My first test as a reefer....

8 posts

Discuss all topics related to saltwater / reef tanks.


blueshoes2208
 
Posts: 1077
Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2008 4:01 pm

My first test as a reefer....

by blueshoes2208

well i must say that water changes and maintenance for me were underrated.... i decided to clean out my fx5 today and came across a little bit of a problem.... i did not fully understand how the filter worked nor did i consult anyone on how to properly clean the filter media. If you are new to saltwater as I am please take note that a simple filter cleaning and perhaps 5 gal water change resulted into a 25-30 gal screw up and my carpet took the damage. I turned off the filter but only had one garbage back for backup if anything were to go wrong. I infact had the inlet hose come off the fx5 and that began to suck water out of my tank and throw it all over my room and at the same time had the inlet valve from the filter begin to push out massive amounts of water... i fixed the problem in approx 15-20 seconds but as you can see it takes no time to do damage. Please know what you are doing and have backup before you attempt something new.

One hour, 13 beach towels, 25-30 gallons of water, one freaked out mom, 2 reptile heat lamps and 2 segments of sportcenter later I had the filter taken care of and now I am about to do a major water change that , if done properly, should have been done 45 miinutes ago. Welcome to the reefing world....


TheCoralReef
 
Posts: 63
Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2008 10:07 pm

by TheCoralReef

yea, i had a simalar problem months and months ago, i built my own sump with acrylic and didnt make it tall enough, the first night i had it...the power went out while i was sleeping! well the siphon overflow box kept working while my sump return wasnt, it overflowed my sump and i had a real mess 2 clean, and it did a number on the wood in my stand


fihsboy
 
Posts: 1837
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:20 pm

by fihsboy

Gotta love gravity and siphons. haha. Sorry to hear it man. But We all learn the hard way. I had no clue about siphons until I started my tank.......then the same thing happened to me. And damn it sucked. I feel your pain.


blueshoes2208
 
Posts: 1077
Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2008 4:01 pm

by blueshoes2208

yeah...... the tank is okay tahts all that matters...... jus got alot of wet and salty carpet haha o well.....


nicholas542
 
Posts: 384
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2008 11:50 pm

by nicholas542

I'm glad I got a pump driven overflow box. If something fails in my pump system it can't overflow that was one big reason I was scared to install a sump. I really didn't want niagra falls in my new house. The pond in the back yard is cool enough don't need one in my livingroom.


blueshoes2208
 
Posts: 1077
Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2008 4:01 pm

by blueshoes2208

very smart.......


nicholas542
 
Posts: 384
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2008 11:50 pm

by nicholas542

Yeah I made a big mistake with my skimmer skimate collection jar once. The hose that drained the main collection cup went into a collection jar. The jar had about two cups of nasty funk in it, and I kicked it over onto the white carpet once. My room smelled like a sewer for a couple days.


Snowboss4492
 
Posts: 2098
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:24 pm

by Snowboss4492

ooooooooooooo nasty............lol - - - that sucked

blue, look on ebay for a rapids pro overflow box....or even go to foster and smith, and look for the rapids pro filter, you can buy just the overflow box and aqualifter pump

oh wait your running an FX-5 .....never mind lol - --sorry bout the mess, i did the same thing, i forgot to plug in the over flow pump and started the filter and the sump pumped empty into the tank and overflowed onto my wifes nice oak hard wood floors ..................i didn't get any that night ....lol


Boss

My first test as a reefer....

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