger that stuck down inside a durso overflow that I didnt notice was missing for 3 days but did notice the water wasnt flowing right after a few when I found him there dead.

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