Crazy morning!!

[hnguyen]

I'm stressing out right now at work due to my tank. I woke up this morning and went about with my morning routine to get coffee and all that for work. Walked pass my tank and notice that it was pitch dark. I looked at my controller and it was off!! I notice I lost about 2 inches of water in my display tank and when I checked under my stand, I smelled something was burnt and notice that my flood protection box was full of water. There was water all over the place and all over my DJ power strip along with all my power cables. I went to check my breaker box and sure enough the breaker I put in for my fish tank was off, so I turned it back on and it jumped on me again right when I walked away. I went inside to look at my tank again and the burning smell got worst. So I unplugged everything and notice that there was water coming out of my DJ power strip. I took a look at it and some of the power sockets were burnt half way to hell. So I removed the DJ power strip and got a regulator power strip and reconnected all my power cords to it after drying it out with a towel.

I can't think of why this happen and it's been getting to me all morning. The only thing I can think of is that one of my connections on the medifolds either sprang a leak or popped out, but when I hooked the return pump back up and after drying out all connections and medifolds, I saw no leaks at all. It's been bugging me and it's stressing me out right now that I can't be at home to monitor my tank.

The good thing is that non of my equipment was damage and everything seems to be running fine when I left. All pumps and lights work as of right now. I just hope whatever happened during the middle of the night doesn't happen again while I'm at work since there's no one home that knows anything about my tank.

Now I'm left with a burnt out DJ strip and a big headache for the day until I get home.

Does anyone know where I can get another DJ power strip along with an overflow senor/monitor that will shut off my pumps in the event this ever occurs again?

 

[jef4y]

Get a waterbug sensor and wire it into your controller. This you will have to order.

The DJ strip can be picked up at any Guitar Center.

Sorry man. Keep digging to find out what happened.

 

[hnguyen]

JeF4y;648653 wrote: Get a waterbug sensor and wire it into your controller. This you will have to order.

The DJ strip can be picked up at any Guitar Center.

Sorry man. Keep digging to find out what happened.

I don't have an apex or anything fancy like that, just an old reef keeper 2 right now. I'm looking into getting the apex kit from aquarium specialty soon. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction for the dj strip Jeff, I would have never looked there. I'll look into the waterbug sensors in a minute too. Thanks for the info bro.

 

[sprinklerman500]

Sorry bro,I hope all is well.

 

[jef4y]

I THINK you can get waterbugs that would control an outlet (or powerstrip). Not 100% sure on that though.

 

[rbredding]

you could certainly connect one to a relay box that would cut power to a powerstrip..

 

[hnguyen]

JeF4y;648671 wrote: I THINK you can get waterbugs that would control an outlet (or powerstrip). Not 100% sure on that though.

Yea, thats really what I'm looking for until I get an Apex. But I still don't understand how it got flooded. The water in my sump was about 5" below the rim but I had a box full of water on my flood protection box where everything sits on underneath my stand. I really thinking one of my connections sprang a leak because of all the water that was sprayed on my DJ strip and on my power cables. If it was just due to power outage, then the worst that could happen is the sump would overflow and water will fill up the flood box that it sits on. I can't see any other reason for my DJ strip getting wet. When I say wet, I mean REALLY wet. It was like the strip just got dropped in a tub of water. :sad:The plastic around the sockets were even burned off and melted.

Edit:

Rbredding;648672 wrote: you could certainly connect one to a relay box that would cut power to a powerstrip..

I'll have to look into that, I'm electronically illiterate and would have no idea where to start. If I had one of those this morning then I wouldn't have this headache.

 

[rbredding]

part of the problem with using a waterbug is that there's no way to guarantee that it will cut the circuit (detect the leak)..

you put it on the bottom of your stand, and water has to pool up to the point that it reaches the detector.. It could take a while for that to happen.. it also wont detect if a hose falls off and shoots water out of the stand (like through an open back panel or something)

there's no way to think of / account for every possible scenario..

sorry to hear that your equipment sprung a leak.. I hope you can find it quickly to prevent it from happening again..

 

[project1004]

Man~~~ Hope everything goes will!!!

 

[smallblock]

I've looked over the build thread and racked the ole noggin on how that would have happend. Was the outside of the DT wet like it overflowed or do you suspect it was something in the sump? When you fired it back up did you get the water level back to normal

 

[merkywater]

Dang bro you just can't catch a break! Hope everything is ok!

 

[budsreef]

Sorry to hear! I have an Eliminator 108, 8 outlet power strip if you can't find one elsewhere. PM sent.

 

[hnguyen]

Smallblock;648706 wrote: I've looked over the build thread and racked the ole noggin on how that would have happend. Was the outside of the DT wet like it overflowed or do you suspect it was something in the sump? When you fired it back up did you get the water level back to normal

I didn't think to even check the back of the tank for any leaks there, but it doesn't look like it is. Water level in the display tank looks just as it would if I were to turn off my return pump. So I think the leak/spray came from one of my connections on the medifolds. Another reason for me to believe this is due to the flood box that my sump and everything sits on, that box was filled to the rim when I looked at it. If there were a leak from the display tank, I don't think it will be able to go into that box, but instead it will leak all over my carpet. The carpet looks to be pretty dry for the most part, other then what was sprayed out into all my power cables and what not.

I'll have to shut it down again tonight when I get home and check all my connections again. Make sure everything is tighten the best I can get it.

Thanks everyone for the concerns and help so far.

Edit: I can say this though, I'm glad I had the battery back-up for my 2 vortechs are else I don't know how my corals and fish would have been doing. I think the power was out for a few hours because some of the water was dried out and I felt salt on a couple of power cables. Worth every penny right about now!

 

[smallblock]

The pics in the build thread confuse me a lil bit. At first I wanted to turn my comp screen because I cant understand why the bulkheads look like they are coming out of the side of the stand instead of the bottom. I dunno man I hope you get it worked out. Dont overtighten when you go to check stuff. Also when using worm drive clamps on soft hoses if you overtighten they will cut into the hose and cause small leaks. I really wish I could help you out bro

Edit: what I was getting at in the first post was the actaul sump may be leaking. I was asking if you replaced the lost salt water from the leak. Maybe there is a leak in the sump and its above where the water level is now. I dont see the power strip in the pics so I dunno if that scenario would wet it or not. Keep us updated when you figure it out it may help some poor soul down the road. Good luck bro it could have been worse.

 

[hnguyen]

Oh!! I know what your talking about. The bulkhead you see coming in from the side of the stand is from my external fuge. Theres no pressure at all coming from there and I did check it, no leaks on that end. The power strip was attacked on the back right of the stand with power cords coming from the back of it and across the back of the stand. So if they got wet, it either means water is coming from the DT or one of my medifold connects gave out and sprang a leak. In this case, I don't think it was the tank since everything was fine when I got it all cleaned up and reconnected all pumps and controllers. Thats what got me, I was expecting water to spray again once I got the return pump running but I didn't, so that got me stumped. I'll check it again tonight and see if I can post some pictures.

 

[budsreef]

I'm sure you already know this but make sure you have drip loops in the cords before they go into the power strip.

 

[hnguyen]

Budsreef;648727 wrote: I'm sure you already know this but make sure you have drip loops in the cords before they go into the power strip.

Yup, I had all that covered. well my power strip is about 2 feet from the ground and all my power cords runnings on the ground in the back of my tank and then up into the power strip, so theres no way for water to enter the power strip unless it's strapped into it (like in this case). :sad:

 

[KrisDeitz]

If you need me to come over let me know bro

 

[snowmansnow]

are your main plugs on GFI outlets?

 

[hnguyen]

SnowManSnow;648787 wrote: are your main plugs on GFI outlets?

I don't think so. The guy that installed the outside and dedicated breaker for my fish tank used a regular outlet I believe. There's no buttons on the outlet so I'm guessing no?