preef
New member
The only sound worse to wake up to than a pump running dry is the sound of a water alarm blaring from behind your tank.
I quickly noticed that my refugium was overflowing and cut off the water supply into it. My refugium is in a 10 gal tank that is connected to another 10 gal tank I use as my sump with 2" PVC. I used two 10 gal tanks because there was no way to get a larger tank under the stand.
Here's are some old picture from when I first installed the refugium. Note the PVC pipe leading to the sump. Also note the elbow pipe inside the tank extending almost to the surface.
I pulled off the elbow and I found it filled with live rock rubble I put in the fuge and one guilty looking crab.
I caught this crab two years ago and threw him in the fuge. I guess he got back at me for putting him into solitary. Not only did he fill the elbow with rubble but a good portion of the pipe leading to the sump was filled. This was good sized rubble too. Most of the pieces were bigger than the crab.
So how the heck did he get into and out of the pipe in the first place? How the heck was he able to haul rocks that were larger than him up the side of the pipe?
I purposely did not install a screen on the pipe opening because I was afraid it would clogged with algae and cause a flood. I didn't count on an industrious crab.
The alarm wasn't going off when my wife left 15 minutes earlier so I thankfully caught it early. I would have never noticed it without the Water Warning Leak Detector alarm.
Not much harm was done this time. If it had happened an hour later I would have had a much bigger problem on my hands. Time to order a Waterbug and hook it up to my Apex.
I quickly noticed that my refugium was overflowing and cut off the water supply into it. My refugium is in a 10 gal tank that is connected to another 10 gal tank I use as my sump with 2" PVC. I used two 10 gal tanks because there was no way to get a larger tank under the stand.
Here's are some old picture from when I first installed the refugium. Note the PVC pipe leading to the sump. Also note the elbow pipe inside the tank extending almost to the surface.
I pulled off the elbow and I found it filled with live rock rubble I put in the fuge and one guilty looking crab.
I caught this crab two years ago and threw him in the fuge. I guess he got back at me for putting him into solitary. Not only did he fill the elbow with rubble but a good portion of the pipe leading to the sump was filled. This was good sized rubble too. Most of the pieces were bigger than the crab.
So how the heck did he get into and out of the pipe in the first place? How the heck was he able to haul rocks that were larger than him up the side of the pipe?
I purposely did not install a screen on the pipe opening because I was afraid it would clogged with algae and cause a flood. I didn't count on an industrious crab.
The alarm wasn't going off when my wife left 15 minutes earlier so I thankfully caught it early. I would have never noticed it without the Water Warning Leak Detector alarm.
Not much harm was done this time. If it had happened an hour later I would have had a much bigger problem on my hands. Time to order a Waterbug and hook it up to my Apex.
