First sump overflow ever.

[Scubareefman]

So today when I got home my system was blowing bubbles.
When I approached the tank I felt the squishy carpet.
Damit!
Luckily my ato was empty so I didn't nuke my tank but I dumped about 20 gallons into my carpet.

Any advice on cleanup? Am I going to have a salt ring to deal with....

The culprit was my frag tanks return pump. It failed then started a vacuum and not just one but two brand new check valves failed to catch. In guessing the flow was just to gentle to force them closed.

Reworking the return to be closer to the tanks top, but that would only account for about 5 gallons of water. How the other 15 hot out I haven't figured out yet.

 

[Schplitter]

So today when I got home my system was blowing bubbles.
When I approached the tank I felt the squishy carpet.
Damit!
Luckily my ato was empty so I didn't nuke my tank but I dumped about 20 gallons into my carpet.

Any advice on cleanup? Am I going to have a salt ring to deal with....

The culprit was my frag tanks return pump. It failed then started a vacuum and not just one but two brand new check valves failed to catch. In guessing the flow was just to gentle to force them closed.

Reworking the return to be closer to the tanks top, but that would only account for about 5 gallons of water. How the other 15 hot out I haven't figured out yet.

Check valves will fail. Just don't use them.

 

[makeshift101]

on your return line, put a small hole around the waterline, this will stop the vacuum from happening

 

[Scubareefman]

I pulled out the hard plumbing and went to a soft hoses plumbing for the time being. Its ugly but wont back flow in its current design.
Sometime next week I will rework the system for hard plumbing. I have raised the return above the waterline with a break-hole. I also will be upgrading the pump and adding some sort of water alarm. I need an apex but that's still a bit in the future.

My carpet seems to not be damaged, but its still damp so i font know yet.

 

[kegogut]

Did you put some sort of fans on your carpet? It helps a lot .

 

[Bogue Chitto]

If you have pad under the carpet it will take longer to dry. The salt will leave a dampness to your carpet that will show up on humid days. You may try to scru7bb it with some oxyclean and fresh water and then use a wet vac on it, then a fan.

 

[Greybeard]

My worst nightmare... a flood on carpet. Had one decades ago, my current build is the first tank I've put on a carpeted floor since then. If you can, pull the carpet loose from the tack strip around the edge of the room, and get a fan blowing _under_ the carpet. That'll dry the backing and the pad. That, and time, are the only things that will get dry it out. Once dry, a carpet cleaner would probably pull what salt is on the surface out.

 

[mpcart]

About 10 years ago with my first tank I was in Atlanta on a trip with "the guys" when my wife called so say the living room was flooded and to get my butt back to St. Louis. Turns out the 20G sump had cracked and leaked all over. We had to pull the carpet up and run fans. Had to hire a pro to stretch and reinstall but everything worked out fine.

-Mike

 

[Scubareefman]

Im in a rental...so pulling the carpets not happening. However i will be running fans and renting a carpet steamer in a week or so. The #1 problem in my mind is if it compromised the fiberboard parts of the stand. Ill post picutures later but i may be replacing the entire tank/stand due to the spillage. I just dont trust it for long term. My question then would be, if i go from the 41g DT 20g sump 40g fragtank to atlesst a 80 DT, 20g sump will i Be ok just moving everything over. I know Ill need more rock but that will come slowly.

 

[Flippers4pups]

My 56 column had a sawdust/laminate factory stand and I had a couple small leaks over time that got it wet. Just got up the water and used fans to dry. Never had delamination happen. On the other hand, I never liked that stand. It felt "cheap" so I added 2"x4"'s inside it. We lived in an apartment back then and building a DIY stand was out of the question. It was out of all the tanks I've had over the years that I didn't DIY the stand for.

 

[Scubareefman]

My 56 column had a sawdust/laminate factory stand and I had a couple small leaks over time that got it wet. Just got up the water and used fans to dry. Never had delamination happen. On the other hand, I never liked that stand. It felt "cheap" so I added 2"x4"'s inside it. We lived in an apartment back then and building a DIY stand was out of the question. It was out of all the tanks I've had over the years that I didn't DIY the stand for.

I renforced my stand with 2x4's before setting it up. I still don't trust the parts that are fiber board. Im now in the market for a cube between 80-150 gallons. I have everything needed to run a tank those sizes without having to spend a ton on upgrades. Would just need to get another MH and im cool with that.

Cheers
Tom

 

[mpgrant77]

I tried something new on the last stand I built. After I built it I caulked the inside bottom where there was any larger cracks. Then I bought flex-seal (as seen on tv) at lowes and sprayed the inside of the stand. Now the bottom of my stand will actually hold water. I know this will not help with a large overflow but it works great to protect the wood in case of a large over flow and really helps with those small spills around the sump.

 

[Scubareefman]

I tried something new on the last stand I built. After I built it I caulked the inside bottom where there was any larger cracks. Then I bought flex-seal (as seen on tv) at lowes and sprayed the inside of the stand. Now the bottom of my stand will actually hold water. I know this will not help with a large overflow but it works great to protect the wood in case of a large over flow and really helps with those small spills around the sump.

Its a good idea, ill keep it in mind.