venting over a broken fuge

Discussion in 'Refugium' started by tigermike74, Jan 18, 2009.

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  1. tigermike74

    tigermike74 Panda Puffer

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    Grrrrr! This weekend was a real pain in the buttocks!! I finished plumbing my return for my little 20G tank that I added the fuge to. My last shipment of plumbing items finally arrived and I drill the hole for the return. 10mins into having the system running, the barb connector that slips onto the RIO pump's output decides to pop loose and sprays water EVERYWHERE under my stand, soaking everything!!! Luckily no water got onto the power strip or the wall outlet. Good thing I didn't install my Aquacontroller either! Anyhow, as I pulled the plug on the pump to keep further water drainage. My GF and I breakout about 5 big towels to mop up the mess of about 3 gallons. I drained 80-90% of the remaining water out of the fuge into containers. I decided to lift the fuge up from under the stand so my GF could mop up the water that was under the fuge. A little piece of leftover PVC piping rolled under the fuge and when I let the fuge down, CRACK!!!! The PVC pipe broke straight through the bottom of the fuge tank! :furious3: Luckily for me, it was only the return section of my that broke, so about 1 gallon was drained from that breakage. So yeah, 2 week old DIY fuge completely wasted. My GF says "there's a reason this happened." Yeah it means I have to go and make another fuge, grrrrr. Besides that, my anemone is not happy over this change either. This time, it's gonna be an acrylic fuge that I am making! Anyhow, rant off, thanks for listening. :)
     
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  3. missionsix

    missionsix Super Moderator Staff Member

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    So, was there anything that you didn't like on the fuge you built? And/or is there a + to this situation yet? Sorry to hear about your woes.......
     
  4. PharmrJohn

    PharmrJohn The Dude

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    LOL!!! Sorry, but I did the Rio thing myself. Wow those pumps can let loose the water!!!!! And the fuge is not wasted. You learned a lot. It just cost you a little money and time, that's all. But I do know how you feel. So keep plugging along!!!!

    Exactly what I was thinking. As soon as I had mine built, there were things I wanted to do over. So start the build, take pics and post your results....even the broken one.
     
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  5. Iraf

    Iraf Snowflake Eel

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    I turned on my return pump on my 90 for the first time and had a hose blow off my manifold that feeds the reactors, 1800gph pump can really blow some water kind of far

    Sucks for the breakage but at least you get to rework the setup and make any changes you can think of :)

    K+ for the troubles though
     
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  6. tigermike74

    tigermike74 Panda Puffer

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    Yeah, those pumps suck. I thought about PVC gluing the barb for the nipple on the RIO, but didn't want it to be so permanent, go figure. It pushed water SLOW through my return line with my in-line chiller. As soon as it broke free, I swear it was spitting out 900GPH rate, the little effer. :p
    You are right though, I'm gonna rebuild it right this time. There were things I wanted to change as soon as the silicone cured. This time I am making it out of acrylic, and will be making the inlet/fuge/return sections better and better placement. I already cut the acrylic sheets for the sides, I'm just waiting for the sheets for the top, bottom and baffles. I'm just trying to keep the fuge section in the broken fuge healthy so my pods don't die. That's pretty hard since there is a slow leak into the broken section. :(

     
  7. tigermike74

    tigermike74 Panda Puffer

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    Yeah, I think my design could be improved. At least it happened when I was right in front of it and not when I was away or asleep. Thanks. :)
     
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  9. tigermike74

    tigermike74 Panda Puffer

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    Thanks. My pump wasn't as strong as your's, but it does suck to see it spray water like there is no tomorrow huh? It did get to my timer for my lights, so the timer no longer works, it only stays on. :( Oh well, better than blowing out the aquacontroller. :)
     
  10. hydrojeff

    hydrojeff Montipora Capricornis

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    my tank has only been running sence 12-15-08 and one night i was looking and thinking where i was going to mount my float for my ATO and probrobly had a little to much to drink (not soda) and decided to lightly pull the fuge to get a better look at the wet/dry to see where to install it, well you can guess what i did, ripped the whole front of it off and out came about 20 gallons, fuge is 15 plus what ever made it out of the tanks overflow box, this was at 1am, wife and kids slep right through it, glad it did not have anything in it yet or still nothing, so i know what your going through, sorry for your accident, we all learn from this kind of thing, just think if everything went so smooth what would we talk about LOL.......
     
  11. Iraf

    Iraf Snowflake Eel

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    luckily it was on the mannifold which is forward facing and I was in front of it, i got soaked in about 5 seconds
    quickest shower i ever got
     
  12. tigermike74

    tigermike74 Panda Puffer

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    Yeah, I got soaked too. It happened about 1am, so it was a late night. My skin was DRY the next day! What pump are you using now? I'm trying to find a good pump with a 1/2" output.
    I see you are in Tulsa. I visited there in '97, nice area. :)