Well that sucked

Pntbll687 · Dec 7, 2018

I did a 15g water change on my 20 long office tank around 745 pm. The sump holds around 10 gallons so I pump that out with an extra pump, then clean the display and take a couple gallons from there.

Everything was fine until about 10pm, and I hear water dripping. Now, I'm downstairs and it sounds like a waterfall. I thought it was my big tank so I go check and nothing. But then I see WATER DRIPPING FROM THE DINING ROOM DOOR FRAME.

I bolt upstairs, and I'm greeted by water everywhere!! Turns out the return line had somehow popped off the PVC it was attached to and the return pump had emptied the sump onto the floor. Got shocked when u went to turn off the electrical components. And the heater is shot, lucky I didn't burn the place down.

Clean up wasn't too bad. I got it so cleaned up in about 20 min. I thought "that didn't seem like 10g of water". Yeah, most of the water had made its way through the walls to the basement... ***!!

finally got everything cleaned up, started the loads of towels that need to be done.

And I'm gonna swap the 20 long for a standard 29 tomorrow. Gonna go bare bottom and just powerheads for water flow, no sump or hang on filter. I want to uncomplicate things after the disaster that was tonight.

Katrina71 · Dec 7, 2018

Your title is perfect! I'm sorry. Your DT is ok, right?

Geebs19 · Dec 7, 2018

Bummer! I’m pretty sure it’s happened to all of us at least once, some kind of leak.

Alexreefer · Dec 7, 2018

I understand how you felt only mine was bigger with a crack in my dt pouring 45 gal into my basement.

GoldeneyeRet · Dec 7, 2018

That does suck.

The sound of dripping is a reefers nightmare.

Pntbll687 · Dec 7, 2018

Katrina71 said:
Your title is perfect! I'm sorry. Your DT is ok, right?

The display is ok for the moment. Put an extra heater in it and a powerhead for water movement. The only thing that I would be upset about would be if I lost the clown that's in the tank. He's the first fish I ever had.

And I went to get the 29g out of the garage, it had a crack in a corner. So I grabbed the extra 20 long I have. And my wife questions why I get free tanks of of Facebook. For moments like this!!

Katrina71 · Dec 8, 2018

I'm glad it wasn't worse.

Pntbll687 · Dec 8, 2018

Ok, so I learned a couple lessons from last night.
1. Properly designed sump would have mitigated much of the flooding. In my frugality and wanting a simple build, I used a Rubbermaid tote as a sump. It had only one chamber so when trouble started it pumped all the water on the sump plus what drained from the display on to the floor. If I had taken my time with the build and even just added a single baffle for the return chamber the mess would have been much less.

2. Heaters go on the BOTTOM of the sump. Walking up to a flooded room is only worse when the smell of something burning is added to the problem. The heater was about a third of the way up the back wall of the sump. If it had been on the bottom it would have stayed in the last 2in of water that remained. The heater did melt, and was today in the trash.

3. Always have spare ro water ready. I had just done a water change so I did not have any water ready. I'm contemplating setting up a small mixing station to always have at least 5-10g of water ready.

4. Electrical needs to be outside the stand, in a separate compartment if possible. Mounting my electrical above the water line didn't help at all. May have been a 1/1000 occurrence but it happened to me.

laverda · Dec 8, 2018

I will never mount the top.of a heater below the water line.bi have had the seal fail and it let water in. This killed several large corals I had had for a long time before I figured it out. Luckily I never had my hand in the tank when it was on! Heaters are cheeply made through away items. I have had way to many fail in my years if reef keeping including 2 this year. I would rather replace a dozen heaters the risk getting shocked by another one.

Tamberav · Dec 8, 2018

Ouch! I have my tanks all plugged into a GFCI strip in case of accidents like this to prevent shock and trip if the power strip gets wet somehow. A heater I had somehow cracked/exploded and it tripped saving my butt.

Also another thought is to use those plastic pipe clamps

Pntbll687 said:
Ok, so I learned a couple lessons from last night.
1. Properly designed sump would have mitigated much of the flooding. In my frugality and wanting a simple build, I used a Rubbermaid tote as a sump. It had only one chamber so when trouble started it pumped all the water on the sump plus what drained from the display on to the floor. If I had taken my time with the build and even just added a single baffle for the return chamber the mess would have been much less.

2. Heaters go on the BOTTOM of the sump. Walking up to a flooded room is only worse when the smell of something burning is added to the problem. The heater was about a third of the way up the back wall of the sump. If it had been on the bottom it would have stayed in the last 2in of water that remained. The heater did melt, and was today in the trash.

3. Always have spare ro water ready. I had just done a water change so I did not have any water ready. I'm contemplating setting up a small mixing station to always have at least 5-10g of water ready.

4. Electrical needs to be outside the stand, in a separate compartment if possible. Mounting my electrical above the water line didn't help at all. May have been a 1/1000 occurrence but it happened to me.

Pntbll687 · Dec 8, 2018

laverda said:
I will never mount the top.of a heater below the water line.bi have had the seal fail and it let water in. This killed several large corals I had had for a long time before I figured it out. Luckily I never had my hand in the tank when it was on! Heaters are cheeply made through away items. I have had way to many fail in my years if reef keeping including 2 this year. I would rather replace a dozen heaters the risk getting shocked by another one.

I agree to some extent, but the heater was not the issue here. The heater did not malfunction, and only melted from being on and out of water.

I actually got shocked from the power strip. I went to turn it off and didn't want to grab the plug so I tried the switch on the strip itself.

laverda · Dec 8, 2018

Tamberav said:
Ouch! I have my tanks all plugged into a GFCI strip in case of accidents like this to prevent shock and trip if the power strip gets wet somehow. A heater I had somehow cracked/exploded and it tripped saving my butt.

My heater and everything else is on GFIs but I would rather not test it. I have been shocked by another failed heater that was also on a GFI.

JasonK84 · Dec 9, 2018

Pntbll687 said:
Ok, so I learned a couple lessons from last night.
1. Properly designed sump would have mitigated much of the flooding. In my frugality and wanting a simple build, I used a Rubbermaid tote as a sump. It had only one chamber so when trouble started it pumped all the water on the sump plus what drained from the display on to the floor. If I had taken my time with the build and even just added a single baffle for the return chamber the mess would have been much less.

2. Heaters go on the BOTTOM of the sump. Walking up to a flooded room is only worse when the smell of something burning is added to the problem. The heater was about a third of the way up the back wall of the sump. If it had been on the bottom it would have stayed in the last 2in of water that remained. The heater did melt, and was today in the trash.

3. Always have spare ro water ready. I had just done a water change so I did not have any water ready. I'm contemplating setting up a small mixing station to always have at least 5-10g of water ready.

4. Electrical needs to be outside the stand, in a separate compartment if possible. Mounting my electrical above the water line didn't help at all. May have been a 1/1000 occurrence but it happened to me.

What a nightmare! Glad you got it cleaned up. How about taking that 20 gallon aquarium and turning it into an AIO with a false back filter compartment?

Captain Quint · Dec 9, 2018

Geebs19 said:
Bummer! I’m pretty sure it’s happened to all of us at least once, some kind of leak.

That's a fact, my friend. argh

Captain Quint · Dec 9, 2018

laverda said:
I will never mount the top.of a heater below the water line.bi have had the seal fail and it let water in. This killed several large corals I had had for a long time before I figured it out. Luckily I never had my hand in the tank when it was on! Heaters are cheeply made through away items. I have had way to many fail in my years if reef keeping including 2 this year. I would rather replace a dozen heaters the risk getting shocked by another one.

Remember the old Stealth heaters from ~2007/2008? Mine literally exploded in my sump. Bad night.

@Pntbll687 I'm glad you were on top of things.

saintsreturn · Dec 10, 2018

Terrible story and situation. Glad you are ok and you controlled the damage. I would recommend getting out of the sump game, but just build it to withstand things. use solid PVC or hose clamps. Mount your heater lower as mentioned and use baffles, even if they are cheap cutouts or even a box you sit inside the rubber maid.

Good luck

Pntbll687 · Dec 10, 2018

saintsreturn said:
Terrible story and situation. Glad you are ok and you controlled the damage. I would recommend getting out of the sump game, but just build it to withstand things. use solid PVC or hose clamps. Mount your heater lower as mentioned and use baffles, even if they are cheap cutouts or even a box you sit inside the rubber maid.

Good luck

I transferred everything over to a standard 20 long. It's just running with a heater, powerhead, and light. I'm pretty consistent on water changes, so I think this is how it's going to stay for a while. I may throw on a hob filter if I can find one laying around.