Urgent! tank overflow! help!

[travis32]

o.k.well, thankfully I was in the same room, but, my sump, ATO and overflow worked to create my first aquarium nightmare!!!

A giant snail decided to crawl into my overflow box and into my siphon. he managed to completely block the siphon, which in turn caused the sump to pump all the swater in the sump box into the tank, which in turn triggered the ATO to fill the sump, which in turn... well you get the nightmare... caused the tank to overflow.

I got the overflow restarted. i removed my surge protecters completely in case some water leaked inside the cabinet and got them wet.. i just don't want to take any chances... i disconnected the ATO for now until the aquarium levels go down through evaporation. thankfully the salinity is still only 1.025 because i was trying to raise my salinity and so had added some salt to the ATO earlier this week.

I'm going to keep the room warm enough to have the room heat keep the aquarium at it's steady temp.

lighting won't be activated until I'm sure the surge protectors are completely dried out or I get new ones.

so, i epoxied the netting around my siphon on better hoping it's tight enough to prevent another giant snail from getting in. what else can i do to protect from giant snail clogging it up and causing a disaster?

[bhammer]

Wow, sorry to hear about your overflow. Your next nighmare is when you electrocute yourself. I would plug everything into a GFCI outlet. It's better that a GFCI trips, than turning you into a smoking blob.

I would add a second overflow for backup purposes. That is the best way. Other than that, you have done what most do here.

[gacon711]

I been through that before so I know how you feels. But hey, that is part of this hobby.

[travis32]

yeah, i agree.

thanks for the suggestions!

[Homeytwist]

Bhammer, thanks for the feedback on the GFCI strip vs outlet, makes my decision easier! Also, re. the message in your signature:

01011001 01100101 01110011 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01110110 01100101 01110010 01110100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100001

[Lemeshianos]

I remember seeing a picture of a guy sitting infront of a pc and the keyboard has only two keys. A zero and a one.
The caption below wrote:
0101001001100101011000010110110000100000011100000111001001101111011001110111001001100001011011010110 1101011001010111001001110011001011000010000001110000011100100110111101100111011100100110000101101101 0010000001101001011011100010000001100010011010010110111001100001011100100111100100100001

[travis32]

I tried to install a GFCI outlet a couple weeks ago and i couldn't figure out the difference between load bearing and line bearing wires on my outlet.

Plus I was afraid the wires would be too short if i cut them from the old outlet and I couldn't get them pulled out of the existing outlet.

so, I'm not sure what to do except hire an electrician.

[bhammer]

Originally Posted by Homeytwist

Bhammer, Also, re. the message in your signature:

[bhammer]

Originally Posted by Lemeshianos

I remember seeing a picture of a guy sitting infront of a pc and the keyboard has only two keys. A zero and a one.
The caption below wrote:

Very true. Back in the day, that is how it all started. Could you imagine??

[bhammer]

Originally Posted by travis32

I tried to install a GFCI outlet a couple weeks ago and i couldn't figure out the difference between load bearing and line bearing wires on my outlet.

Plus I was afraid the wires would be too short if i cut them from the old outlet and I couldn't get them pulled out of the existing outlet.

so, I'm not sure what to do except hire an electrician.

There are some diagrams on th net that show how to properly hook them up. It's not difficult. You shouldn't have to cut any wires. If they are pushed in, there is a small hole above where the wire goes that you stick a paper clip (or the correct tool if you have it) into and it will release the teeth holding the wire.

Do yourself a favor though, use the screws when you back with a GFCI. and not the push in.

[Mounda]

Definitely time to add that emergency overflow drain.

[travis32]

i'm intrigued as to what the emergency overflow drain is mounda.. can you explain?

I would have been fine if something else would have kicked in to move the water from the tank back to the sump even with all the water from the ATO.

Things are o.k. now, but, i'm a little scared what would happen if i weren't home or were on a trip when that happened...

[TitusvileSurfer]

The vast majority of build threads on reef central feature two drains. One is the main drain with the same job yours had. The other is drilled next to the first and situated just above the water line as a backup drain, in case the first one fails like yours did. If you notice the second drain below the water line...you know the first drain failed and can take necessary action, but still have a fully functional system in the meantime.

[piscivorous]

I have a 2nd overflow built into my system to prevent just this type of situation...hopefully it works....sorry to hear about your overflow!!

[travis32]

thanks for the suggestions. My tank is not a drilled tank. just a siphon overflow..

i'll see if there's a second overflow system I could do that has a higher water level than the overflow i have. my sump doesn't have room for a second overflow as far as plumbing goes. i could just have it over the sump so it drains in there if it's necessary.

Not sure. or just have the tank and electricity things sufficiently protect so that if it does overflow that it doesn't damage anything or start any fires. I could also see about cover the overflow with some type of snail guard.. My overflow box is only 5" by 3" (in the tank).

Anywhere i could find a overflow cover somewhere that would prevent snails and fish from getting in it in the first place/ just something plastic with some type of bars or teeth that would allow water to still flow, but prevent anything large enough getting in from clogging the lines.

[Mounda]

Originally Posted by travis32

thanks for the suggestions. My tank is not a drilled tank. just a siphon overflow..

i'll see if there's a second overflow system I could do that has a higher water level than the overflow i have. my sump doesn't have room for a second overflow as far as plumbing goes. i could just have it over the sump so it drains in there if it's necessary.

Not sure. or just have the tank and electricity things sufficiently protect so that if it does overflow that it doesn't damage anything or start any fires. I could also see about cover the overflow with some type of snail guard.. My overflow box is only 5" by 3" (in the tank).

Anywhere i could find a overflow cover somewhere that would prevent snails and fish from getting in it in the first place/ just something plastic with some type of bars or teeth that would allow water to still flow, but prevent anything large enough getting in from clogging the lines.

It's just as they explained above, a second drain/overflow that kicks in when your primary fails.

As you said, placing the second drain line above your sump is a very good idea, once it kicks in it will create a lot of water splashing noises which will alert you to take action because they primary has been clogged.

[kimber45]

Originally Posted by travis32

I tried to install a GFCI outlet a couple weeks ago and i couldn't figure out the difference between load bearing and line bearing wires on my outlet.

line is the wire supplying power.

load is the wire feeding another device or receptacle.

if your existing receptacle is end of line don't worry about the load connections.

if your wire color coding is correct black wires (hot) go to the gold terminals. the white wires (neutral) go to the silver terminals. green or bare wires go to the grounding terminal.

here's a good diy.

[VitalApparatus]

In the case of a durso standpipe in a drilled tank is there a guard or something I could fashion to cover the pipe?

[lordofthereef]

One thing I have yet to see mentioned is that I feel you could add a bit of a fail safe to your ATO in the form of a timer that only turns on for a couple minutes every hour or two. This will minimize the amount of water that is able to be pumped in at any one time.

[travis32]

Lord that's an excellent Idea.. Thanks for that, I actually bought a new mechanical timer and additional surge protectors in case I needed to replace current equipment.. I like the idea though of plugging the ATO power into a mechanical timer that if the water level is low enough to turn on the the ATO pump would turn on for a min or two something, and then the timer turns off..

Excellent Idea!!! (Also the cheapest idea.. The mechanical grounded timer was $7.00.

That wouldn't necessarily prevent the sump pump from running dry, but it should be able to stop the tank from overflowing. The tank didn't start overflowing until 2.5 to 3 gallons of my ATO 5 gallon bucket had been drained.

Great idea. Now if only the sump pump was on a float system so it would turn off if the water was too low.

(I suppose a revers of the ATO floats.)

[Chiefsurfer]

^your idea about the pump is a great one. And VERY!!! easy to accomplish. You would have to get one rated for 120v, but they make a switch for bilge pumps in boats. It's a very basic switch. Float stays at water level. When water-level rises, pump on. Falls, pump off. You would have to adjust where you needed it, but it would work great.

[Mounda]

Floats are usually pretty big in size aren't they, the ones I've seen used on water tanks are the size of my fist, is it possible to adjust them accurately. It would be cool if there was a smaller version.

[travis32]

It would be a miniaturized version of a basement sump pump.. Where I live most houses have sump pumps that turn on if water is detected and are off 99% of the time unless ground water levels are really high and make it close to a house..

Problem is that house sump pumps are generally much bigger than aquarium sumps (depending on the size of the sump I suppose).

I was surprised to see that aquarium sump pumps don't have that on / off feature like a house pump does, I couldn't really understand why that is??? The house sump pumps are about the same price as the aquarium pumps and work under the same premise... no water = turn off, water = turn on.

But those detection systems are built into the pump itself. not necessarily as a separate float switch.. If I had a big enough sump. (I would think a 30gallon or larger sump would be large enough for the smallest house sump pump.. But maybe those pump too much water or something.. Those pumps can be as low as $70 - 80 or less at most any hardware stores - lowes, home depot, etc and seem to me to eliminate the need for additional redundancy and backup systems.

[Matt K]

Travis, As far as the GFCI is concerned. It the unit has push in wire holes ....DON'T BUY IT... The push in holes are an electricians worst night mare. You never know it they are making good contact. If you feel that the wires may be to short, ask the guy at home depot to cut you a piece of #12 w/ground, and a couple of wire nuts(he will know what you are trying to do) and extend the wires by an extra 6 in. Also while at H.D. purchase a plug checker, it has a more professional name, but tell the salesman that you want to use it to check your outlets. It's under 10 bucks, and it will tell you if the wires are connect correctly in the outlets. It also may have a button that you push it, it will check a GFCI. But normally the black wire will connect to the copper screw, and the white wire to the silver screw.

[Maivortex]

For now , i would remove the sanil.