Why is it

[jef4y]

That a tank can have no problem for weeks, months, years, but when it does you're out of the house?!?

Been doing some home repairs for my Munchkin-In-Law (she's like 4' tall, so that's her moniker. Well, that and the "Cabbage Patch Kid" but I digress) and we've been getting home at like midnight.

Last night we got home and something didn't sound right. I looked over and my heart stopped a bit when I saw water on the floor. I pulled the stand covers off and thankfully found it was just my skimmer.

The air hose for the venturi had fallen in the sump and so it was sucking water. End result was that the skimmer was pouring water over the top cup. Since it's an in-sump skimmer (THANKFULLY), the water outside the system was limited to splashing, but still probably a gallon between the floor and the bottom of the stand.

And of course it sucked about 3 gallons of my ATO water into the system to keep it full. LOL..

I'm lucky though & thankful for many things, not the least of which was building a 4" deep "tray" out of shower pan in the bottom of my stand, so all that water was contained.

I've often thought of getting some water bugs and putting one in the bottom of the stand, and a couple on the floor just to let me know and shut things off if there is a problem. Think that needs to become part of the upgrade plan.

In the end, no big deal, just a few minutes of mopping up. Just glad I didn't have an external skimmer...

 

[ripped tide]

Murphy's law. When it can, it will!

Lucky, for you, it wasn't a more serious issue.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

How did the air hose "fall"? And with an external, even if it fell, it wouldn't into water.

Glad all worked out, but maybe consider a look over of some simple things to make sure such things don't occur. Just my 2 cents.

 

[jef4y]

jmaneyapanda;774081 wrote: How did the air hose "fall"? And with an external, even if it fell, it wouldn't into water.

Glad all worked out, but maybe consider a look over of some simple things to make sure such things don't occur. Just my 2 cents.

I should have explained that. Totally my fault.

Last winter I was having low pH probs, so I made a make-shift C02 scrubber which basically was a 2L bottle with holes drilled in the bottom and a couple inches of sodalime, then run the intake air hose through the cap into the bottle so that it draws air through the sodalime extracting the C02. It worked GREAT, but now a days I seem to manage a healthy pH so I removed the reactor and just had the hose hanging.

For some idiotic reason, I took the hose end and set it on a cross-brace across the top of my sump the other day. I knew it was a bad idea when I did it, but did it anyway. I'm guessing through vibration or water movement or whatever, it fell in.

 

[rdnelson]

Ripped Tide;774078 wrote: Murphy's law. When it can, it will!

Lucky, for you, it wasn't a more serious issue.

After 33+ years in construction I have learned that Murphy was an Optimist.

Jeff, glad it wasn't a major issue. :thumbs:

 

[acroholic]

Skimmer overflow can still be a big mess, even with an in-sump skimmer and spray just being tossed around.

If you have a controller of some type, I'd suggest this: I installed this float switch on my Vertex Alpha 250 a year ago or so and it eliminates the problem you just had. If the skimmer cup gets filled, it shuts of the skimmer pump.

Alternately, you can install one on your skimmate collection container if you have one. I don't use one myself.

Here are a couple plug 'n play units from Avast:

http://www.avastmarine.com/ssc/do/product/proteinskimmers/Davy-Jones-Skimmate-Locker">http://www.avastmarine.com/ssc/do/product/proteinskimmers/Davy-Jones-Skimmate-Locker</a>

[IMG]http://www.avastmarine.com/ssc/do/product/proteinskimmers/Davy-Jones-Skimmate-Superlocker">http://www.avastmarine.com/ssc/do/product/proteinskimmers/Davy-Jones-Skimmate-Superlocker</a>
<fieldset class="gc-fieldset">
<legend> Attached files </legend> [IMG]http://atlantareefclub.org/boards/data/uploads/attachments/774090=37822-CIMG4834.jpg>

class="gc-images" title="CIMG4834.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a> </fieldset>

 

[jef4y]

Dave, I have an Apex controller so that would make total sense to wire in a float valve to the skimmer lid. I have an extra which I've been procrastinating using. This may be the perfect use!