Bizarre Bak Pak Overflow Problem!!

[FishDaddy]

Just a few minutes ago, as I was checking the board, I heard the dreaded gurgling and splashing sound behind me from the 38 FOWLR!!! Fortunately, this waited until I had gotten up and was just a few feet away so I could quickly uplug the Bak Pak that was pumping saltwater over the rim!
I had had one previous mysterious overflow, but unfortunately I wasn't here and lost about 2 gallons of water. Never figured out why as everything was working just fine. Another time, the sponge in the bottom of the Bak Pak got clogged up so I've since removed it.
Bak Pak's aren't supposed to overflow like this!
Well, back to the story: I quickly scanned the tank and Bak Pak to try to see what the problem was and then.........I found it! There, peeking out of the end of the output was "Spotty", the foot-long Chainlink Moray, wondering what all the fuss was about!! He had gone over the top of the bubble trap and up into the outflow tube and clogged up the works!!!

I've got to get to work right now so I don't have time to tear down the Bak Pak to get him out and figure out how to keep him from repeating his cave exploring. I've removed the bubble trap so maybe he'll just swim out when I put some food in the tank but for now, he seems very pleased with himself!
Just another excitin' Reefin' Mornin'!
Dick

[vulkum]

funny story i had a similiar experiance with a sandman filter when i first set-up my tank. but instead of an eel it was crabs that were living in the filter. couldn't get them out without empting all the sand media out of the bottom! maybe try placing a few peices of pvc w/fittings in you tank somewhere for him to hide out. kinda like a playpen they make for ferrets.

[Brooke]

Funny story Dick. Would eggcrate work?? Hopefully Spotty is ok.

Brooke

[cath]

Horrors, Dick!

I'm getting ready to be AWAY from home for a week, and I hear this possibility about my newly transformed MJ1200? But it's better to have the knowledge. I couldn't agree more

On the up side:
*my sis and her husband are gonna be the in loco reefers while I'm gone.

*I don't have any kind of eel.

*my wrasse is only vaguely interested in the algae that grows on the outflow.

Whew! Thanks for the warning, Dick

[ 08-16-2001: Message edited by: cath ]

[Alice]

Spotty was having a good time; that's funny, Dick! Guess that's the one hole in the tank you hadn't thought to cover

[cath]

Oh Geeze!

Just now I was doing some maintenance on my tank, and I saw a huge snail in said outflow tube!! Did Spotty send out a msg to the SC snail world? Although a smaller snail would have been a great way to get rid of the algae, the big guy was a problem. I'm soooo glad this happened today!

[FishDaddy]

Well, Spotty is just fascinated with that outflow pipe!! I raised the bubble trap so that the edges were 1/2" above the water surface and he found his way in there again. This morning, he was entirely in the Bak Pak Skimmer housing on the back of the tank!!!!! I enticed him out by dropping a few shrimp pellets in the tank and he worked his way back through the plumbing. Fortunately, I had left the skimmer off overnight just in case!
I have now rubber banded a piece of netting over the end of the outflow pipe. Maybe this will work.
Dick

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Thanks for the story Dick!! As you know I have a snowflake eel and am always concerned about it going into the overflow box. If he goes in the chamber on the right it will just swim out the bottom where I used to have a sponge but not anymore.
If it goes into the other chamber that is where the pump is. I have a covering on the bottom of the pump so it can not get hurt and hopefully it will be able to find its way out again. Eels can go just about any where they want too!! So far everything is ok and the eel stays in the reef. Johnny

[Alice]

"Eeeel be seeing you in all the old familiar places..."