Don't be dumb like me

[Anonymous]

Yesterday I installed an ozone generator on my Euro Reef skimmer for various reasons. I draped a filter sock with carbon over the outflow, and was going to make something more permanent the next day. The skimming was amazingly better using only a little ozone. Later that night, I noticed my tank was very cloudy because my snails were spawning - they do this once and a while. I thought nothing of it, figuring the ozone would help it skim out even better that before, and went to sleep.
This morning I came down to at least one power head that sounded like a saw because it was out of water. The level in my tank had dropped to the level of the over flow teeth. At first I thought we had a power outage and the return didn't spin up. I rushed out to the remote sump only to find that the filter sock on the skimmer had clogged and the skimmer was pumping water onto the ground through the collection cup. The sump, a 180, was basically empty. Lucky, I had about 80 gallons all mixed up.
Things look fine. I think I might lose some of the frags in the sump because they were exposed to air for a little while. I love it when a major screw up ends up costing very little.

What did I learn?
1) Never block the outflow of your skimmer.
2) Don't jury rig things and leave them overnight.
3) Always keep a bunch of usable water on hand.

 

[Anonymous]

the only dumb things are the one not talked about.

You are not dumb and thank for shareing.

 

[Anonymous]

Hoot, that was a good one! Close call. It seems like there are a billion ways to screw up a reef.

 

[Anonymous]

I have also learned 2) the hard way! Never ever set up or change something that could conceivably leak before bedtime 8O

 

[Anonymous]

I bet you were thankful the sump is under the house.

 

[Anonymous]

Alright, I fess up....

My RO/DI supposed to be automatics. But after dropping the powersupply into a bucket of saltwater, it was not working for a few months. The topoff is done manually all this time. Well, a few weeks ago, I turned on the RO/DI when I got home from work. Think that I will shut it off before going to bed, I started to work on something else.

The next morning, I walked pass the tank. Things looked funny, but nothing rings a bell until my socks got soaked. Looking at the floor and the sump, it looks like I dump about 30 gal of water into my tank (110 gal with 60 gal sump).

I shuted off the RO/DI, siphoned out 20 gal of water to stablize the water level in the sump, and use a shop vac to get the water out of the carpet. Gotta go to work, so I just have to leave.

Returning from work, and expected the worst. Nothing die, but the Xenia is not pulsating. After a few days, thing returned to normal.

That was a close call.

 

[Anonymous]

maybe we should rename this thread the stupid things we have done.

Bout a year ago the wife decided the 55g should be moved about 4 '. So I got some large trash cans, filled them with the tank's water, and took a break.

During the break one of the trash cans tipped over dumping 15-20g of tank water all over the livingroom. Daaaah now what do ya do :lol: Poor little coral beauty was flipping next to the base board. It's a wonder any of the corals survived but most did.

Next time stronger trash cans LOL.

All was not really lost as resetting up the tank allowed me to add the in tank refug. As a result things are now flourshing.

Just my input (JMI?)

 

[Anonymous]

I bet you were thankful the sump is under the house.

You betcha! Mistakes/floods like this one are the main reason I put it there!

 

[Anonymous]

Sucks! So there's no way you can make an ER shut off if the collection cup gets too full then, huh? Would it be a really stupid idea to have the collection cup sitting inside the sump? Little nastiness, but no burned out pumps if it happens again?

This is partly why I put my tanks in my bedroom. Any sounds out of the ordinary will wake me up right away.

 

[Anonymous]

Sucks! So there's no way you can make an ER shut off if the collection cup gets too full then, huh?

You can do that, in fact I did. What happened was the external collection container got full and the ping pong ball went up to block the air, but there was still a some from the ozone pump. When the pressure in the mixing chamber went up due to the blocked sock on the skimmer out there was still foam/water filling the collection cup and the external collection container - fast enough to drain the sump.

Would it be a really stupid idea to have the collection cup sitting inside the sump? Little nastiness, but no burned out pumps if it happens again?

It is! The problem was the out getting blocked and the pressure in the mixing chamber going up.

This is partly why I put my tanks in my bedroom. Any sounds out of the ordinary will wake me up right away.

Ha! Thats not why the tank is in your room! :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

This is partly why I put my tanks in my bedroom. Any sounds out of the ordinary will wake me up right away.

Ha! Thats not why the tank is in your room! :wink:

:lol:

 

[Anonymous]

I do have to admit that very shameless ploy has worked before.

:lol:

 

[garagebrian]

In my first year of running my tank I bought a LTA and asked the employee at the LFS what it needed to survive. He said since I had MH lights over the tank I was good to go. I said "thats it, nothing else?" He said yep, and this was from supposedly a "great" store, so I went with it. About two weeks later the LTA was very sick looking and I waited too long to ask around about actually FEEDING it. After that I've always made sure I have at least 2 or 3 opinions before doing anything.

 

[Anonymous]

Luckly you did not flood the house. How are the ER at handeling O3? Did you have to make any mods?

 

[Anonymous]

Luckly you did not flood the house. How are the ER at handeling O3? Did you have to make any mods?

Pretty well so far, but I am not running much 03. The unit only delivers 50 at max which isn't enough for my system. Currently I am only running 5 because I don't have a controller. To feed the ER, I ran some rigid tubing to the intake of the ER pump. There sure is a difference in the skimmate though- much frothier.

 

[Anonymous]

Righty that's not dumb!
dumb is falling asleep wile filling a tank. the positive side is I hade to clean the carpet any ways.

 

[danmhippo]

Will the real dumbass stand up?

Will the real dumbass please stand up?




Righty, that's OK, we have all done stupid things before. Not sure how's your dumb deeds compared to toad licking that I did waaaaaaaay back?

 

[Anonymous]

You really did the toad licking? How was it?

 

[Chemical_Whore]

How do you think he got his first fish tank??


J/K

**EDIT**
Speaking of dumb

 

[danmhippo]

Can't remember much back then, but I licked only because a hot chick licked it right before me. I heard she ends up as an attorney........

How do you think he got his first fish tank??

Hmmmmm, come to think of it, it IS about that time........ GOD, that's a stupid thing to do.........