Catastrophe Everted !!

[Reefguide]

Just a head up for fellow reefers !!

I happen to be home (thank god) and my durso standpipe started to sound a bit funky. I glance over and notice that the egg crate I have guarding the top of my overflow was sitting on top of some rock work. I knew right away I must have a snail in the durso.... Sure enough a snail ventured into my overflow and into the durso standpipe. I flip the hood open and I actually saw the water level in the main tank rising... I ran for the powerstrip and caught it just in time... This would have been the 2nd time a snail would have caused my tank to overflow... Needless to say I have now crazy glued the eggcrate in place...

Be warned fellas, keep those overflows protected !!

 

[King Jason]

My snail's are small...how big are your snails? I couldn't imagine a snail clogging my overflow (although I have a 2, one for backup :wink: )! Good thing you were home, I always dread coming home and seeing my carpet all wet when I open the door.

 

[Reefguide]

They are pretty big... my return is only 3/4" though... Thats not enough to fully clog it but enough to restrict the durso to overrflow the main tank...

 

[King Jason]

They are pretty big... my return is only 3/4" though... Thats not enough to fully clog it but enough to restrict the durso to overrflow the main tank...

Ahh...that makes sense now!

 

[Anonymous]

8O

This story makes me want to run home on lunch to check my tank.

 

[Syris]

Same thing happenned to me with my Durso. The snail got all the way thru to the bulkhead fitting and was stuck :roll: Had to take apart the Durso and bulkhead to get out.
So I tried the eggcrate in the Durso but could'nt keep it in place and it happened again. Talk about frustrating. :x
Finally came up with this (below) which works for me.

Glad to hear you where there to stop the flood.

 

[Anonymous]

I have similar to Syris, but just a 1.5 inch strainer on the end. For additional flow I have holed drilled in the end of the strainer and also along the length of the standpipe.

 

[LA-Lawman]

Hey Syris....

how much flow do you get from your durso.... (gph wise)

 

[Anonymous]

I used cuts in the strainer because I found debris clogged the drill holes too quickly. I also am replacing the end cap with a strainer.

 

[Syris]

A friend of mine calculated the number of 1/4" holes I would need to be equivlent to the area of the opening of the standpipe and then we added 10% to account for any holes clogging. The pic I posted is a year old and I have not had a hole clog on me yet. But I like the slit idea too.


LA-Lawman,

Im not sure how much flow im getting. But I run a mag 9.5 on my sump at near full throttle with about 4' of head.

 

[Reefguide]

Man, I like those Ideas.... Thanks guys !

 

[Leopardshark]

I like the idea, I´m goig to use it on my closed loop intake because I have a circular foam that gets clogged with detritus and I just simply hate it.

 

[MattM]

Averted = avoided
Everted = turned inside out



Now I'm sitting here trying to imagine what an "everted catastrophe" might look like... None too pretty I guess.

 

[Fredfish]

nothing like two overflows for piece of mind.

Came home one day and the tank level was a little higher than normal. It turned out that one of the overflow screens was out of place and a snail had wedged itself into one of the overflows.

I will never have another tank with just one overflow

Fred.