Heater Blew up! RIP tank

[Foothill Corals]

Sorry to see this.

Just wondering...Was it a cobalt heater?

 

[92Miata]

Curious how the heater blew up.


Did the sump evaporate too much? Or was the heater just vertical and out of water when stopped? Or was this one of those probe in the tank, heater in the sump runaway situations?



And yeah - this stuff stinks. Lesson for a lot of people here should be "don't make changes the day before vacation".

 

[terraincognita]

Also what happened exactly?

You disconnected the overflow but forgot to turn off the return pump from the sump to the main tank yeah?

Sounds like it then put all the water in the main tank, overflowing it onto the carpet, and then emptying your sump, now having a pump, skimmer and heater all running dry, heater just blew up from too hot, no water?

 

[Kplum]

Let her cool off!

I completely understand her concern, that could've VERY EASILY been a fire, for sure. But Obviously you learned your lesson, and the big man's looking out for you. I think she's probably more upset about that than the fish no?

I think EVERYONE in reefing will make at least 1 DIRE mistake. It's inevitable. Everyone at some point has a tank crashing mistake, and then after that they realize not to play with the beast and double,triple check everything.

I've crashed a tank years ago from similar super easy and simple oversights which I just killed myself for for months. Whether it's forgetting your heater MUST be submerged in water, or forgetting that you didn't plug in the power head after you unplugged it for some reason, or messing up your ATO or forgetting to refill it, or forgetting to disconnect or shut off a valve before you turn off a pump. countless little errors that could happen.

It's those little "oops I forgot moment" normally something so stupid, and then BAM! big problem.

I think if you can let her cool down, then approach her at a time and say look, here's the deal. I know the mistake I made and here is how it will never happen again:

X, Y, Z etc. she might give you another chance

Is the main tank an AIO? or do you need a sump?

If there's a way to just keep it "as is for now" until she cools off That's my 2 cents.

Otherwise next time, make her name everything I make my GF name EVERYTHING in my tank... then she can't hate them... they're her children too ;Pompus

I need to sell my tanks, get a reef ready tank and proper sump.. was out of the game for 8 years, came back and struggled a little..
Blew up a heater, I thought.. well ****, won’t do that again.. but didn’t know it was a bigger deal..

 

[n2585722]

Sorry to hear. For the next time a good controller would have helped. Mine is setup to turn off heaters, skimmer, ATO, Auto water change and calcuim reactor pump if the return pump is turned off. It also has leak detection which will turn off the return pump which will turn off all the other previously mention pumps.

 

[Kplum]

Sorry to see this.

Just wondering...Was it a cobalt heater?

Hygger.. the heater was between the baffles.. so when the sump shut down, evaporation killed me.. it took 3 days for the heater to explode..

 

[Kplum]

Sorry to hear. For the next time a good controller would have helped. Mine is setup to turn off heaters, skimmer, ATO, Auto water change and calcuim reactor pump if the return pump is turned off. It also has leak detection which will turn off the return pump which will turn off all the other previously mention pumps.

I will keep that in mind.. I will need to do that next time..
my LFS said he would come and do my setup next time.. i should have bought a sump instead of DIY

 

[southerntnreefer]

Second the tank controller. We travel a bit. I do have a in house tank and dog sitter, but i worry a fair bit. Its nice to be able to sit down to dinner, log into portal and check that nothing has exploded etc. I can also speak highly of a drilled tank. Is the tank you have drillable? could you have it drilled for say a ghost overflow and go that way?

 

[Kplum]

Second the tank controller. We travel a bit. I do have a in house tank and dog sitter, but i worry a fair bit. Its nice to be able to sit down to dinner, log into portal and check that nothing has exploded etc. I can also speak highly of a drilled tank. Is the tank you have drillable? could you have it drilled for say a ghost overflow and go that way?

I may play around with drilling.. I am not selling, and I bought the tanks at the dollar gallon sale.. nothing to loose right..

 

[southerntnreefer]

I may play around with drilling.. I am not selling, and I bought the tanks at the dollar gallon sale.. nothing to loose right..

for sure! would give you that stability. i did a diy sump and overflow box on my first tank. i hated leaving it as even though i coululd handle power outage ( something i test on each system i do) but just because theres more complexity to it. The system i am about to bring on line, is drilled, with a off the shelf sump. It also has a tank controller on it. Ill be in good shape going forward.

 

[Kplum]

Curious how the heater blew up.


Did the sump evaporate too much? Or was the heater just vertical and out of water when stopped? Or was this one of those probe in the tank, heater in the sump runaway situations?



And yeah - this stuff stinks. Lesson for a lot of people here should be "don't make changes the day before vacation".

Ya.. heater was in the baffles, forgot to move it to display tank.. water evaporated, heater exploded

 

[Kplum]

Thanks for everyone’s responses.. I am heart broken.. I have built this over three months.. I feel like a an idiot.. but we learn these lessons.. I hope to be back soon

 

[southerntnreefer]

You got this! We all learn every day in this hobby. Believe me. Ive been working on this new build about a month short of a year now. I just now have water making in the basement for it. Ive learned a ton more on this one. You will be back! Just like a phoenix you too shall rise!

 

[Mical]

Thanks for everyone’s responses.. I am heart broken.. I have built this over three months.. I feel like a an idiot.. but we learn these lessons.. I hope to be back soon

Hang in there, reefing is not a perfect science and WE ALL make mistakes. Step back, take a breath think & plan your way through this dilemma - it'll work out.

 

[ScubaFish802]

Replace the sump . . or replace the one who wont let you replace the sump is the real question . .
In all seriousness though sorry this happened to you. Maybe as you S/O cools down a bit you can salvage the rest and keep going..

 

[vetteguy53081]

I am going to replace the baffles, and just sit on my equipment

You as you stated have an investment. It happens to the best of us. I had a 360g leak, and pulled everything into buckets. . the the tune of losing it all at approx $3000 in livestock. Sealed it and came back with a Plan B.

 

[Ksull72487]

She hasn’t been the most supportive, but 2k invested, and this could have been fixed.. my LFS wanted to come plumb it correctly.. too many mistakes on my part for the Mrs’s to endure much more.. lol

I call it the going out business tank. Give it a few years and you buy another one. Lol been doing in for the last 10. Lol but I hear ya.

I do Nanos. With every Nano I have done. It’s probably more than my down payment on my BMW and Mini Cooper. Then when I get bored I sell it off and go tankless. I always wind up going back.

which is why I’m new hahahaha

Not really sure why I like hacking biocubes and Evos and JBJ lol. With all that I do I could have a bigger tank. I just like AIO and getting one to run right.

 

[Kplum]

You as you stated have an investment. It happens to the best of us. I had a 360g leak, and pulled everything into buckets. . the the tune of losing it all at approx $3000 in livestock. Sealed it and came back with a Plan B.

This makes me feel a bit better..
the stench of burning wires when got home yesterday, well we can still smell it..
I want to come back sooo bad..
maybe start off a little smaller..

 

[southerntnreefer]

This makes me feel a bit better..
the stench of burning wires when got home yesterday, well we can still smell it..
I want to come back sooo bad..
maybe start off a little smaller..

Could always go the AIO route? looks clean, all contained, and no risks of sumps? Something like a biocube 32, or a fluval flex? I have great luck with my wifes Biocube. Been up around 3 years now.

 

[Ksull72487]

Could always go the AIO route? looks clean, all contained, and no risks of sumps? Something like a biocube 32, or a fluval flex? I have great luck with my wifes Biocube. Been up around 3 years now.

The BioCube 32 with an Intank media basket I loved it. I’m doing an EVO right now that’s a budget tank. Not exactly thrilled but it works. Any BioCube I’ll vouch for. I’d probably stay away from the Flex based one the way the Weir is on the EVO. The 14 isn’t bad either on the BioCube. Great tanks! JBJ Nanos also aren’t bad.

Going to a smaller tank isn’t always bad. Yeah you’ll maintain it more. my biocube was decked out it could dang near support it self. Water changes were more frequent but fast. If you go AIO I have done many of them. I think BioCubes by CoralLife formerly Oceanic lol hahah. They actually make some great small tanks. JBJ I liked but they just aren’t as available plus they want you to buy a lot of stuff separate. EVO or Flex my opinion just cheap tanks but they work. BioCube. You’d be surprised what you can do with 32 gallons and a few modifications.