@!#I$ Sump Seal Failure!

I went tp Walmart and found a under bed sweater box that just fit inside my stand. Placed that in first then all the sump. It is only about 8 inches high but is water tight a tarp will only protect the stand and allow the water to run out on to the carpet
Mike

 

I take the tarp and bring it all the way up the stand walls and tape it up. That way it never gets to the carpet and runs. If it flows over the tarp "walls" then I have a huge problem on my hands.

 

Well so far so good..

I was able to get a few more tubs from lowes, some cheap heaters and a new 10 gal tank. I transferred all the water and rocks into 18 gal containers. Each of which has it's own powerhead w/ venturi and heater. I wasn't able to to find or get out my little bi-color blenny from the rocks so hopefully he'll be alright till tomorrow. I ended up just taking my whole clump of chaeto and shoving it between 2 rocks in one of the buckets for now.

I have the tank sitting w/ the sand bed and small amount of water left covered up. Additionally the stand is flipped upside down with a hairdryer blowing on it, which seems to be working well. I managed to blow a fuse w/ all the electronics running at once

All fish, inverts and corals are in 10 gal quarantine tank for now. I still haven't done the WC i was talking about w/ the DT water. Any input on that?

I also started dry vacc'ing the carpet. It wasn't pretty. Left to do is shampoo still. I needed a beer break first.. ugh

I'm also still looking for that silver lining :








^ I managed to pull 2 full buckets of water w/ out even spraying the carpet yet w/ shampoo.. The 2nd bucket was even darker.. Wish i could get my skimmate that dark :-[

 

LOL, but it looks like you are well on the road to recovery...

 

That, my friend, is 'carpetmate'. ;D

Z

 

lol, indeed!

I've spent over an hour now going over the same patch of carpet with the steam vac trying to suck every ounce of carpetmate out. It started to clear up and now I'm drying it with fans.

Next on my list is to silicone up my new sumps baffles and seals to ensure this doesn't happen again. So far all livestock looks good. I think I can safely say we're in the clear.. Except somehow I blew up my girlfriends hair dryer in the process of drying the stand, so I guess I owe her a new one of those

 

Don't feel bad about the hair dryer, she likely let you use her hair dryer, hoping that it would break so she could get a new one....

 

Wow, what a mess. Glad you're taking it in stride and as a learning lesson though. Looks like you had and executed a great plan. Good for you! Karma!

LOL @ carpetmate and the GFs hair dryer.

 

I had a problem with a leak too. Ours was from the chaeto in our fuge growing up and over the back of our fuge. Then the water started to spill over the top. It was slow and silent. We didnt even know what was happening until our water level dropped and the sump filter started sucking air. I see you found a plastic container to do the trick. You are lucky that one fit. Our stand was far too big for us to do that. We ran a bead of paintable silicone along all the seams in the bottom of the stand, then painted the inside of the stand with a marine grade paint. I swear by this meathod. You can put in a tarp too, but I think this keeps the stand looking VERY clean and it also creates a water tight base.

AND...being a woman, and a hairstylist, I say blow up the blowdryer. Your wife is adding up points and dollars worth of collateral . I'm the only wife I know that even cares about our fish tank. ALL my friends think I'm crazy and that fish tanks stink. If they only knew how much fun it really is

 

Were you able to re-establish the system? How has the livestock managed in the rubbermaid?