Friendly Reminder to be careful on your electrical

[Rubymoon286]

We had a small electrical fire tonight - I don't have photos of any of it unfortunately, I just didn't think to take them. One or more of my three tanks that were close enough to have caused the problem. I think my blackwater tank sprung a slow leak near the top 2 inches of the water line (it's down two inches but the top of the stand is totally dry which is the weird part) AND my salt water return backed up a little and spilled out instead of into the tank/my overflow box lost siphon and it just flat overflowed. Water spilled down onto the shelf in the middle of the stand where my freshwater hospital lives, but also where my reef electrical lives hung up on the middle support. I learned two things tonight, 1, my stand has a design flaw where water can leak in between boards (I can repair that part) 2. hanging up power strips and control boxes isn't enough if you don't make sure they aren't directly in the way of a leak.

Losses:
2 Skimmers (reef and frag tank)
1 uv sterilizer (reef)
1 powerhead control box (reef and frag, but the powerheads are okay)
1 return pump (reef)
1 fuge light (reef)
1 surface skimmer (blackwater tank)
1 full spectrum freshwater plant light (blackwater tank)
1 quiet flow filter (blackwater tank)
2 coralife timer power strips (reef, frag, and lights for the blackwater, one half melted, the other just totally dead)

Thankfully my dog came and got me when everything started happening and I was able to catch it early before my house ended up on fire. I'm sick on bedrest, so I would have never realized it until smoke alarms started going off without him (he's truly the best boy and got a ton of love and a new rope toy now instead of at christmas)
Guess I know where any money I get for Christmas/birthday, and it's not towards the seahorse tank (T-T)

 

[Chefwheredyougo]

Whoa I'm sorry to hear that! That's a very good boy indeed. Thanks for the reminder to us all

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

I am so happy that you and your house are alright! That is a very good dog indeed.

 

[Rubymoon286]

It was definitely a wakeup call for me - my engineer brother is already talking to me about designing a power management box with water detection that will immediately trigger the circuit breaker in the power box, and one that is directly installed in the tank stand to make sure we have an adequate drip line and out of the way of potential leaks. If it goes well and works out, I'll post it as an update to my build thread

 

[DEWreefing]

Sorry to hear that and hope you will be back in action soon.

 

[kireek]

This sounds awful and scary.Sorry that you had to go though this.I am Thankful that your friend had your back.Definitely keep us posted as you recuperate.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Definitely lucky that it was caught in time.

Another PSA about using GFCI's on anything that is plugged in around water!

 

[vetteguy53081]

This can and may happen when least expected.
Saltwater and electricity do NOT mix well and extra precautions cannot be expressed enough.
I have had two close calls myself. This time with new setup, EVERYTHING is elevated AWAY from outlets and plug-ins.
Loss of equipment generally is result, but sure beats Loss of Life.

 

[MnFish1]

We had a small electrical fire tonight - I don't have photos of any of it unfortunately, I just didn't think to take them. One or more of my three tanks that were close enough to have caused the problem. I think my blackwater tank sprung a slow leak near the top 2 inches of the water line (it's down two inches but the top of the stand is totally dry which is the weird part) AND my salt water return backed up a little and spilled out instead of into the tank/my overflow box lost siphon and it just flat overflowed. Water spilled down onto the shelf in the middle of the stand where my freshwater hospital lives, but also where my reef electrical lives hung up on the middle support. I learned two things tonight, 1, my stand has a design flaw where water can leak in between boards (I can repair that part) 2. hanging up power strips and control boxes isn't enough if you don't make sure they aren't directly in the way of a leak.

Losses:
2 Skimmers (reef and frag tank)
1 uv sterilizer (reef)
1 powerhead control box (reef and frag, but the powerheads are okay)
1 return pump (reef)
1 fuge light (reef)
1 surface skimmer (blackwater tank)
1 full spectrum freshwater plant light (blackwater tank)
1 quiet flow filter (blackwater tank)
2 coralife timer power strips (reef, frag, and lights for the blackwater, one half melted, the other just totally dead)

Thankfully my dog came and got me when everything started happening and I was able to catch it early before my house ended up on fire. I'm sick on bedrest, so I would have never realized it until smoke alarms started going off without him (he's truly the best boy and got a ton of love and a new rope toy now instead of at christmas)
Guess I know where any money I get for Christmas/birthday, and it's not towards the seahorse tank (T-T)

This happened to me some years ago - I asked my son - what is that beeping - he said 'the microwave'. I came upstairs to a house full of smoke....

 

[Rubymoon286]

It was definitely scary and we're so lucky my dog was back in that part of the house. I was sick in bed on the opposite end of the house, so who knows if I would have even heard the smoke alarm! Now, it's all hanging up on the wall behind the stand with a piece of acrylic over it, sloped down and away just in case water somehow manages to get to it

 

[DEWreefing]

Hope santa got you some nice stuff.

 

[Rubymoon286]

Hope santa got you some nice stuff.

My family all came together and (in the words of my brother) "Conspired" to help me get back to where I was. I got 3 skimmers (because my father in law had bought me the one for my seahorse build) Mom and my brother got me two smaller ones to go with my frag tank and my reef, I bought myself pumps, a surface skimmer for my planted tank, as well as a plant light for my fuge, and full spectrum for my planted blackwater tank. All in all I'm back in business thankfully. My birthday is also on Christmas, so that helped too. I'm so thankful to my family for recognizing how much this hobby has improved my life, and enabling me to continue it

 

[DEWreefing]

My family all came together and (in the words of my brother) "Conspired" to help me get back to where I was. I got 3 skimmers (because my father in law had bought me the one for my seahorse build) Mom and my brother got me two smaller ones to go with my frag tank and my reef, I bought myself pumps, a surface skimmer for my planted tank, as well as a plant light for my fuge, and full spectrum for my planted blackwater tank. All in all I'm back in business thankfully. My birthday is also on Christmas, so that helped too. I'm so thankful to my family for recognizing how much this hobby has improved my life, and enabling me to continue it

I am happy to hear that your caught back up. I did not see your post before I started shopping and happy late birthday.

 

[samnaz]

Man, dogs are the BEST. Amazes me they know when something’s up and they prevent disaster, save lives, etc.

Too many hobbyists don’t take electrical safety and preventative measures seriously. I’ve been one of them, but luckily I didn’t have to learn the hard way as you did. It’s posts like this that open eyes and remind us... these unexpected disasters CAN happen, and how to prevent them from happening. Thanks for sharing!