First Major "Oh Crap Moment"

crushton

crushton

Member
Hello - been gone for a while - chairing a Cub Scout Banquet that is finally over!!!

I had my first major oh crap moment.

I have my top-off water container next to my sump. I transfer it with a powerhead and tubing. Well I had a heater in the container to keep the water at the same temp. as the tank. Well you guessed it. I let the heater lay on the bottom as the level dropped - (which I had never done before - it was always suction cupped to the side). Well my husband and I are like where is all of this water coming from. I checked all of the connections, nothing. Then I realized what it was and looked at the nice tight way I had the bin in the tank stand. I had to move everything to get it out. Then I had to break the bin to get it out. Now my new bin is smaller because I could not get it in the space without completely removing the sump and refugium. Life was not good during that episode (and I was not saying crap!).

Has anyone else had one of those moments?
 
crushton

crushton

Member
The heater melted a hole in the corner of the bin. My new top-off water bin does not have a heater.
Charlene
 
Icebox

Icebox

Member
oh man that is rough...

I think my biggest oh crap moment is when I was making water without an auto-shut off. Well I left, forgetting to turn the water off, went out to dinner and then spent the night with my GF. On the way to class in the morning, It hit me like a brick "I left the water on!!!" Well by the time I had gotten home the tub was good and full, the floor was soaked. I was running around trying to get it dry. Did I mention that I lived in a 2nd floor condo?

Well um, I think the people under me had a wet ceiling.
 
crushton

crushton

Member
Okay you have me beat on that one! My tank is downstairs - we have a bi-level house. My top-off water was 30 gallons of RO water (gone bye-bye).
 
Witfull

Witfull

Well-Known Member
RO vat is 50g, sump when low will take 25-30. turned on top off pump,,,got distracted,,,,come back to the tank,,,"something doesnt sound right!,,,and why are my socks wet!!!"

bissell green machine time~
 
crushton

crushton

Member
The RO water stuff really hurts as the replacement membrane cartridge on mine is $100. The pre and post filters are $40. When that water gets wasted I cringed. Yeah my socks were soaked as well!
 
G

gimpy

Member
"One" of my Oh! Crap! moments came as I was messing with the water in the tank. Somehow, water ran down one of the power lines and into the power strip. It crackled and smoked a little, but did its thing. It shut down. took me a second or two to get the courage up to unplug it. Didn't hurt anything in the tank. I counted myself lucky on that one.

Frank
 
M

MoJo'sReef

Member
when i had a 55 gal tank i had a canister filter on it and one of the hoses came off and dumped about 20 gal of saltwater in my floor and yes i just had new carpet put in :(
 
Stevenmi

Stevenmi

Active Member
Advice:
Never try and cut a ug filter tube with a bread knife...and wet salt water hands.


14 stiches...and 3 "you idiot" looks, one from my wife, one from my cat, one from the dog....

Steve
 
BHinAK

BHinAK

Active Member
Anyone shoot themselves in the face while playing with a power head. Did it 3 times.

Plus I moved one out of the way once and set it up on a top rock and it moved, the flow arced out of the tank and gave my 2 yr old daughter a shower.

RO overflows at least 2 times a month.
 
octavian

octavian

Member
I had one of those crummy glass thermometers with the suction cups.

I went to pull it off the inside of the glass and it was quite slippery.

tink!

The bottom broke clean off and everything spilled out.

Every time I tried to scoop the lead BB's from the sand, they would sink deeper into it.

I got most out...I think.

:columbo:
 
C

Charlie97L

Well-Known Member
I had mine when I first was learning about siphons, and how they don't stop just because you unplug the hose off of the powerhead.

i had a MJ600 pumping water out of the tank to add salt too, filled the bucket up, unhooked the hose out of the powerhead, left it in the tank, then was surprised when i took the other end of the hose out of the bucket that water was still shooting everywhere! i seriously got the eating table wet, and the carpet in front of the tank.
 
Dragon Wrasse

Dragon Wrasse

Active Member
I was sitting watching TV when I heard the strange sound of water cascading onto the floor, I couldn't imagine where it could be coming from? I got up to take a look at my tank, just in time to see the huge billows of smoke and large sparks coming off my five foot long power strip......A turbo snail had gotten in front of the return off of my HOG Refugium.....my system is now on not one but two GFI circuits. LOL
 
seabisquit2

seabisquit2

New Member
My wife and I had planned a weekend getawy to the mountains, as we usually do. After we had packed the car, she asked me had I turned off the RO unit, which supplied the top off water, my macho self turned around and said "Do I look like an Idiot??? Of course I did!" We went on our journey, having the time of our lives, spent the weekend enjoying the scenery, had a wonderful Cabin in the mountains, I even sat on a bluff thinking how good it was to have filled the tank before we left.....

Upon our arrival, I started to wonder...."Did I¿¿¿¿¿" Wow!!! When we went into the house, things seemed normal. I proceeded down stairs to see if my gut feeling were true...Low and behold.... There before me was about 3" of water...Knowing I had to go to work the next day, I told the wife that our basement had flooded and that I would have to clean the mess. Not only had the basement flooded, this was our bedroom as well. All night long I spent cleaning carpet with a shop vac and emptieing the tub. That was the most miserable night of my life.

It would not have been so bad...but this was the third time we had done this, when she had asked me if I had taken care of something..DOH!!!!!!
Yes....We are still together!!!! Just very thourough with my vacations now.

I have an auto topoff system now. If anything were to happen now, I can blame the system.

Good Luck,
Rick
 
dragonladylea

dragonladylea

Active Member
My oh Crap moment came while I was at work, my husband called to tell me he had bad news he thought the skimmer had quit working. Told him to see if he could fix it and to call me back so I could stop at the store if we needed a new one. Ten minutes later I get a call from my son telling me that the tank has sprung a leak and its getting water all over the floor and dad is trying to clean it up. Talk about feeling helpless. Anyway the skimmer wasnt broken I borrowed a tank until ours could be resealed, the carpet finally dried and we didnt lose anything (fish or corals). What a wild day.:bouncebox
 
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