I did it again

[Dakota]

Wow.. three times in three weeks, I've flooded the tank... this time it was almost 20 gallons.. and I had just filled up my tank's reserve.. so my salinity dove to 1.020 from 1.024 (which I had finally gotten back up to from the last overflow).

Dammit... and I don't have any water on reserve. .. how the HELL do I get myself out of this one.. I dont' know anyone who has water around here......

[SanDiegoReefs]

20 gallons???

What caused Flood #3?

-moore

[colindoug3]

...and the first two?
all the same cause? may re-think plumbing route etc. yar, must be a pain in the arse.

[Trickman2]

Your suppose to learn from your mistakes. So how exactly did you flood again. I think you need to get floor drains but seriouly you might want to invest in some flood alarms. I would suggest setting up some fail safes.

Let us know how you flooded and we will try to help you correct the problem.

Sorry to hear that you flooded again.

[Dakota]

Same problem as the first time it happed.. After cleaning my fuge, I forgot to put the screen back on, and Mr. turbo snail clogged it up.

The other times, it was just me being an idiot, like, jamming my drain line too far into the filter sock that it stopped draining.
Out of the 4 floods I've had total (2 minor, 2 major), I was there for the 2 minor ones and it wasn't bad at all.

My plumbing isn't the problem, and flood alarm wouldn't have done anything since we were away from the house. The crises has been contained now. What I really need to do is get rid of those turbo snails, but I don't wanna kill them, and I don't want them in my main tank knocking everything over. . .

[BrookR1]

Tie the screen to the tubing? Spray paint it red with the words "Replace Before Flight" written on it? Tape a note to the side of the fuge? Place a small piece of sponge in the line as a backup?

[Trickman2]

http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=62

Design a fail safe to shut off the main pump

[Dakota]

Originally posted by BrookR1
Tie the screen to the tubing? Spray paint it red with the words "Replace Before Flight" written on it? Tape a note to the side of the fuge? Place a small piece of sponge in the line as a backup?

ha ha.. I'll do that. . .

As for the pump shutoff, it won't do me any good. I have the fuge being gravity fed, so it's the fuge that overflows.. plus, if my main pump shuts off, I backshipon into oblivion. . . which is why I have an APC backup hooked up to give me 4 hours of backup power.

[Trickman2]

Ok, Somebody Smack some sense into Dakota.

1#) BUY A ANTI Siphon Valve they are cheap.
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/8229/cid/2043


2# Add a second emergency Drain line above the main return line.

AND HE Says his plumbing is not the problem.

[Dakota]

Check valves fail a lot of the times. With tunicates and tube worms growing on everything, the seals always fail. Granted regular cleanins can prevent it, but all it takes it one little work to break the seal....

And like I said, I've never had a backsiphon flood... These floods were purely from my own idiotness in not putting my screen back. The plumbing is fine as long as no snail blocks it.. hence my black screen.. sheesh.

[Trickman2]

Your still crazy man. I would use a check valve no matter what, Lastly if you are worried about it failing use two. If the power goes out for more than 4 hours you are done for. Also those battery backups don't last forever

[swissfish]

Thats crazy!

Just put some kind of syphon break on that return. I usualy only takes a air tube for that.

[Dakota]

Drill holes right below the water line. . . kills the siphon real quick. . .but like I said, that's never caused a problem thus far. . .

[Trickman2]

Dakota just because you have never had the problem yet does not mean it could not happen. I suggest that you prep your tank for problems before they happen. Just a suggestion. If you can see that it could be a problem and it is a easy fix why would you not prepare? Are you really that Lazy?

Anyways, When it happens don't come whining on this board. It is one thing to come on this board for solutions but another just to whine.

I mean if its just bad luck and your having a ruff day and want to release..... hell yeah come Whine. But most of this mess is from your Stupidity and I really don't have much sympathy for you. Everyone on the board has tried to give you some Ideas on how to fix the problem and you basically said your going to do nothing. For that I think you are a Complete idiot.

So do me a favor.... prove me wrong that you are not a Complete idiot and Fix the problems before they happen.
Good luck and if you need some advice on how to fix these problems I would love to help. :D

PS maybe you should consider changing your title from Jedi Knight to JEDI IDIOT.

[BrookR1]

Jesus Christ Trickman...lighten up. Calling him an idiot isn't going help him see your way of doing things.

[Trickman2]

Brook what does God have to do with this? Anyways, I am pretty straight forward person and if I think you are being a idiot well I will tell you. Besides, you think you would learn after three times and for him to Say that he is not going to do anything is silly.

[BrookR1]

It seems like his overflow problems are causing you more stress than Eric. He's an intelligent guy...if this was a major concern for him, then he would figure out a way to solve the problem. And if he makes a couple of mistakes? So what...it's part of challenge/discovery of this hobby.

If the two of you bump into each other at a frag swap, the first thing that'll pop into his head is "ohhh....so this is the guy that called me an idiot". And you'll most likely end up on the opposite side of the area. Not much fun.

[Trickman2]

Nah, believe me if he wants to flood his house all the time I really don't care.

I don't have any grudges against him but I do think it is Crazy not to address a problem if you know their is a Risk. Also sometimes I just enjoy getting peoples attention.

Yolo what I have done is setup a max fill line on my sump. As long as I never fill above this line water should not overflow the sump. If the power goes out.

Also I have done some of my own measures. I live in a condo also Lower unit. When I put in my tile, One thing I did was install a 2 inch piece of wonderboard sealed to the floor along the walls behind the tank and in the laundry room. Then I put a composite moulding and sealed it along the wall. This should prevent most if not all water from ever reaching a neighbors unit if I had a major failure or just a act of my stupidity.

Again we all make mistakes but hopefully you learn from your mistakes and take measures to prevent them from happening again.

[Trickman2]

Yeah their is nothing worse then flooding. No way to make anything a 100% but you can sure knock down your odds.