Now I know why I don't want a bigger tank!

[NanoKat]

This am after partying at a friend's house for Thanksgiving, woke up to an "unusual" sounding aquarium. Different sounds in my tank always attract me, so I look over at it and it's managed to dump about 1/3 of its water capacity onto our wonderful mauve carpeting (not wonderful really, but man, does it hold the water to one area...the only thing I thank it for!). EGADS!!!!

The only thing I can narrow it down to is my skimmer which seemed to leak a little last week, so I pulled my power strip out from underneath it (where it shouldn't have been anyway!) and put a towel there. I proceeeded to check the towel on a daily basis to see if it was wet and it was not, so it seemed like an isolated incedent.

Then, there comes this am, the bottom of the skimmer was definitely wet and the leak was obviously originating from that side of the tank. I'm going to take the skimmer for someone to test out for me to see if it does the same thing again...although I don't know if I would fully trust it again...it's a CPR Bakpak, by the way. It has run absolutely flawlessly for nearly 10 years. Anyway, this may just be the kick in the but I've needed to get the Eco System Pro 40 hang on refugium...some "Black Friday" shopping, maybe???!!!

Anyway, the reason for the title is that I have a 20g tank...I can't even imagine something like this happening in a 75, 90, or larger yet....I'll stick to being NanoKat and keep the risks to a miniumum, thank you. And thank goodness we don't have our new laminate flooring in yet...Randy would have freaked!

 

[pedromatic]

Hey, Kat.
I've got a BakPak on my 55. If the bio-bale gets clogged up it can overflow. Maybe not a leak after all? Take it outside, pull out the bio-bale and rinse it in a bucket with SW. Another way it can overflow is if the venturi is clogged or has fallen off the pump inlet.

 

[ReefWreak]

Don't most people suggest removing the biobale from reef-tank use anyway since it acts as a nitrate factory site from the high levels of of oxygenation?

 

[pedromatic]

Mine is full of pods, sponges and stuff, I wouldn't want to get rid of it. I dose with vodka anyway (don't get me started on that, please) to reduce nitrates.

 

[NanoKat]

Actually, I don't even know where the bio media is for this skimmer. I've been running it with a wad of chaeto in the return section of the skimmer for quite a while...same principle I'm sure cause there were lots of pods and stuff in it.

I think we narrowed down the leak...looks like my air intake was hanging down like it always does and may have created a syphon. It was soaking wet when I took it to test it out and it has never had water in it before. I need to figure out a way to keep it above water level. The rest of the skimmer seems sound, but I'm gonna let him run it for a day or two with a bucket underneath to keep an eye for any other sort of leaks.