OMG! I almost rang in the New Year on a terrible note!!!!

AllSignsPointToFish · Dec 31, 2016

I went out with the family to do some shopping this afternoon. When I got home, the entire tank was dark and motionless, and the UPS was completely drained! No notifications from Apex...nothing.

The best I can figure is that somehow too much water got into the display tank and poured over the edges, shorting a power strip and tripping a breaker. I had not considered this scenario before. I think it has to do with the intermittent siphon I've been dealing with.

Fortunately, I was able to restore power to critical systems fairly quickly, and aside of the temperature dropping a couple of degrees, it looks like all of the livestock is okay.

My Apex powerbar is now show some weird amperage reading even though it did not get wet, so I don't know what that means. Nothing is connected to it, so I don't know why it is seeing ghost amperage.

Here's the kicker...I was supposed to be in Texas today if it were not for some weird circumstances with the tank sitter I had lined up!

I need a stiff drink!!!!!!

Mike_J · Dec 31, 2016

Catastrophe avoided! Phew. The fish gods were watching over you today.

Cheers to still having a thriving tank and to a new year!

Humblefish · Dec 31, 2016

Looks like you dodged a bullet, my friend.

AllSignsPointToFish · Dec 31, 2016

Jeez, guys, I'm still shaking. I'm going to do my best to learn from this and eliminate the potential in the future. I have some ideas to prevent the power interruption in the future.

AllSignsPointToFish · Dec 31, 2016

The intermittent siphon still has me bum-fuddled, though.

bif24701 · Dec 31, 2016

You have an external overflow?

AllSignsPointToFish · Dec 31, 2016

Nope. Internal overflow to a sump. My guess would be that there was an imbalance and the pump moved more water from the sump to the display, then the ATO kicked in to make up the change in level in the sump. Then the process repeated, causing even a higher level in the display tank.

This was never an issue with my old 90 gallon acrylic tank as the filtration was internal to the back of the tank, but all of it was contained within the tank walls. I've never had a sump before this tank.

What a PITA!!

Flippers4pups · Dec 31, 2016

AllSignsPointToFish said:
Nope. Internal overflow to a sump. My guess would be that there was an imbalance and the pump moved more water from the sump to the display, then the ATO kicked in to make up the change in level in the sump. Then the process repeated, causing even a higher level in the display tank.

This was never an issue with my old 90 gallon acrylic tank as the filtration was internal to the back of the tank, but all of it was contained within the tank walls. I've never had a sump before this tank.

What a PITA!!

Have a picture of your overflow? What tank manufacturer is it?

prsnlty · Dec 31, 2016

Check your teeth on the overflows and any other openings on the overflows where water is supposed to go into and make sure they're really good and clean they could be slowing the flow into the sump. I have that happen from time to time due to some hair algae that's growing up there and I have to keep those teeth completely clean.

drawman · Dec 31, 2016

Good thing you were home!

Frop · Dec 31, 2016

AllSignsPointToFish said:
Here's the kicker...I was supposed to be in Texas today if it were not for some weird circumstances

Thank God

AllSignsPointToFish · Dec 31, 2016

Flippers4pups said:
Have a picture of your overflow? What tank manufacturer is it?

It is an Aqueon 125 gallon tank (http://www.oceanfloorstore.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/120-black-empty-with-overflow.jpg) with dual Megaflow overflows (http://www.aqueonproducts.com/assets/010/13496_400wh.jpg). However, the piping from one side is 18" long while the other overflow has a run of about 5 feet. I'm sure this contributes to a flow imbalance between the overflows, but I don't think it's a root cause.

AllSignsPointToFish · Dec 31, 2016

prsnlty said:
Check your teeth on the overflows and any other openings on the overflows where water is supposed to go into and make sure they're really good and clean they could be slowing the flow into the sump. I have that happen from time to time due to some hair algae that's growing up there and I have to keep those teeth completely clean.

The teeth do have coralline algae growing on them. I guess it's time to clean them of the coralline algae. Any suggestions on how to do that?

Velcro · Dec 31, 2016

How is it plumbed? How many drain lines per overflow?

prsnlty · Dec 31, 2016

AllSignsPointToFish said:
The teeth do have coralline algae growing on them. I guess it's time to clean them of the coralline algae. Any suggestions on how to do that?

I use a razor blade and or flat edge knife and scrape it out.

If one down pipe is longer than the other, do you have gate or ball valves on them to adjust the flow? Also, your return pump can be putting out more flow than you're overflow pipes can handle. Is there a way to ramp down the pump a smidge?

AllSignsPointToFish · Dec 31, 2016

Velcro said:
How is it plumbed? How many drain lines per overflow?

One drain line per overflow (I only have two holes drilled for each overflow). 1" PVC all the way to the sump.

AllSignsPointToFish · Dec 31, 2016

prsnlty said:
I use a razor blade and or flat edge knife and scrape it out.

If one down pipe is longer than the other, do you have gate or ball valves on them to adjust the flow? Also, your return pump can be putting out more flow than you're overflow pipes can handle. Is there a way to ramp down the pump a smidge?

Yes, I have ball valves which I was adjusting to try to get rid of the intermittent siphon....which, consequently, I think is the reason this happened. I did not leave enough overflow space in the display tank to allow for this scenario.

The pump is a variable speed DC pump, and I've adjusted the flow down a couple of notches until I figure out a permanent solution.

Velcro · Dec 31, 2016

So you have two full siphon lines? If that's the case I'd try keeping one full siphon then use a slightly taller pvc tube on the other overflow so that you basically have a herbie setup. If both your overflows are acting at full siphon you're just asks for problems

AllSignsPointToFish · Dec 31, 2016

Looks like the EB8 is shot, though

Never got wet, so my only guess is that the power surges fried it when the incident was occurring.

AllSignsPointToFish · Dec 31, 2016

Velcro said:
So you have two full siphon lines? If that's the case I'd try keeping one full siphon then use a slightly taller pvc tube on the other overflow so that you basically have a herbie setup. If both your overflows are acting at full siphon you're just asks for problems

No, the other siphon never acts as an overflow...just the one with the shorter piping, which I believe is a clue to what happened.