Fun times! Not! (1 Viewer)

[TexanReef]

I went to feed the fish last night...

When I opened the cabinet door, I was greeted by 4" of water in the stand. Thankfully the stand has about a 6" water-tight bathtub.

Some quick work with the shop-vac and the water was cleaned up. The reason for the flooding was the stupid ()*&(& Two Little Fishes Phosban reactor that I've repaired numerous times. The two top fittings snapped off and my attempts at fixing them were less than successful. I hung the reactors in the sump but apparently allowed one to lean towards the outside, propped up on live rock.

Lost two of my Hanna Checkers, my food, some other odds-and-ends and the notebook I've been keeping since I started setting up the tank. That hurts the most. Salinity dropped a few points as the ATO worked in over-drive to make up the water loss.

But I did learn some lessons:

Get a water detector. They're cheap!
Don't store your electronics at the bottom of the stand.
If you can't repair it successfully, replace it! (Leaning towards NextReef MR1s)
Quit being such an idiot.
Water-tight bathtubs housing the sump are awesome.

Anyway, please feel free to laugh at me. I'm doing that now that the emergency has passed. It could have been much, much worse.

 

[Oceanlife Aquariums]

no need to laugh. we all been there at some point and learn from our mistakes. luckily it sound like it wasnt so bad cuz you had the 6" tub.

 

[ReefMaster32787]

Hey a lot of times you can save your electronics by giving them ample time to dry before powering them on. Saved mine a bunch of times

 

[RR-MAN]

Yup we have floaded the house many times.


Personally I gave up on the reactors. I'm very happy with the mesh filter bags in my sump.

 

[jskeen]

Pack wet electronics in a bag (preferably ziplock) surrounded with dry white rice. For salt water after a few days in the rice you are still going to need to open it up and rinse with DI water, then dry again, or maybe dry brush if the salt deposits are limited. Never try to power on until you are sure all salt deposits are gone. If you did already, it will probably need a trip to the manufacturer if worth repairing.

 

[Miller]

Almost had the same issue yesterday. Hooked up my new ATO and decided to take a nap since I was exhausted from all that hard work . I woke up to five extra gallons of freshwater in my tank. My sump was to the rim. Thank God I woke up.

 

[Oceanlife Aquariums]

Almost had the same issue yesterday. Hooked up my new ATO and decided to take a nap since I was exhausted from all that hard work . I woke up to five extra gallons of freshwater in my tank. My sump was to the rim. Thank God I woke up.

that is my main reason I never go with an electronic top off. Kent float valve to ro/di unit or some other type of container and gravity feed. never ever have a problem when only using straight ro water. It can clog when using with kalk. from the precipitation.

 

[Reefahholic]

I've flooded my livingroom more than once. Glad you didn't loose anything too expensive. Reefing is tough sometimes.

 

[Diesel]

40+ years never flooded anything, that is if you a cracked bulkhead with only a drip not count.
Maybe because I know what I'm doing

 

[RR-MAN]

40+ years never flooded anything, that is if you a cracked bulkhead with only a drip not count.
Maybe because I know what I'm doing

Ben my friend. You kept fresh water tanks for 39 years plus fresh water tanks are usually not reef ready nor require top off so lesser chance to flood a house.









J/K man!!!!

 

[Diesel]

Ben my friend. You kept fresh water tanks for 39 years plus fresh water tanks are usually not reef ready nor require top off so lesser chance to flood a house.





J/K man!!!!

That's what I mean........... you have no idea.
The sumps idea we run today came out of the freshwater hobby as to run a larger bio-load for larger tanks without a closed loop.
That's all I want say as I'm ready to celebrate the night as America got some commonsense to take back and control what made this country for what it was founded for
even TEXAS has a big stake in it.

 

[TexanReef]

Woot! My 12v leak sensor should be at the house today. So now I'm gonna' hook that sucker up to the Apex. Hope to have that done by the weekend. I'll post pictures if I remember. And no, this isn't the Neptune one that costs a ridiculous amount to buy. DIY, baby.

A stand-alone leak sensor is going into the closet where the top-off water is held. It won't be Apex monitored but should make a noise if I do something stupid like forget I'm making water.

Live and learn!