This was not good

Wiskey

Wiskey

New member
I came home today, after a trip to HD and a couple of local fish stores to find water comming out of my front door.

My hands were shaking as I unlocked it, I kept thinking stand colapse? what if the 180 fell? the 125? I did not want to go in, and accually stood there with the keys in the door unlocked thinking about what horrors awaited.

The good news? The 180 and 125 were fine

The bad news? The 50G SPS's sump was dry (10 gallons) the skimmer sump was 5 inches down (5 gallons) and 6 gallons of kalk had gone into the tank via the auto topoff (6 gallons) total water lost 21 gallons ON MY CARPET!!!!!!!!!

Not only that but all my seio's had shut down (all 3, still no idea why) the UV was dry, but the bulb was on, and the maxijet that fed it was dry (and locked up), the maxijet that fed the skimmer was running dry and the mag7 return was running dry. Not only that but the LUFT pump that runs the air powered skimmer for the nano was pumping WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but not very well and it zaped the heck out of me before I realised it.

So that means, for possibly 4-5 hours, NO In tank water movement, and Pumps dry, and no sump return.

I had 10 gallons of water mixed up for tonight's water change, but it was not the salt I use in this tank it was the 50/50 mix of instant ocean and oceanic that the nano uses. One of the things I picked up was a new 160 gallon bucket of IO so I could do this tank's water change tomorrow.

The cause you ask? The air restricter came off the skimmer:angry: Something that stupid,.... just when this tank was doing so well. I had enough spare parts to get everything working again, and I am mixing up more water for another water change with the right salt tomorrow. My carpet is DRENCHED and I have no idea what to do about that

I have a feeling I won't know the true effects of this for a couple of days, but my stumich is turning already.

Thanks for reading my rant,
suggestions?
Whiskey
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6607412#post6607412 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 10" Red Devil
Oh man! Did you lose anything? I hope not! Sorry this happen to ya!
Click to expand...

Thanks, nothing but the carpet yet, but who knowes what tomorrow may hold,... The other problem is I live in an APT, so I have no idea how much of this water may have gone into neighboring apartments :(.

Whiskey
 
I feel your pain- a few months ago I left my RO filter running with a straight line to my sump (big mistake) I left for work and returned 7 hours later to find water coming from under the front door.
I, too, live in an apartment (1st floor and on a corner, thankfully0 else i wouldve been screwed)
my sump, overflowing with water for 7 hours = roughly 20 gallons on my dining room carpet
And b/c it was RO water, my salinity dropped to 1.017 . . . enough to kill every leather i had in the tank at the time (everything else made it)

now heres where I can help:
I went and bought a shop vac the next morning and with it was able to pull about 13 or so gallons out of the carpet. That still left quite a bit water on the floor so I called around town for dehumidifiers and such . . . dont even bother, cuz they wont do anything. (to get similiar results, just put your A/C down to teh lowest setting) I ultimately got the guy who does the carpets at my work to come over with his industrial vacuum, which has ALOT more suction/power than any shop vac you can buy. It pulled the remaining water out and after deoderizing the carpet we were done. Its been 4 months since that incident and have had no porblems with mold.
If you catch it soon enough, you wont have to replace the carpet

so get someone with an industrial strength vacuum out there pronto!!!
 
Re: This was not good

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6607377#post6607377 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Wiskey
I came home today, after a trip to HD and a couple of local fish stores to find water comming out of my front door.

My hands were shaking as I unlocked it, I kept thinking stand colapse? what if the 180 fell? the 125? I did not want to go in, and accually stood there with the keys in the door unlocked thinking about what horrors awaited.

The good news? The 180 and 125 were fine

The bad news? The 50G SPS's sump was dry (10 gallons) the skimmer sump was 5 inches down (5 gallons) and 6 gallons of kalk had gone into the tank via the auto topoff (6 gallons) total water lost 21 gallons ON MY CARPET!!!!!!!!!

Not only that but all my seio's had shut down (all 3, still no idea why) the UV was dry, but the bulb was on, and the maxijet that fed it was dry (and locked up), the maxijet that fed the skimmer was running dry and the mag7 return was running dry. Not only that but the LUFT pump that runs the air powered skimmer for the nano was pumping WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but not very well and it zaped the heck out of me before I realised it.

So that means, for possibly 4-5 hours, NO In tank water movement, and Pumps dry, and no sump return.

I had 10 gallons of water mixed up for tonight's water change, but it was not the salt I use in this tank it was the 50/50 mix of instant ocean and oceanic that the nano uses. One of the things I picked up was a new 160 gallon bucket of IO so I could do this tank's water change tomorrow.

The cause you ask? The air restricter came off the skimmer:angry: Something that stupid,.... just when this tank was doing so well. I had enough spare parts to get everything working again, and I am mixing up more water for another water change with the right salt tomorrow. My carpet is DRENCHED and I have no idea what to do about that

I have a feeling I won't know the true effects of this for a couple of days, but my stumich is turning already.

Thanks for reading my rant,
suggestions?
Whiskey
Click to expand...

Whiskey my tank dumped twice in 1 week last summer, just come back stronger and better. However I know exactly how you feel. I took the time and money to fix things so hopefully that doesnt happen again. Your tank will recover , hang in there
 
The kalk is what locked up the pumps. after dumping into the tank the precipitation would have accumulated on the warm pumps and locked them up, a little soak in vinegar or muriatic acid should help.

Best of luck with getting everything back together.
 
You should get a waste collector on the skimmer that'll shut it down once its full, similar to the becketts, I know they have them out their for venturi skimmers also. I think its www.aquaticsystemsdesign.com

Might be an investment, sorry to hear about your flood. I have had 4 large (20g+) floods in the past 7 months and feel your pain.
 
Sorry to hear about you accident.
Good luck with the tank and cleanup.

Stories like this make me feel better for having a drain under the sump.
 
Been there - 100G on one glorious evening. Wet vacs are cheap and necessary. After you vac go to one of those rental places and get an industrial blower for a couple of days.

Sorry about the flood.
 
Its all part of reefing, and the reason you see so many start up tanks and alot less mature ones. I set up my new tank to be diaster proof. I've had 2 in 2 months, but everything lived so its all good!
 
Its all about carpet

Its all about carpet

I have been where you are right now. Its quite an ordeal.

Your carpet is likely going to shrink. It can be stretched by a carpet installer who has a tool for it.

The bad part is that while your carpet may dry, if you have a carpet pad, that takes alot longer to dry. This can create mold conditions. I know it is an apt, but future tenants can have issues. So, bear that in mind.

The way around this is to pull up the carpet, let everything dry and then have a carpet installer stretch it back into place. Not fun I know, but it may be necessary.

I lost 40 gallons once. What a mess.

Ed
 
Man... so sorry to hear. I know you've been working thru some other issues with this tank and this just seems like a swift kick in the sack :( I hope all that Kalk doesn't nuke all your SPS. Good luck ;)
 
i feel your pain, i lost 45, gallons of premixxed saltwater in my den on the rug once it was horror and left a bad stench too...
 
I don't have a shop vac, but I have a couple more calls to make. I got as much water out as possible with a python no spill drain and fill because that is all I had to work with at the time.

The carpet in this APT was supposed to be replaced before I moved in, I told them not to, just shampoo it (I needed a place quick, roomates moving out and I had no place to go), but note that it should have been replaced in my lease. So when I move out this carpet and pad will be replaced anyway, and I won't have to pay for it. I feel pretty smart right now :D.

I have the skimmer setup right now so it will only fill the cup (plugged up the drain) so I have to manually drain it, this will work until I get something better.

I got all the pumps working, by removing the impeller and impeller shaft and cleaning out the crud that hardened inside, but some are not working too well, I will try that vinger trick to get them back to thier previous condition.

Thanks all,
Whiskey
 
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