I need um.. help?!

[Chef Reef]

Grr im having a really bad month when it comes to this damn fish tank. first my tank crashes and alot of stuff died.. now.. tonight when i get home from school my water peramiters just above normal so i decide to do a water change.. as im filling up the tank my drain line for the sump gets cloged and stops pulling water from the DT and just keeps pump water in, so it overflows.. all over the electrical stuff.. smoke coming out of things, got a "little" shock, and now i see my tank is magicaly leaking from 2 of the bottom corners out of no where... to top it all off i leave in the morning to go to WPB at 7 am.

im looking for a solution for the leaking tank that will last me until i get back.
These are my two possible quick fixes. let me know if you have a better one.


i have a 75 gal but becuase nothing is set up for it im scared.. i have 35 gals of water i can put in there but the rest that would be added would be new water. is this a bad idea?

i also have a 10 gal that i can set up with the water in my 30 gal but i dont think its enough room for my corals, 33 inch eel and other livestock.

the only stuff available to me are a 10 gal tank, a 10 gal sump, a 75 gal tank. i have pumps for them all and a light for the 10 gal. i do not have a light for the 75 yet but could i use my light from the 30 gal and just light up half the tank?

i dunno what to do. this is the best month ever..

 

[jeffbrig]

Your 75 tank might be not be leaking at all. It could be water that was caught in the tank trim that's leaking out slowly at this point.

If possible, I would keep things in the 75 - if it's no leaking. If it is leaking, find a 24 hour HD or Walart and buy a couple of 20-30g rubbermaid containers and move your remaining water and livestock into these. A powerhead pointed and the surface, and a heater in case temps drop should be sufficent to keep everything alive for a few days until you can get the big tank sorted out.

Don't worry about lights very much right now. Low light or even no light at all is not going to harm anything over a few days.

Also, any equipment that got wet that should have, give the a chance to dry out completely before testing them. And, you may want to think about GFCI outlets in the future, just to be safe.

 

[carlosngloria]

u could dry using what you use to mount your frags. alos the electrical that got wet could use some wd40 spray, just try to keep it away from your tank water.

 

[Chef Reef]

thanks jeff. it turns out the water is just trapped in the trim. it slowed down darmatically. scared the crap outta me (never had a flood before) thanks for the imput on the rubbermaid containers, will keep that in mind for the future if i need to. where can i find GFCI outlets? iv read on em but i havent seen em in the store yet.


also thanks calos, i thought about useing super glue but was trying to find a different solution :/ was a little worried about superglue not holding up while i was gone. good thing i dont have to worry about it though.

 

[Chef Reef]

what will the wd40 do?

 

[carlosngloria]

wd40 helps remove the water from the electrical sockets

 

[Bernie21]

I now you just had water in the trim, but I keep silicone around for things like that, any cracks or leaks, you seal it right up!!

 

[bckane]

I would have to agree with Jeffbrig.......but one thing about the
GFCI outlets,!!!! Don't think about it...just go out and get them there not that much and can save big money in the long run. I also suggest a ground rod for you tank. Learn by your mistakes, its happened to me
HTH
Brian

 

[bckane]

As I said you learn by your mistakes, as members know 2 weeks ago I have one of my ballast go out on my T5's. come home and the lights were off and the GFCI was tripped so I reset the breaker and Bam it went off again......members suggested that I bypass the GFCI to see if it was just the breaker......turned the lights back on and the breaker was fine but still no lights....my T5 lights were plugged into reg outlet. I waited for a few minute to see what happened......Then the smoke started to pour out the ballast....if I wasn't there to pull the plug the ballast would have started a fire....This could have burned my house down.
One more thing don't buy cheap GFCI outlets..I still smell that smoke in my house from that day....I could deal with my tank overflowing but not the house burning down over a 15 dollar part........
Brian

 

[bawla47]

id definately opt for both as brian suggested. GFCI outlet as well as a grounding proble.

 

[Chef Reef]

where can i find good GFCI outlets at as well as a grounding probe localy?

 

[invertigator]

GFCI at home depot in the electrical section. It is an outlet that has two small buttons in the center between the two plugs, one is a tester and the other a reset button. Some power strips and breakers also come with GFCIs.

 

[FleeVT]

Go to Lowe's or Home Depot for GFCI. Spring for the more expensive ones, about $10 if I remember correctly.

 

[pedromatic]

Also, use drip loops on all you electrical cables. The cable should have some slack so water traveling down it would drop off at the bottom. Otherwise it would travel down the cable and straight into the outlet. My wall outlets are right behind my tank so I covered them with plastic sheeting, stuck the plastic to the wall above the outlet using painter's tape. So any water that splashes down the wall doesn't end up in the outlet. That can easily start a fire and burn your house down.