Living Room Flood - my first big issue

[RyanG027]

Hi guys...

Woke up with quite an issue this morning.
Somehow the pump to my protein skimmer overworked itself last night and expelled about 20 gallons of water onto my living room floor. It's soaked through the carpeting and is dripping into the basement...total fail. Restoration company on the way over to assess the damage.

I have a coralife superskimmer 125 with the needle wheel impeller pump. The collection cup has a drain which I run into an empty bucket for overflow. Every once in a while for whatever reason the pump will start over pumping and ends up filling the whole bucket. I've always been able to catch it before it was an issue and re-tune the skimmer to lower the water level, but this time I had no such luck. I guess my question is, why does this keep happening? The pump is brand new..like 2-3 months. I just ordered a replacement because the impeller shaft cracked on the previous pump. I never mess with the tuning, and the water level barely changes as I top off several times daily. Could there be something causing the inconsistency in how much water the pump is taking in? Bad pump?

All fish seem to be ok. I'm now worried about having to break the tank down, as I'm sure the carpeting will need ripped up underneath.

Any words of wisdom, encouragement, or hugs are greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GimpyFin]

IMO, first thing I'd do is ditch the Coralife altogether and replace it with something else. You'll save yourself some headache as it's just not a great skimmer. Are you using this as a hang-on or is it in a sump?

 

[Diana A]

if you need a HOB skimmer, look at the Eshoopps or Reef Octopus

 

[RyanG027]

Using it as a HOB. A new skimmer was next on my list of upgrades, but now that I'm going to have a sink a few thousand bucks into this I'm not sure that's gonna happen for a while.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[albano]

Could there be something causing the inconsistency in how much water the pump is taking in?

Yes there are a couple of possibilities... Any additives to tank, frozen foods, something sprayed in the room...

If you gonna run waste to a bucket, I'd suggest a float swish that will shut off skimmer pump when bucket is near full

 

[BlackTip]

Avast Davy Jones Locker in combination with Apex leak detectors have saved me numerous times. Expensive, but it is worth every penny.

 

[ca1ore]

Avast Davy Jones Locker in combination with Apex leak detectors have saved me numerous times. Expensive, but it is worth every penny.

Same here!!

 

[BigDave]

Yes there are a couple of possibilities... Any additives to tank, frozen foods, something sprayed in the room...

If you gonna run waste to a bucket, I'd suggest a float swish that will shut off skimmer pump when bucket is near full

This is what I'm doing. Float switches can fail, but it provides at least some security.

Option 2 is to put the waste bucket so that if it overflows it goes back into the sump. Might throw your parameters off, but the protein skimmer should be able to re-clean the stuff it already cleaned once.

 

[davocean]

Having had that very same skimmer way back when I can say they are such a pain and very sensitive to water level changes, agree there are much better HO's out there.

I'd expect your flood damage company is going to pull carpet up, run a few turbo fans, probably hole saw areas of drywall so it can breathe and dry out, expect a few days at least of those turbo fans running, hopefully that's about all will be needed, new carpet and padding.

 

[ca1ore]

This is what I'm doing. Float switches can fail, but it provides at least some security.

Sure they can, but redundancy is your friend. I have dual floats in my waste pail, just in case just in case

 

[davocean]

Yeah redundancy is a nice word in this hobby, in this area and heaters especially

 

[billdogg]

Sorry to hear! Sadly, floods are always a possibility with this hobby. That is also why I'll never have an external or HOB skimmer. The safest place for them is inside the sump so that when (not if) they overflow it just goes back into the system.

And a big +1 for redundancy!!!


And a big +1 for redundancy!!!


And a big +1 for redundancy!!!


And a big +1 for redundancy!!!

 

[gone fishin]

I would also suggest maybe a couple of $10 floor water sensors that can be found at any big box store near the hot water heaters. I have a couple of them around my system. When they go off they will wake the dead.

 

[Sk8r]

A hob skimmer in the living room is a disaster waiting to happen, because they do spit in a power failure---best get an in-sump one; and get a cone style if possible. More efficient and better-behaved. If you've got a basement, incidentally, and an unfinished side, two discreet 1" holes in the floor (easily plugged later) can put the whole sump in the basement and prevent this sort of thing ever happening again.

 

[heathlindner25]

Both of my hob skimmers have never flooded? And I'm ten years+ in this.

 

[Diana A]

Not that this would help you but I have my two HOB skimmers hose drained to a ulitity sink.

 

[ericarenee]

Get a shut off float switch to put into the bucket that the skimmer overflows into.Plug the skimmer into that . when the water rises the float turns the skimmer off .. Mine is the same as on a sump pump but you can get smaller ones from autotopoff.com..

ohh and That is not a good skimmer to keep stable as said above...
G

Good luck on your cleanup...

 

[RyanG027]

Thanks for all the responses. Everything is cleaned and dried now, and the fish are happy and healthy. No damage to the subfloor and carpets cleaned up beautifully...dodged a bullet!

My tank is sumpless so unfortunately HOB is my only option right now.
I extended the drain line into the basement and into the utility sink for now, but I'm planning on upgrading the skimmer here shortly.

It's a 75g sumpless FOWLR - anyone have a good HOB recommendation?

 

[Cymonous]

Not that this would help you but I have my two HOB skimmers hose drained to a ulitity sink.

That's a terrible idea. While it may be working now, your skimmer may overflow for various reasons and start draining your tank into your utility sink. Next thing you know, you are down 50 gallons.

 

[Cymonous]

Thanks for all the responses. Everything is cleaned and dried now, and the fish are happy and healthy. No damage to the subfloor and carpets cleaned up beautifully...dodged a bullet!

My tank is sumpless so unfortunately HOB is my only option right now.
I extended the drain line into the basement and into the utility sink for now, but I'm planning on upgrading the skimmer here shortly.

It's a 75g sumpless FOWLR - anyone have a good HOB recommendation?

I would go with a Reef Octopus and keep the drain to a bucket, but with a float switch like others said. Put the switch low so you don't drain too much saltwater into your bucket.