Near disaster partialy averted tonight.

[Greenstarfish03]

100g display that I have been running with mostly the same setup for 12 years. Tonight my wife started telling that the fish tank which is in the kitchen is overflowing. I spring up and sure enough water flowing over the top like a waterfall. I ran to the basement and unplugged the return pump then started to frantically figure out what had happened. The overflow is setup as a herbie so this should never happen. To make a long story short after a fair amount of looking somehow my valentini puffer made its way into my overflow (I have no.idea how that is even possible. He isn't a jumper) and then went down the emergency drain and became stuck in the hose rendering the emergency drain useless and then the main got out of whack and it became a waterfall. Lucky we caught it really quick fixed the issue and it's back up and running minus my poor puffer. I have no idea how this could happen. Any thoughts are appreciated bc this can't happen again.

 

[Cali Reef Life]

I'm sorry for your loss. I would suggest some kinda mesh cover or circle cut some eggcrate the size of emergency drain to prevent something going inside again. Could use silicon to glue it or some other method to hold it in place.

 

[AydenLincoln]

I’m so sorry to hear this. Equipment is never meant to last forever and the fact that you’ve had the same tank up and running for 12 years is impressive. But it’s not a matter of what if something breaks/if the power goes out it’s a matter of when and are you prepared.

 

[Chrisv.]

I’m so sorry to hear this. Equipment is never meant to last forever and the fact that you’ve had the same tank up and running for 12 years is impressive. But it’s not a matter of what if something breaks/if the power goes out it’s a matter of when and are you prepared.

But...nothing broke...a puffer got stuck in an overflow drain.

 

[AydenLincoln]

But...nothing broke...a puffer got stuck in an overflow drain.

But that doesn’t mean it can’t ever is my point. I think we are all guilty of being unprepared if equipment breaks.

 

[Chrisv.]

But that doesn’t mean it can’t ever is my point. I think we are all guilty of being unprepared if equipment breaks.

I guess I don't understand the relevance.

 

[AydenLincoln]

I guess I don't understand the relevance.

I’m saying that you’ve had the same equipment mostly for the 12 years and tonight something happened and led to an almost disaster you stated should never happen. Never say never and be prepared is my point. Do you get it now?

 

[Cell]

Cover on the overflow box or a bulkhead strainers inside on the drain pipes.

 

[Chrisv.]

I’m saying that you’ve had the same equipment mostly for the 12 years and tonight something happened and led to an almost disaster you stated should never happen. Never say never and be prepared is my point. Do you get it now?

Oh I understood what you said the first time, I just don't understand why you said it here. I don't agree with the relevance to this thread.

 

[Greenstarfish03]

But that doesn’t mean it can’t ever is my point. I think we are all guilty of being unprepared if equipment breaks.

As far as equipment goes I have been doing this ling enough and had issues so I believed that I had all major issues covered not to thr point where everything is redundant but where if something broke I would get alerted before anything really catastrophic happened. I run a Apex with ato and extra optical sensors to catch issues like my skimmer going crazy and draining my tank, floor water sensor in the basement where my sump is etc. This issue totally caught me off gaurd though and if I was sleeping or out of town my tank would have drained into the kitchen. That has to be prevented.

 

[Greenstarfish03]

As soon as I get off a call I'll drop some pictures of my overflow for reference. I can't imagine how he got in the overflow.

 

[Greenstarfish03]

I dont know if either of these help.

 

[Greenstarfish03]

I'm sorry for your loss. I would suggest some kinda mesh cover or circle cut some eggcrate the size of emergency drain to prevent something going inside again. Could use silicon to glue it or some other method to hold it in place.

So my concern about covering the emergency drain is that may make the problem worse bc eventhough it may stop a fish from getting in it would clog easier and the fish still could get sucked to the cover causing the same issue. That would at least be my concern.

 

[Greenstarfish03]

Cover on the overflow box or a bulkhead strainers inside on the drain pipes.

I have a strainer on the main drain but I was always told to leave the emergency open so that it doesn't get clogged since it shoukd only be being used in case of an emergency.

 

[Greenstarfish03]

I have a strainer on the main drain but I was always told to leave the emergency open so that it doesn't get clogged since it shoukd only be being used in case of an emergency.

As far as the cover on the box goes that I'd a good idea but when I got this tank the top never fit with the plumbing in place. This is an sca tank and unless I'm missing something it seems like it has a design flaw. I can't lower the return so the lid fits bc of where the return limes are at. That one has always stumped me and I do think figuring that out would help.

 

[Greenstarfish03]

But...nothing broke...a puffer got stuck in an overflow drain.

I'm lucky the fish was in the clear part of the drain hose below the tank or I would have had a real hard time finding it.

 

[Jedi1199]

So my concern about covering the emergency drain is that may make the problem worse bc eventhough it may stop a fish from getting in it would clog easier and the fish still could get sucked to the cover causing the same issue. That would at least be my concern.

I would try covering the overflow with a small square of mesh like is used for a mesh top. Large enough to avoid clogging easily from food and whatever, but small enough to keep unexpected stock out. A simple zip tie or similar would hold it in place, and make it simple for cleaning.

EDIT: I mean cover that open emergency drain tube... not the entire overflow. Sorry if that was unclear.

 

[Chrisv.]

I'm lucky the fish was in the clear part of the drain hose below the tank or I would have had a real hard time finding it.

I'll say! And yet this whole thing does seem like such bad luck. I guess 1 in a million situations happen now and then if your sample size is large enough.

 

[Greenstarfish03]

Unless something really weird happened that I'm not catching a puffer not a jumper would have had to fly over the weir part of the overflow that is above water. Land in the overflow not miss the box, then my main would have to get clogged enough to raise the water to the emergency and then it would have ro auck the fish in where it would have ro be just the right size ro get in but not get out clothing the emergency drain to stop draining. Just seems crazy.

 

[Chrisv.]

Unless something really weird happened that I'm not catching a puffer not a jumper would have had to fly over the weir part of the overflow that is above water. Land in the overflow not miss the box, then my main would have to get clogged enough to raise the water to the emergency and then it would have ro auck the fish in where it would have ro be just the right size ro get in but not get out clothing the emergency drain to stop draining. Just seems crazy.

Sounds like a scene from the end of finding Nemo...