The Reef Tank banner

Water disaster prevention

1K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  TrojanScott 
#1 ·
Man, I'm posting more and more in here. My new tank arrives Satruday, so now I'm really geeked about getting going again!
Okay, let's hear it...
How do you prevent water mishaps on the floor?

I'll have a fill line on my sump, and check valves. Once things are in doors and I can get into it, I'll post more about what I do. But I'm just wondering what other methods are out there. Really, my thoughts seem to be that you just be extra careful. I realize small spills will always happen. With my old tank, (in my bedroom as a bachelor) 8 years of spills, and basically being lazy at times, (not double checking my skimmer was hooked up to the pump when I cleaned...stupid stuff) caused water disasters that got into the carpet, and just couldn't get it all out. Obviously, that caused some warping, and I'm sure most have you have been there before.
Now? New house, new wife, and hand distressed, cherry wood flooring. If I warp that? I'll be out of the hobby. Luckily, I almost feel this will be EASIER to control. The floor does have a finish to it, and anything we've spilled on it is easily wiped up. I just can't afford the water to be on it for hours at a time. I have a shop vac ready at all times for spills, and plan on putting plastic out each time I'm in the tank. I know this sounds extreme, but I really do want to be careful about not ruining my expensive new flooring!

Not sure if that was just me yappin about me hoping I don't mess up, or if I'm looking for any tricks you may use to ensure you don't have a major malfunction!
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Sounds like you have the right idea's to me. Is your tank drilled or Reef Ready, or are you going to use an overflow box?

Lots of people don't like the overflow boxes because if you get too much air in there it will break the siphon and your sump pump will pump all the water from the sump into the main tank (thus onto the floor). Personally I have a CPR overflow and a vacuum pump (aqualifter) to keep the overflow from accumilating air (and to restart the siphon when I turn off the sump pump for maintence tasks).

I put a check valve (aka 1 way valve) on the sump return line (between the pump and the tank) mostly because I plumbed the return line down to the bottom of my tank and across the rocks, with out the check valve, if I turned off my pump, all the water in the tank would drain into the sump (thus on the floor and not to mention the dead fish and corals when I got home)!

For water changes I purchased a "python" though the python system can be duplicated by going down to your local hardware store and getting a water bed pump and some tubing, very useful for sucking out the water in the sump to do my waterchanges and cleaning, the water is sucked thru the water bed pump and directly into the sink (down the drain). Then when I want to pump water back to the tank or the sump, I hook up the hose to a powerhead in my bucket (brute trashcan) and pump the water thru the hose. No muss no fuss ;) This gets rid of 5 gal buckets, hefting them up to fill the tank etc. The nice thing with the python is the "remote shutoff" (valve near the end of the hose) so that when you get done filling you can shut off the flow and WALK back to your bucket, instead of getting close to the fill line, then running back to turn the pump off! The valve on the end also helps with vacuuming the sand bed, you can "dial down" the suction so that you don't suck away all your sand, but instead the nasty!

One other thing would be to find a better way then suction cups to mount any powerheads if you have any, if the suction cups fall (and they will trust me) and your PH ends up pointing UP well, then you have a mess ;)

That's pretty much all I can think of at the moment.
 
#3 ·
do not rely on check valves. they get clogged over time when used in the SW environment. made that mistake before. it took it a year, but it encrusted in the open position. most check valves use metal springs, it is difficult to get all plastic ones, or ones that are reef safe.

drilling the tank is the safest way to prevent floods. the biggest cause of flooding is the skimmer. when the skimmer goes nuts and overskimms it can quickly overfill the collection cup/bottle. i made a collection vessel that when completely full will dump back into the sump. yes, this is bad for the tank, but it is better than cleaning up the floor and explaining to the boss, why the tank flooded again. generally speaking when a skimmer overskimms it is mostly water anyway so it is not as bad as it sounds.

drilling the tank and adding this anti-flood collection cup has so far eliminated tank flooding.

G~
 
#5 ·
Geoff said:
do not rely on check valves. they get clogged over time when used in the SW environment. made that mistake before. it took it a year, but it encrusted in the open position. most check valves use metal springs, it is difficult to get all plastic ones, or ones that are reef safe.
I got mine from Marine Depot.com's plumbing supplies, it's all plastic/rubber works with a "flap" much like the flapper on the back of a toliet tank, if the water starts to flow in the "wrong" direction, the rubber/plastic flap is forced shut.
 
#6 ·
Tank is drilled, overflow in tank. Thanks for the advice on the checkvalves. I agree, most of my previous mishaps were the skimmers fault, or again, just not double checking when re hooking a new pump, etc. If the power ever goes off, I'll have a fill line to make sure the tank can't drain into my sump.

I'm not familiar with overflow boxes, I assume this is something on the back of the tank? My previous tank was drilled with an overflow box IN the tank, down into a sump, it's the only way I've ever done it. (well, one tank for 8 years, and my new one will be the same.) Only difference is it will have to returns pre drilled into the glass, as opposed to my old tank, where the return was a hose that went from a RIO pump, (never had a problem, but after reading, won't do that again.. ) through a hose, to a plastic return fitting that hung over the tank, in the water. I will say that created a mess now and then too, but now that's been changed!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top