Heater Blew up! RIP tank

[Kplum]

Well, my beautiful wife and I decided to go away for the weekend.. I shut down the DIY sump down because of a precious overflow, so we would have a carefree weekend away.. I forgot to move my heater from the sump to the tank, and when we got home, something smelled burning.. The heater had blown up.. the sump glass baffles split.. and I am tearing my down tank that I have worked hard on building for the last 3 months..

RIP to the tank I have always wanted, but didn’t have for very long..

 

[sfin52]

Well, my beautiful wife and I decided to go away for the weekend.. I shut down the DIY sump down because of a precious overflow, so we would have a carefree weekend away.. I forgot to move my heater from the sump to the tank, and when we got home, something smelled burning.. The heater had blown up.. the sump glass baffles split.. and I am tearing my down tank that I have worked hard on building for the last 3 months..

RIP to the tank I have always wanted, but didn’t have for very long..

Why tear down the whole thing. The sump is all that needs replaced all the other equipment should be fine.

 

[BlennyTime]

Sorry to hear that! You can get replacement baffles cut from a glass place, if interested.

 

[piranhaman00]

Why did you shut sump down?

 

[Kplum]

Why tear down the whole thing. The sump is all that needs replaced all the other equipment should be fine.

I know right.. an easy $300 and it’s fixed..
my counter part isn’t backing down, and is not a fan of the tank.. so sad

 

[Shaummy]

Sorry that happened to you. If I read it right....your heater was in your sump, and your tank went without heat for the weekend, and it eventually broke in your sump taking parts of the sump with it. Why would you have to tear down the entire tank? Can't you just rebuild the sump and get it going again, or was there too much loss in the tank to do that?

 

[Kplum]

Why did you shut sump down?

In fear of an overflow.. I had an overflow of 2 gallons on to the carpet.. it’s a diy sump..

 

[Chrisfish]

Sorry to hear this

 

[Rick.45cal]

In fear of an overflow.. I had an overflow of 2 gallons on to the carpet.. it’s a diy sump..

Ah so the wife blew up too! RIP tank you will be missed!

 

[Kplum]

 

[Kplum]

Ah so the wife blew up too! RIP tank you will be missed!

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

 

[Saltyreef]

So the tank went cold and the heater blew up in the sump?
A good cleaning of the sump is all thats needed plus a new heater.
New baffles are easily cut cheap at local glass shop...

100% water change to the tank. Not the end of the world...

Also curious why you stopped the flow through the sump while on vacation....
What does precious overflow mean?

 

[Rick.45cal]

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

It’s a learning process for sure!

 

[Kplum]

Sorry to hear that! You can get replacement baffles cut from a glass place, if interested.

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

 

[Kplum]

So the tank went cold and the heater blew up in the sump?
A good cleaning of the sump is all thats needed plus a new heater.
New baffles are easily cut cheap at local glass shop...

100% water change to the tank. Not the end of the world...

Also curious why you stopped the flow through the sump while on vacation....
What does precious overflow mean?

The thing is, everything was contained in the tank.. no worries, just the smell of the heater blowing made the MR’s look at my surge protectors and think I am burning the house down.. lol

 

[Kplum]

It’s a learning process for sure!

Wish I had a little more forgiveness.. I had everything perfect.. because of a previous sump overflow, I killed the sump for a weekend and forgot to move the heater.. ‍‍‍

 

[Devaji]

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

I think after cool down on the wifes part and some clarity on the world stage once things get back to "normal" I think you will have a better time setting it back up.

just keep the kidos and you from scratching the tank. and after a while set it back up.
just have to tell her that it mean i lot for you to have a reef. and its not like your spending all the $$ on drugs or strippers or anything

best of luck buddy we are here for you man.

 

[JMM744]

Your predicament is one most don’t seem to face OR don’t admit to!
In the end it’s far better to keep peace in the family and set the tank aside for a period of time. Eventually you will restart it and rebuild.

 

[terraincognita]

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

 

[sp1187]

I know right.. an easy $300 and it’s fixed..
my counter part isn’t backing down, and is not a fan of the tank.. so sad

even with replacing the sump, baffles and a new heater would be well under $300.
sorry to hear you're getting out.