friggin catastrophy

[norat915]

Had the brilliant idea to redo my return heads in my 120 DT to make them a little lower in the tank for more water flow in the middle "genius". Pump was making some humming so I was adjusting to quiet it down. Thats when the shiznit hit the fan apparently i forgot to glue the 90 connector on my return pump and while making the adjustments it came loose causing a freakin geizur "know thats not how you spell it but at this point I dont care". And we continue got the connector back together and then started hearing a buzzing sound apparently some highly conductive salt water got on my receptacle and was shorting. Ran to the garage and shut off the breaker to kill the power and myself this is when the fun started sitting there in amazment of what I created I heard a noise that kind of sounded like water overflowing out of a sump Guess What i was right before I knew it about 1 inch of water was out of my DT and on the floor didnt know why the sump was nowhere near full and is big enough to handle the extra water.Thats where the brilliant idea comes from the tank was siphoning out until it got to the level of my new head design needless to say I put it back together the way it was IF IT AINT BROKE DONT REDESIGN IT "I LOVE THIS HOBBY" Hope everyone gets a laugh out of this because I didnt not yet at least reply all you want I deserve it STAY DRY

 

[StealthRider]

Ouch. Sounds like some check valves are in order so the back siphon cuts off.

 

[mitchwelt]

i did a water change last week and for some reason around 3 am i wake up, sounds like its pouring rain outside, laying in bed listening to it, then it sounds funny, i realize its my skimmer overflowing on floor, i had a major flood to clean at 3am, not fun, about 5 am i was done and it was almost time to get up for work so i just stayed awake,
i still have no idea why it overflowed, but it sure did...
thank god for tile floors.

 

[norat915]

God gave me carpet

 

[moondoggy4]

I have a LifeReef overflow and I clean the U-tube once a month and I forget to put it back in and I turned on the return pump, did that twice. DOH

 

[clownfreak]

I had something similiar, mithchwelt. Woke up at about 5 to the sounds of a slurping powerhead because the water had gone down about an inch and a half due to skimmer overflowing.

 

[iwishtofish]

Good thing this isn't morning and I am not drinking my coffee, or there would likely have been a coffee geizur (horizontal, though) all over my computer screen!

But - truly - just because of the way you wrote it. I am sorry that happened. Really. This hobby takes many years off our lives; I am certain of it!

 

[Bosco83]

I have had lots of fun with water on the floor. Mostly from not shutting off the r/o unit. You could just drill a small hole in your returns to break the siphon and then you will be fine having them pointing down or at a lower depth.

 

[jtma508]

I feel your pain, brother. WHen I first set my system up I carefully engineered everythying so that I would avaoid anay kind of catastrophe. The system was all up and operational. Everything was happy. One stroke of 'design genius' I had included was a 'quick connect' take-off from my clsoed-loop plumbing. My intent was to use this for the occasional 'water polishing' with an external cannister filter when needed. Works perfectly. Then I was struck with the flash of genius, 'why not use the take-off to feed my Ca Reactor? ' A couple weeks later we had a power surge that trappied the GFCI to the tank in the middle of the night. I got up Sunday morning and realized the tank was quiet. Then horror. There was only about 4" of murky water in my 90gal system. The tank had back-siphoned through the Ca reactor feed all night. Through the floor, into the basement. Dwespte this we only lost 1 1/2 corals, two shrimp and one fish. Lesson learned, however.

 

[gweston]

I have forgotten to shut off my RODI ... SO MANY DARN TIMES... One benefit of making RODI in the basement with a sump pump hole right next to where I fill the bucket. If it overflows, it doesn't flood the floor or basement.

I had my sump overflow once in the living room. Yes carpet. I was flailing around trying to stop the back-siphon (damn siphon break hole on my return was clogged (I learned from that one). Thankfully I was right there, kicked the return pump on immediately. I maybe lost 1/2 gallon at most.

The wife didn't notice... so it didn't happen. LOL

 

[Snausy]

I swear I'll never have an external skimmer. Mine has overflowed in the sump so many times...once however the edge of the top extended over the edge of the sump and it overflowed all night into our nice new carpet. Woke up to the sound of the return pump sucking air. Fun times! 30+ gallons is a lot more water in the carpet than it is in buckets for some reason...

 

[aquaman67]

Do you have a GFIC?

If not, you're lucky you weren't hurt or killed.

The only thing wrong with your plan, other than the no glue thing, was a lack of a check valve. The flapper type work well.

 

[ziyaadb]

aye sorry man, these things happen part of the hobby i guess

 

[sjm817]

Not having a check valve is a good thing. Its another way to have an eventual catastrophe when it fails. Repositioning the returns back near the surface where they did not have an excess back siphon problem is the proper fix.

 

[norat915]

Yes had GFCI and I just moved heads back to their original position came home from work and all seems fine except for needing rubber boots to walk on carpet by tank Keep the stories coming love reading them dont love causing them STAY DRY

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

Not having a check valve is a good thing. Its another way to have an eventual catastrophe when it fails. Repositioning the returns back near the surface where they did not have an excess back siphon problem is the proper fix.

I feel the same. I just set my tank back up after a few years of it setting there empty and I tried to minimize the things that can go wrong. In-sump skimmer that hopefully will drain into the sump if it overflows, in-sump return pump, return tubing that splits in a Y just above the pump but still inside the sump, etc. I didn't use a check valve this time because I (hopefully) don't see needing it.

I have a Y fitting on the end of my returns and point them down to get water flow lower in the water column, but I keep the return exit 1 to maybe 2" below the surface of the tank. I check the anti-siphon holes regularly to make sure they are clear, but my sump will hold 5x+ the amount of water that could siphon back.

I don't glue the 90 degree connector at the top of the return standpipe (hope I don't regret this someday). However, my aquarium has a cover that likely would contain the water if the fitting came loose and started to leak.

I have spilled enough water in my day to know what a pain it is. A family member recently knocked the wastewater tube from my rodi unit out of the sink and I got to clean up a lot of water one night. I envy people with a dedicated maintenance room where they can do things without fear of water leaks turning into major problems.

Here's to keeping the water in the tank.

 

[Maivortex]

i did a water change last week and for some reason around 3 am i wake up, sounds like its pouring rain outside, laying in bed listening to it, then it sounds funny, i realize its my skimmer overflowing on floor, i had a major flood to clean at 3am, not fun, about 5 am i was done and it was almost time to get up for work so i just stayed awake,
i still have no idea why it overflowed, but it sure did...
thank god for tile floors.

This happens to me also everytime I do a water change. I learned the hard way to turn the skimmer down after doing a water change for the nex 24 hrs. Over the years I have flooded the house in every way immaginable. I have left the RODI on and have gone to sleep only to wake up the next morning to a salinity of 1.012 and water all over the floor, Destroyed the bottom ofsome cabinetry that time. I now have high level water detectors ($10 from harbor freight)
http://www.harborfreight.com/water-overflow-alarm-92334.html
I just dangle the water sensor to the height I want the water at.
and I connect an eshopps float vale to the outake of the the rodi now.

 

[dublo8]

Forgot to tighten my return bulkhead after repositioning it and flooded my living room twice. I have purchased 5 extra cases of pergo just in case it happens again A word to the wise. If you want a reef tank and nice fancy wood floors, keep extra on hand, you WILL need it.