Calling for help

pmcbride · 09-20-2005, 01:24 PM

Hi everyone, this is Lise. I am at Patrick's house taking care of things for him while he is recovering.

If you don't know, he had back surgery this morning and will be totally out of commission for at least a week. Doctors orders are flat on his back!! Like that will happen...well maybe if he is in enough pain that will keep him down.

Ok, reason for the call for help.

Patrick changed out his main pump on his tank. A couple of days ago, there started to be lots and lots of micro bubbles in his tank. We taped around the new fittings to see if that would stop the bubbles, NOPE. So he tighted the fittings around the pump, as that was the only thing changed in his system. Still have a few bubbles, not many. Yesterday we noticed there was a slow leak coming from somewhere in his sump. (Oh, sump is in garage) This morning after Lisa (his wife) took him in for surgery, I went to check things. Well, we have a problem. There is water coming from somewhere and I can not locate it. The stream of water has gone from one stream yesterday to two streams this morning. I've reached down in back of the sump and I can't feel any moisture at all. I have a funny feeling the new/used pump he got has a bad seal, but I can't move things around, as I have torn ligiments in my right knee.

Do any of you have the time to help fix this problem?

sanblas · 09-20-2005, 02:06 PM

is it the main return pump? is it an external pump? if so what brand/model?
do you have a replacement pump?

duct tape might be a temporary quick fix if it is feasible

Twitterbait · 09-20-2005, 02:15 PM

Why do these things always happen to the poor person watching the tank. Hope patrick gets back up soon. as far as finding the leak i would dry everything out as best as you can and then locate it by laying down a good layer of thick newspaper. that will help you to zero in on exactly where the leak is. once we are sure then we can move forward.

pmcbride · 09-20-2005, 03:10 PM

Thanks for the replies.

Yes it is an external pump. Problem is he installed it where it is almost impossible to get to it. Second problem, he placed his sump (large grey tub) on styrofoam (?) so there is NO WAY to tell where it is coming from by drying everything out. There's nothing to dry, the water (I believe, but I can't be sure until....) is comming from the bottom of the pump and going under styrofoam, then out to the garage floor.

Replacement pump. There must be one around somewhere, he replaced is old with this one cause he wanted more flow. I will have to look. The pump is a barracuda (did I spell that right), and there is 2 inches between it and the wall, same distance from the pump to the sump.

I've tried laying across the sump to see if I could reach the pump, and my knee just won't let me do that.

What'cha think?

sanblas · 09-20-2005, 03:27 PM

well it could be something as simple as not enough teflon tape on the threads if its an external pump.

however if its the main pump its hard to turn that off and work with it and not impact the system

how fast is the leak, if its a consistent slow leak, you could just put a towel down to collect the water and change it daily until patrick is back on his feet and can figure out whats wrong...hard to say

pmcbride · 09-20-2005, 03:34 PM

Yep, it's the main pump.

I would say he's loosing a gallon or 2 a day, maybe more. Again, it's hard to say how much, he has auto top off on it.

Turning greyer by the day LOL

OH, he got in about 28 probagated coral in that we will be fragging out as soon as he is up on his feet. Maybe I could bribe a couple of you guys with your choice of a frag for helping......just a thought. I can list the corals if that would help this bribe LOL

pmcbride · 09-20-2005, 03:53 PM

here's a really bad picture of one of the acro's received.

pmcbride · 09-20-2005, 04:09 PM

ok, here's another. Baby Powder Blue Montipora Diga

Twitterbait · 09-20-2005, 05:00 PM

I would love to come out... But i dont have a car and that's a very long walk. Anyone else?

inkto · 09-20-2005, 05:55 PM

Don't let that ATO drop your salinity too much...

Loverotties · 09-20-2005, 06:41 PM

Man I wish it was out here I'd come!I can't beleive no one going to check!Lise maybe call a LFS and see if anyone there would come out!Or maybe a nabor would look.

Lowman · 09-20-2005, 09:06 PM

Lise, i can come over, but it has to be tomorrow.

Bob

Lowman · 09-20-2005, 11:10 PM

Lise, i should be able to get there around 2 or so, does that work for ya??

Melix · 09-21-2005, 01:05 AM

Yeah, Inkto is right. Make sure that auto top-off isn't bringing the salinity way down. If it is you way want to take some tank water and mix in a little extra salt and add it back in until you bring the salinity back up. make sure to do it slowly if it's already down too far.

pmcbride · 09-21-2005, 01:01 PM

Bob,

2:00 pm or after would work. Thank you so much for being able to come out. I will pm you his address and number. Give me a call when you are on the way. Thanks again, Lise.