Hoping today’s experience gives whoever reads it a chuckle. Although I am extremely new to the reef scene. I have kept fish tanks for several decades and have had my share of ups and down. To prefix the events that follow, you should know that my wife was visiting family last month while “coincidentally” I completed the plumbing on the new set up. Having cobbed together six very old separate tanks ranging from 55 to 100 gallons between two floors I used quite literally over 100 feet of 1” pvc that ran down walls and thru crawl spaces and drilled a total of 10 holes in the tanks. So as you might expect I had a leak or two. But I was determined to make sure everything was bone dry when my wife returned. Skipping ahead all went well and the Rube Goldberg of reef tanks is now cycling. Today went as any other and after dinner I did my daily march to the basement to check on my masterpiece. As I rounded the corner towards the fish room I heard the one noise I was sure I had conquered and ultimately dreaded “SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH” yes the sound of water as my feet struck the floor. It was everywhere. I immediately sprung into action. Turning of pumps and power. Frantically I searched to find the leak I felt glass and unions squeezed through the crawl space stuck my head between pipes and just could not find it. For a moment I thought Oh NO not the display tank. I sprinted up the stairs but once again. Found nothing. Then it hit me... it has to be the darn RODI unit. I never did trust those darn quick connect fittings. I ran my hands all along the base of the media containers and all around each connection and still nothing. So I head back into sump area and and try to figure it out. Then I notice the oddest thing. The water level in the sump was normal. I can’t possibly have a leak. Well it turns out it wasn’t the endless plumbing or the old tanks or the holes I drilled or some equipment malfunction. Apparently our clothes dryer have a wrinkle guard steam feature and it’s solenoide broke in the on position. Out came the shop vac and I sucked up the water. You can’t imagine what 8 gallons of water looks like spread out an 1/8 inch deep
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The Woes of Water
- Thread starter Sponge
- Start date
Well I guess time will tell but truth be told. Just working with the cards I was dealt. Very limited space. And lots of old stuff. Either way it’s been fun.
DangerDave
NJRC Member
Don't worry, you'll get yourself a nice spill eventually. I've overfilled my salt mix container more times than I can count, waiting for 50 gallons to transfer, start looking at other stuff then all of a sudden there is 20 gallons on the floor. Last week I was working on something, had the return pump off. I disconnected a bunch of pvc sections of the drain. I put everything back together, turned the pump on, then realized the overflow drain to my syphon wasn't connected and was pouring straight to the floor. Two weeks ago I turn on a transfer pump to fill the system a little higher so I can syphon out the frag tank, didn't turn it off until my feet started getting wet. I can go on, but I wont. 