near crash ... due to urchin?

[Edd13]

about 8 months ago... I had a problem with algee an my sump on the return side so i took my pesky purple urchin (who has caused a few rock slides) and threw it in the sump area:square: i'd look in on it from time to time.. and it was doing an awesome job... sunday around 2 AM or so i noticed something not right ... i didn't hear sump flow ... i looked and the return pump was dead ... so i pulled it out and put a spare in the tank... sunday mid-day i got home from chuch to see ALL the corals closed and REALLY pissed off... so i freak looking for problems, testing weter the whole 9 yards... well i found it today while inspecting my dead pump ... the urchin didn't just eat the the coliline off the wire it was also eating the wire insalation ...

would this effect my critters in the tank due to copper ... the shrimp, snails, ans stars are alive and well, BUT some corals are not to happy

here is the wire damage the urchin did....

 

[Anselth]

Wow. I suppose it's possible for the copper to harm your inverts if it was released into the water column, but I think the chances of that are slim. You probably want to test for copper just in case. I think what you're seeing from your corals is more likely a result of a change in flow from the new pump, and possibly temperature variations, assuming your copper test comes back negative.

 

[CMG]

WHOA! So bunny rabbits arent the only pets that chew on cords huh...:bugout:

 

[burning2nd]

TAKE THE PUMP OUT and cut the wire to the core... its more then likely not copper....

is it gold wire or silver wire?

 

[jski711]

probably aluminum if not copper. i would say its possible your corals are pissed from the stray voltage. it kinda depends on how long your cord has been like that though. hth

jake

~note to self, no urchins in sump!

 

[Edd13]

TAKE THE PUMP OUT and cut the wire to the core... its more then likely not copper....

is it gold wire or silver wire?

the pump was out instantly....
the pic deos not show it ... but it's copper, the green patch on the white part is corrosion ... the flash makes it shine white... tested the water twice both came in negitive ... i plan to test it one more time tomorrow

 

[Edd13]

well it's been a month since the electracution of my tank... not as bad as it could have been ... losses... 3 clams, 1 fish, 1 anmemone, 1 coral ... in all acuallity i was tring to figure out how to kill off that coral any how (damn xenia was killing my zoos)

so as stuff slowly recovers i wait watching:eye:

 

[Woodstock]

Wow! It ate it down to the metal
Glad your reef is doing well

 

[funkpolice]

That should have tripped the GFCI. If you don't have one, please get one. They are cheap, easy to install in most cases, and whereas circuit breakers protect equipment and homes, GFCIs protect you and your family.
bill

 

[Gina]

My god, who would of thought an urchin would eat through a wire?
Yeah I agree with funkpolice, look into a GFI if you don't already have one.
No more urchins in sump!! LoL.
Glad to hear everything else is doing ok.

 

[blue_eyes53813]

Glad to hear it turned out ok, not the best but it could of been worse...

 

[Techno-Vicki]

Wow! I have had 2 urchins forever, and no problems. But that is serious. Sorry about the clams.

 

[Edd13]

i have a gfci and for some reason it didn't trip neither did the power strip... it was odd...hopfuly the gfci is work properly, because i would have to tear down the tank to get to it

 

[BarbMazz]

Sorry for your losses, Ed... who would have thought?!

Makes me wonder about the critters in my sump... anybody in there that could do something similar? I don't have an urchin in there, but there's a rock lobster. I'm going to look up to see if they're omnivores or carnivores.

Thanks for posting about this, because who knew?! Pretty tough and hungry little urchin.

 

[lcstorc]

Very interresting lesson. Makes you think twice about reloacating critters to the sump. I am now even more happy I have a separate fuge that I can put unwanted critters into. That is scary.