Sad Day Today

jkreefer

Premium Member
This morning while I was at work my wife called me and said that there was a fire in the living room. I told her to shut the main breaker to the house off and get the hell out! Well after the fire department came and the smoke cleared it was determined that a plug strip behind my tank went faulty, started my stand on fire and when the fire climbed up the tank and heated the glass, the temp diff. cracked the glass and extinguished the flames. The good news is it didnt burn my house down. The bad news is that everything died except my new clam, both my pepermint shrimp, and about a half dozen snails.Needless to say i am still in shock and am not sure where i will go from here, but here are some pics after the fact.
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Back of tank
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Back of tank and stand
 
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melted wiring
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rocks leaning against glass but not any rock fell out of place
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smoke damage above canopy

if anyone was worried if I have red bugs, I can guarantee that I don't anymore. But I wouldn't recommend going to this extreme to eradicate them!:rollface:
 
Jeff sorry about that man, I will help you restock dont you worry. I am just glad that the house is intact. And the main thing is everybody is ok.

Keep the sump and the fuge going for now until you get your new tank, maybe move the stuff out the 90gal for now.

If you need help with anything please dont hessitate to let me know.
 
That makes the sparks that flew when my 100g overflowed after a power outage (my durso standpipe *did not* start up right) like nothing. That's awful!
 
Yes, it was scary as to what could have happened. We slept over at Mikes last night because of the whole house smells of smoke and burnned plastic. Thanks for the offers of help. mabe rebuild in a while. for the meantime, i do have my fuge and sump still going, because my fuge only drained down to the top of the overflow tube, and the pump for the fuge is lower than my main return pump, so i just had to close my main pump off and add a little more water. do i still need to do water changes as often with no fish? i guess with no corals ,not as much part a and part b also? All i have in my fuge now is hermit crabs, snails,live rock,and 2 shrimp ( i put my clam in mikes tank).
 
this is why i hate HOB overflows and closed loops... try getting a reef ready tank..

sorry to hear about the tank... glad eveone is ok though...
 
omg thats terrible and LUCKY at the same time. Thank goodness you didn't loose EVERYTHING.

I thought I read about a year ago or so this same exact thing happening to them. I'm almost positive I have read this same thing.
 
steve ruddy

steve ruddy

Really sorry to hear the news. As you know it could have been much worse. Allways install power stips high with drip loops in all the power cords. In certian cases where that's not possible I install oudoor water proof outlets. Try to invision all ways water could get in and install appropriately. I hope you were able to save your live rock. A trash can with heater and pump works great for long periods of time.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9407367#post9407367 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bebo77
this is why i hate HOB overflows and closed loops... try getting a reef ready tank..

sorry to hear about the tank... glad eveone is ok though...

What does the HOB overflow have to do w/ his situation?

Sorry to hear about your loss Jeff; I'm sure the nor cal reefers (myself included) will help you restock if and when you decide to get another tank up and running.
 
Thank God you're OK. I'm sorry that you lost most of your critters.

A lot of powerstrips say that they come with a guarantee if they don't protect your stuff. I've never had to try to enforce the guarantee.

What brand of powerstrip was it? How would one go bad?

Hopefully, your homeowners insurance won't give you a hassle.

Other than the luck of the draw, do you think there is anything you could have done differently to prevent this. I think we all have powerstrips connected to our systems. It would be helpful to learn from your tragedy.

If you go to a fishless tank/sump for now, you won't have to worry much about maintaining it. I have a tank in a brightly lit room that I don't even turn the lights on for. All the critters in that tank are fine. You might want to check the SG to make sure it is still where you want it.

If you toss your rocks and stuff in a bucket or garbage can, you might not have as much die off as you think. In many parts of the word, reefs are exposed to the air for part of the day.

Due to the hassle factor, I wouldn't bother trying to keep the sand moist. If you do, don't put the sand in a container with anything else as there will be a huge die off.

In the past, I have had lots of rocks (easily 50 gallons worth) in a brute garbage can with a heater and powerhead in a naturally lit room for several days. Most critters made it and the live rock stayed "live". If you had to, you could probably go weeks like this.

When you get set up again, I can probably donate a couple of critters to the cause. I can't guarantee that they will be firesafe. Well, then again maybe my aiptasia is. Just Kidding.

Best of luck,

Roy
 
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So sorry. If you can think of anything, let me know. I have some spare tanks(25 and 15gal) if they will help. I also have ballasts, lights, etc. We will restock you when you are ready so don't worry about that. Just glad that you and your family are alright.
 
Thanks again for all the kind words and offers of help.

--"this is why i hate HOB overflows and closed loops... try getting a reef ready tank.. "

I also hate them, but i dont think this had anything to do with the fire, and my next tank will deff. be a reef ready.


----"Other than the luck of the draw, do you think there is anything you could have done differently to prevent this. I think we all have powerstrips connected to our systems. It would be helpful to learn from your tragedy."

I will not use powerstrips anymore. Instead i will make my own "plugstrips" by hardwiring plugs in electrical boxes and mounting them up and out of possibility of getting wet.


I was able to salvage my rocks by throwing them in the 90 gal fuge. i also found out that some of my zoos also survived.

No one will ever know if the strip just went bad or if some how water acctually got on it, but regardless i know better than to have had it sitting right behind the tank on the floor. so its hard to say if this could have been prevented, but regardless i will be walking away from this ordeal with a strong lesson learned, and blessed that my wife, cat, and house are all still intact, because it could have been much much worse. Thanks for all the help and support.

Jeff
 
Wow i just happened to have stumbled upon this thread and I'm shocked about what I read. First off, I'm so glad that everyone is alright and that you still have a house. It really brings you back to reality that keeping water and electricity together is dangerous. I think racrumrine brought up a good point that although this is a disaster we should learn from it as well. Had it been from water, saltcreep or what not, drip loops are necessary. A "plugstrip" would be a great idea too. Looks like you guys have a real solid club, because i know for sure if this happen to any of our members here in Florida we would get them on their feet as soon as possible as well. Good luck, and hopefully we'll get to see pics of your new tank.
 
Does insurance cover the shortage? The fire? The tank? I would assume not, but any of the inhabitants that were lost?

Do you have any pictures of the tank when it was running, just for a last tribute to what was? I would love to see the tank before the tragedy if you can even bring yourself to post pictures(I know I would be devastated).

Really sorry for the loss...
 
Sorry for your loss, but that could have been a LOT worse. It doiesnt take much for a flame to travel up the inside of a wall, into the attic and zip across causing havoc all over the place. If possible Id love some high res copies of the pics, mainly the ones that show the powerstrip and the wall. email to Brian@showfocus.net if you get a chance. Those are prime pics to show as examples of what can happen, Ive shown people pics of whole houses burned that traced back to a fish tank and had them simply not believe it could have started from a tank.... cant deny the area this on started.
 
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