My first spill

[ddaddy2420]

Well i popped my cherry as they say and had my first official water spill. It was a doozy. I had just installed a different pump on my skimmer to see what kind of difference it would make. I installed an OTP-3000 on my coralife 220 skimmer. Holy cow, i immediately could tell a difference. I then left to go eat and came back to find water everywhere and my return pump squealing. Apparently, the air line I had stuck in the inlet of the OTP-3000 had come out and when that happened the skimmer basically turned into a big pump and began overflowing water into the cup on the top of the skimmer. Well i have the drain off that cup draining into a small trash can off to the side. Normally takes a while to fill that up, however, in about 3 hours it began overflowing like crazy, kicking my ATO system on and pulling the RO/DI reservoir dry. I was really worried that the influx of RO/DI water would mess things up but my salinity only dropped from 1.025 to 1.024 so the change was minimal. However, the mess was not.

I will probably secure that air line better so that has no chance of happening again. Any other suggestions? Was thinking of installing one of those devices that detects water on the ground and shuts everything down. Does anyone have any experience with these? The room that my tank is in is carpet so I am not sure how those things work and if carpet would be an issue.

 

[jef4y]

A waterbug type sensor would be useful (assuming you have a controller). Likewise, float valves/sensors for your skimmer drain are a must IMHO if you have an external skimmer.

 

[ddaddy2420]

JeF4y;833488 wrote: A waterbug type sensor would be useful (assuming you have a controller). Likewise, float valves/sensors for your skimmer drain are a must IMHO if you have an external skimmer.

My skimmer is internal, i just have the drain off the cup going to an external small trash bin (holds about 2 gallons). Usually this things takes a while to fill up, however, I didn't realize that if your air line became plugged or dislodged from your skimmer pump, the water level rises drastically and it begins basically pumping water into the cup.

 

[brisco15]

On a side note is that pump rocking it for you? When properly working that is? I never considered upgrading the pump. Need a new impeller might as well get a new pump.

 

[brisco15]

Put a float valve on the 2 gallon that kills power to skimmer if water level comes to high.

 

[jef4y]

ddaddy2420;833492 wrote: My skimmer is internal, i just have the drain off the cup going to an external small trash bin (holds about 2 gallons). Usually this things takes a while to fill up, however, I didn't realize that if your air line became plugged or dislodged from your skimmer pump, the water level rises drastically and it begins basically pumping water into the cup.

There are a LOT of things that can cause a skimmer to go nuts and pump water into the cup. Personally I could not imagine having a drain outside of the tank into a bucket/etc that didn't have some kind of float switch in it or other protection method.

Fish or other thing spawning for instance can cause a skimmer to basically pump water through the cup. Just random things you never think of. And 2 gal will fill in no time (as you see)

 

[ddaddy2420]

Brisco15;833504 wrote: Put a float valve on the 2 gallon that kills power to skimmer if water level comes to high.

Going to look into this - good idea. And yes the pump is making a HUGE difference. I have never really had a big bio load but still i felt like the skimmer was barely if at all working sometimes. Well with this thing its definitely working.