...and disaster strikes... (1 Viewer)

[bigbird123]

Last night was a night from hell!!! The storm that came thru here last night took out the power...need I say more! We came home from Austin to a100g of water in the carpet. Never a thought to me to put a siphon break in my hard piping from my chiller. I thought it would be "cool" to hardpipe my return down the back of my rocks to about 4" from the bottom of my tank. This would give me good circulation of my chilled water. water looked "cool" on the floor! I got as much of my stuff covered with as much water as I could. We rented a generator to run the 'fridge and a few ph as possible. The power just came back on (24 hrs w/out). I guess in the morning I'll try to see the damage. Alot of the stuff has opened but my "prettys", I don't know about. So as we all go to sleep tonight, pray to the coral gods for survival and second chances. You guys wish me luck...

Update you tomorrow...


Steve

 

[HolyBanana]

Horrible news. I hope your corals make it.
I can give you some anthelias if you need some in the next frag swap.
My tank has leaked on my twice so if you need advice, look no further. I can give it.

 

[rhane71]

If you have a chiller remember to make sure the water feed and the water return should come from the same tank. Don't have the feed pump to the chiller in the sump and the return in the main tank. If ever in doubt turn off your power and see what happends to your tank. Its a good idea to mark ideal levels for the sump and know what will happen during a power outage as well.

I lost thousands when my chiller stopped working, but I saved thousands by having a backup plan and knowing what to do in case something bad like that happened. I hope to never go through that again. Its better to have a plan and not use it, then to need a plan and not have one.

abran

 

[bigbird123]

Do they make check-valves for 3/4" lines? Time for alittle research...

 

[Guest]

Do they make check-valves for 3/4" lines? Time for alittle research...

yes, but never count on check valvves,

 

[AggieBrandon]

yeah check valves will give out over time. May want to replumb your chiller line to not be so deep in the main tank....or add a siphon break that will definitely stop the siphon before it is too late. Hope you don't lose too much Steve.

Brandon

 

[Brad]

They do may back flow preventors. Don't get the ones at HD or Loews b/c they have metal springs that will rust out in a few months. The online reef stores sell them that are all plastic. However, I agree that I would probably not rely on one. If I was I would check it monthly to make sure it was still working well by cutting the power to the tank and seeing what happens.

 

[bigbird123]

disaster

I have all but emptied my tank. The corals that may make it are in a 30g tub being airated. I have taken all the water I could get out without exposing my sand. Now I have to move tank and stand so I can vaccum the rest of the water that syphoned-out. The ONLY good side of this is that I can scrape all of the algae off the walls. Now what do I do with the algae floating in the water that is left. What can I do to get that out. I don't know for sure but can't that reattach? Can I use my diatom filter to remove it? Any advice is appreciated...

Steve

 

[Guest]

I just did a major clean up job on my old 25G so I could get it ready for fish again. I scraped every bit of the algae off then let it sink to the bottom. Then I vacumed up the detrius that was left from taking out all the rock and the algae that settled to the bottom.

Yes you can use your diatom filter.

 

[rhane71]

if you had the feed pump and the return line all plumbed to the main tank you would not have to worry about check valves. This would give you a closed loop system. Why trust your home to a check valve that will fail over time?

Abran

 

[bigbird123]

disaster

My tank is a 135g non-RR. How can I have a closed loop with hang-on overflows?

 

[AggieBrandon]

i think what abran means is if you have the input line for the chiller coming from the main tank and the output for the chiller going back into the main tank then if the power goes out the water will not overflow because it would be a closed loop.

Brandon

 

[bigbird123]

disaster

So what your saying is to have a seperate pump for my chiller. If I am understanding right.

 

[AggieBrandon]

Yeah that is basically it. What kind of pump are you powering your chiller with now. I'm guessing you are powering it with a pump from your fuge and having it output the water into the main tank. Finding a pump that will send water down to the chiller and then back up to the tank will have to be a pretty big pump. It may be easier to use a pump in the fuge to power the chiller but then have the output of the chiller go back into the fuge. Don't know how efficient on cooling that would do though but it should work.

Brandon

 

[Guest]

The moral of the story is plumb your chiller so that it is a closed loop or will run dry if power goes out WITHOUT those crappy check-valves.

Tom

 

[bigbird123]

disaster

I'm using an Eheim 1260 for return and my chiller. If you put a "T" at 12 5/8" from the pump, you get the exact head pressure to run the chiller at it's optimum efficiency. What size pump do I need to power just the 1/2 hp Aqua Medic chiller? I want to plumb it at the tank, so I get the best effect from the chiller.

Steve

 

[bigbird123]

disaster

I forgot to tell everyone that I have the tank back up and running for now. If I get everything figured out on how to eliminate this from happening again, then it will be down for howerever long it takes. I don't think it will be a major deal.

My corals look like they went thru a hurricane but the biggest majority of them I think will survive. The one I am worried about the most is the Lg Bubble but it seems to still be alive. My elegance survived and they are supposed to be hard to keep. My flowerpots look rough but I'll know tomorrow if they made it. We'll see...


Steve

 

[pernelf]

How are the corals looking this morning Steve? Hope they pull through

 

[bigbird123]

disaster

Leslea, I am surprised but everything looks to have made it. I'll know even more after the MH come on, but I may be one of the lucky ones. It's hard to imagine but some of ones that are the hardest to keep, look the best. I have an elegance that looks as nothing happened at all. My elephant ears actually look the worst. The Lg Bubble seems to be trying to open and all of my polyps and zoas ore open nicely. The only thing that didn't make it was a torch and it wasn't doing good before the disaster.

I really appreciate your concern...and thanks.

Steve

I'll try to get a pic and get Brandon to post it of my newly arranged tank.

 

[pernelf]

Hope everything turns out. I know it sounds bad but look at it this way, you get new corals