OK! Enough chat...Starting a 1000g+ Reef
- Thread starter JohnL
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jnarowe
New member
Ok...have I got a story to tell!
Not sure where to even start. So Yesterday was all about shipping off a couple hundred plus snails to Project DIBS. I stopped at PraxAir to pick up a bottle of oxygen, got hog rings and pliers, and went back to the house.
I chatted with the cleaning ladies, made myself a wicked cocoa, and headed down to the tank room. There, I found the worst flood I have had yet.
There was no water in the sumps, the overfow was dry, and my pumps were running dry. I could not figure out for the life of me how the water got out of the system. I couldn't find any leaks and my water alarm never sounded.
After some perplexing investigations, I decided to fill the sumps up and see what I find. No leaks! What? How could that be? Then as the last part of the restart, I filled up my multi-media reactor and found a split seam. I had installed this unit over the sumps so that if there was a leak, it would drain back into the sump, but unfortunately, the water came out in such a way that it flowed along a flange and onto the floor.
The water alarm didn't sound because it is rusted. And did I mention that there was the smell of an electrical fire? My controller and my entire QT station were down and I found their breaker tripped. Meanwhile the floor has nearly an inch of water on it and I calculated about 100g had spilled. I reset the breaker and when I got back into the tank room, I saw a plume of smoke. Only thing is, I couldn't find where it came from. All equipment in the vicinity was working find with no heat, etc.
All the equipment except the Vortechs that normally run at night was down. So I tried to get things back up and running only to find that my air pump would not restart, nor would any other equipment plugged into the same DC4HD. Ahah! Another tripped breaker in the tank room sub-panel. I reset that one and it immediately tripped again and another cloud of smoke. Did I mention that the floor was wet?? :lol: Brain injury has its benefits because I really had no idea how much danger I really was in.
Because that DC4HD was damaged, none of the controller commands were getting to the equipment because the power module communicaton lines are wired in series. I pulled the plugs on all that equipment and re-routed them to other plugs so I could get necessary stuff back online. Then I pulled out the DC4HD which had been temporarily placed on top of a block of wood, until I could permanently mount it. When I turned it over, water poured out of it, and a lot at that! When I finally got that unit opened, it appeared to be beyond repair. There is substantial damage to the board and it appears water had been in it for more than just this incident, and is probably the reason why I was having sporadic issues with its associated equipment.
So my buddy Rick came by last night and we comiserated over Jolly Roger (YES, I still have some!) and he noticed that there is greasy soot throughout the tank room. I guess we got lucky in that the house didn't burn down.
I now have no Ca reactor and need to fix that. That will take some time as I am out of Weld-On 40. I also have to wait for the arrival of the replacement DC4HD...
So I got everything dialed in to the sweet spot, water parameters all in line, everything running very well, and BAM!!!, screwed again. The moral of this story is: Never leave something as temporary. Enough said, now back to our regular programming...
PS...for you pics whores, no, I am not taking pictures of my floods. I contemplated a pic of the DC4HD, but can't find my camera.
Not sure where to even start. So Yesterday was all about shipping off a couple hundred plus snails to Project DIBS. I stopped at PraxAir to pick up a bottle of oxygen, got hog rings and pliers, and went back to the house.
I chatted with the cleaning ladies, made myself a wicked cocoa, and headed down to the tank room. There, I found the worst flood I have had yet.
There was no water in the sumps, the overfow was dry, and my pumps were running dry. I could not figure out for the life of me how the water got out of the system. I couldn't find any leaks and my water alarm never sounded.After some perplexing investigations, I decided to fill the sumps up and see what I find. No leaks! What? How could that be? Then as the last part of the restart, I filled up my multi-media reactor and found a split seam. I had installed this unit over the sumps so that if there was a leak, it would drain back into the sump, but unfortunately, the water came out in such a way that it flowed along a flange and onto the floor.
The water alarm didn't sound because it is rusted. And did I mention that there was the smell of an electrical fire? My controller and my entire QT station were down and I found their breaker tripped. Meanwhile the floor has nearly an inch of water on it and I calculated about 100g had spilled. I reset the breaker and when I got back into the tank room, I saw a plume of smoke. Only thing is, I couldn't find where it came from. All equipment in the vicinity was working find with no heat, etc.
All the equipment except the Vortechs that normally run at night was down. So I tried to get things back up and running only to find that my air pump would not restart, nor would any other equipment plugged into the same DC4HD. Ahah! Another tripped breaker in the tank room sub-panel. I reset that one and it immediately tripped again and another cloud of smoke. Did I mention that the floor was wet?? :lol: Brain injury has its benefits because I really had no idea how much danger I really was in.
Because that DC4HD was damaged, none of the controller commands were getting to the equipment because the power module communicaton lines are wired in series. I pulled the plugs on all that equipment and re-routed them to other plugs so I could get necessary stuff back online. Then I pulled out the DC4HD which had been temporarily placed on top of a block of wood, until I could permanently mount it. When I turned it over, water poured out of it, and a lot at that! When I finally got that unit opened, it appeared to be beyond repair. There is substantial damage to the board and it appears water had been in it for more than just this incident, and is probably the reason why I was having sporadic issues with its associated equipment.
So my buddy Rick came by last night and we comiserated over Jolly Roger (YES, I still have some!) and he noticed that there is greasy soot throughout the tank room. I guess we got lucky in that the house didn't burn down.
I now have no Ca reactor and need to fix that. That will take some time as I am out of Weld-On 40. I also have to wait for the arrival of the replacement DC4HD...
So I got everything dialed in to the sweet spot, water parameters all in line, everything running very well, and BAM!!!, screwed again. The moral of this story is: Never leave something as temporary. Enough said, now back to our regular programming...
PS...for you pics whores, no, I am not taking pictures of my floods. I contemplated a pic of the DC4HD, but can't find my camera.
jnarowe
New member
Well I just found the source of the smoke and ash! I had one of those multi-outlet extension cords like was talked about in melev's thread and the center plug got water in it and totally melted down. It had a grounding probe in that outlet and one other, and the probe is toast too.
Anyway, they were seriously burnt to a crisp. The reason why I didn't see that before is the cord was out of sight under the stand. I love the sudden realization that this was ALL my fault. No one to blame but myself.
Anyway, they were seriously burnt to a crisp. The reason why I didn't see that before is the cord was out of sight under the stand. I love the sudden realization that this was ALL my fault. No one to blame but myself.
mrcrab
In Memoriam
Jonathan,
Sorry to hear about your troubles, hang on a sec...
Had to shoot over to etrade and buy more shares in shopvac!
Seriously though you're lucky you didn't fry yourself. If you'd stop looking at the french maids in your palacial mansion you might get some work done on the tank.
Sorry to hear about your troubles, hang on a sec...
Had to shoot over to etrade and buy more shares in shopvac!
Seriously though you're lucky you didn't fry yourself. If you'd stop looking at the french maids in your palacial mansion you might get some work done on the tank.
sherm71tank
Premium Member
I have some 16 thats a little thick if you want some let me know.
jnarowe
New member
Livestock seems to be OK although I am concerned about the fallout from the smoke as it is all over the tank room. I have a couple LPS suffering again. As I watched my candy cane shriveled up and just about died, and now the fox coral doesn't look too good. I think it may be getting pricked by a couple vermatid tubes. Water parameters are good.
To be honest I am a bit depressed right now with the tank making a total left turn and various business issues. I was so stoked that I got the LiterMeter up and running and everything was going so well.
To be honest I am a bit depressed right now with the tank making a total left turn and various business issues. I was so stoked that I got the LiterMeter up and running and everything was going so well.
Mackerel! I'm just glad your OK! Hate to have you vapor lock right here on the board!
I had a close call myself this weekend. Closest near death experience to date... When can I retire again? Just sat down later and had an adrenalin dump afterwards. But anyway that's not reef related
Hope all the critters will be ok!
I had a close call myself this weekend. Closest near death experience to date... When can I retire again? Just sat down later and had an adrenalin dump afterwards. But anyway that's not reef related
Hope all the critters will be ok!
jnarowe
New member
Yeah Hop, I have had a few very close calls throughout my life, but in your line of work, I imagine it's a regular part of your day. Things are much more difficult for me since the stroke and I have a difficult time managing myself just getting through the average day, and with the expansion of our business (the never ending project), and all the things I am not getting done, let alone managing others or a large reef tank. Everything takes so long for me to do now that when things go wrong or break, it is difficult to deal with because I have so much time already invested. Anyway, don't mean to whine. Tomorrow is another day! (if I wake up :lol: )
LOL. Oh belive me I'm not trying to take away from anything. I have great regards for you and your bouncing back into life! Nothing but kudos from me
Might be a good time for some of those 2" floor mats that keep you from being part of a circuit while working in the wetroom... I know I'm planning on one for the wetroom.
Edit: And don't worry. It's in my will that if anything happens to me, my wife is to take the insurance money and finish the tank :lol:
Might be a good time for some of those 2" floor mats that keep you from being part of a circuit while working in the wetroom... I know I'm planning on one for the wetroom.
Edit: And don't worry. It's in my will that if anything happens to me, my wife is to take the insurance money and finish the tank :lol:
melev
Well-known member
Jonathan, create a new rack within the sump for your Calcium reactor to set on. That way if this ever happens again, it has to drain into the sump because it is 1" below the lip of the sump.
Regarding cords on the floor - no more of that.
Anything electrical really needs to be mounted up high or at least 6" off the floor, including those DC4 units.
I know you suffered a few losses. Here's what happened to a club member yesterday: http://dfwmas.org/Forums/viewtopic.php?t=27962&sid=e7f386ea5f3b053da91ba97f24c7a12f
Regarding cords on the floor - no more of that.
Anything electrical really needs to be mounted up high or at least 6" off the floor, including those DC4 units.
I know you suffered a few losses. Here's what happened to a club member yesterday: http://dfwmas.org/Forums/viewtopic.php?t=27962&sid=e7f386ea5f3b053da91ba97f24c7a12f
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