House Flooded. Flooring ruined, 180G Reef must be moved.

[sminker]

Well last weekend I had a toilet water line break on me while I was at a friend's birthday party. I have 4 kids and go out once every 3-4 months and it had to happen on a night I went out. Got home at 1 AM to my garage doors gushing with water. Garage looked like it was raining in the house. Ran upstairs to find water just flowing out of the bathroom. Reaching behind the toilet to turn it off sucked because the valve was stuck open, and it took about 15 seconds to get it to turn off all the while the hose was spraying me in the face and neck.

The kicker is I just remodled and put Pergo in the entire house, less than a year ago. The water flowed underneathe all the flooring in the house. Luckily only a few walls were damaged.

Now in order to finish I have to move my tank back 4 feet to install the new Pergo, and then slide it back in place. The tank is viewable from all 4 sides, so its an island between the living room and kitchen.

If anyone has ever carried a 180G tank you know that sounds easier than it really is. Hopefully I can get the water level low enough to make it *somewhat* easier to move.

It sucks mainly because right now all the SPS look extremely happy, and Im afriad it might shock them for a week or so.

[ALH]

I'm really sorry to here about your mess. We recently had the fish room tiled. I was prepared to take down my 180 to tile under it, but my husband used shims to lift up the sides of the stand just enought to put two safe-moving jacks (one on each end) under the stand. I didn't have to remove a drop of water. The procedure was done on porcelain tile, though, and might not be a good idea on wood or pergo

[Indymann99]

Any way you can salvage the flooring under the tank and install the new flooring around the tank? Even if you save enough flooring to replace an entire section should you remove the tank in the future. To me would be worth it to not disturb the tank.

If not you can prob remove most corals to tubs, drain the tank and carefully slide it to the side, install new flooring and slide it back.

Sorry to hear about your flood...

[cpl40475]

Is it possible to remove the floor of the stand? If so go rent a few jacks with wheels and usings 4X4s to run across the tank making it possible to slide the tank around. Some water may need to be removed to keep it from splashing more water out onto the floor,

[jchase1970]

turn it in on your homeowners insurance. they will cover the repairs for a water line break.

[sminker]

Originally Posted by jchase1970

turn it in on your homeowners insurance. they will cover the repairs for a water line break.

oh yeah, insurance is paying for everything. except for the the braided hose that broke.

[trb]

What a bummer! I almost had a line break under our sink last week. It started dripping and we had water on the floor. Luckily we caught it. I got the new "auto shut off" style braided hose to replace it that will shut off the water flow if the hose fails. Now I need to replace all the other plastic hoses in the house.

Good luck with moving the tank. I also need to move mine to replace some of the laminate floor under the tank due to a leaky skimmer supply line. Luckily I put the plastic sliders under the stand, just in case, But I was planning ahead for painting the room, not replacing the floor.

[goldenseal]

What a horrible mess...Im so sorry.

[david pinder]

sounds like a good time to make a major water change

[HHIreefer843]

damn man that sucks bud!! well all i really can say is good luck!! Now someone should invent some sort of dolly to make it easier for us to move tanks!!!

[cabezon2469]

get two of the large mechanics floor jacks, raise it up, and then use dollies.

[fd678]

sorry to hear about the flood!

[SkyPapa]

Just went through a similar flood but I was home.
I was gonna change the flapper on the vanity bathroom toilet and when I turned the valve to shut off the water, the pipe broke off below the slab.
Now water is shooting straight up the drywall.
I need to turn the water off outside.
I share a meter box with my neighbor and he had just resodded his lawn so the box was buried. After I found and uncovered it, the inside of the box was full of dirt.
Cleaned it out and finally got the water turned off.
It was maybe 10 minutes but it ruined 1200 sq. ft of engineered wood.

The upside was the floor was getting old and insurance paid for a new, better floor, drywall repair and painting of the walls in the flooded rooms.
But I acted as my own contractor so it was a major pain to do.

My tank had already been banished to the garage from minor water spills.
But now I have 5 tanks there.

Good luck with the move.
I tore a quad in my leg when I moved my empty 180g with only one other guy.
Still hurts 5 months later.