Commisseration

[Raddogz]

Bad stuff happens to ALL of us...

A few weeks ago I received a call at work from home saying there was a strong electrical smell coming from downstairs. My lunch was spent driving home and expecting the worst. The electrical smell was strong, but I couldn't seem to locate it...yet. Everything seemed okay so I went back to work. Later that night I discovered the moisture or water had leaked onto a power supply to my ph monitor and consequently the power strip plug (right below it) for my 58g tank. I gingerly and carefully removed both offending items. I found an old heavy duty power plug with a gfci attached to it and plugged in return pump, heater, and lights back on.

Problems solved right? NO

I then went to go check on the 120g tank and it's power supplies. DC8 power strip to my AquaController was pretty hot so that got yanked not to mention the plug was melted out as well, so that is pretty much toast as well. I look at the tank itself and notice the return pump, Vortech pump, skimmer, and related items are off. NEAT Luckily it was Saturday and by the time I hit the reset switch after I removed said DC8 power strip everything powered back up. No lights, no CO2 control (solenoid gets turned off without power), no pump to stir up Kalk mixer.

I have one of my lights hooked up to DJ power strip and turn it on when I get home so at least there is some light the corals get. I'm listening to the Litermeter (top-off only) tonight and it's sounding really awful and then I notice the water is leaking from the corner of the unit. Son of *(@RNN (){RU()Q#UR

<sigh>

My point to this little tale is make sure to keep extra equipment around as a just in case you have to switch out. Extra power strips are a necessity, extra Intermatic switches are a must, as are spare return pumps and heaters.

Things happen to even to us "experienced" folks as well we are not immune. Learn from our mistakes!

 

[A_Lee]

Wow, sorry to hear all that happened

 

[pixelpixi]

yikes! I'm glad that you, your place, and your tanks are okay!

 

[Apon]

This hobby sucks sometimes huh.

 

[Elite]

Sorry to hear that Eileen

I'm pretty lucky so far. No major problem since I keep SW tanks.. "Knock on wood"

 

[Mr. Ugly]

Wow.... glad you got to everything before it got any worse.

Sorry about all the equipment crap

 

[Lyn]

Ugh, sorry for your troubles... I am glad it wasn't worse though...

All the livestock made it, right?

 

[sfsuphysics]

Yikes, like some voodoo curse put over the San Francisco... everyone else in the city needs to watch out!

I don't have terribly much extra equipment laying around but if you have a "must have" wishlist let me know.

 

[Gomer]

ewwww. the wave of tank incidents is amazing right these past months. Glad you caught it in time though!

 

[cwolfus]

Actually, annoyances and frustration aside I think this is a huge success story and Raddogz deserves some kudos for helping us to all see how she succeeded (and almost failed).

Thanks for sharing and helping Raddogz.

For easy review, how about a specific list of the spare items you used?

 

[sfsuphysics]

I agree with Charles, it's one thing to get hammered by something, it's another to learn from it or have others learn from it.

When I had my problem, there were a few things I was unprepared for, but acting quickly in the right way did end up saving my corals (although they still are a bit fru-fru pastel colors ). Even went so far as to start a thread on what things you should have around for an emergency.

 

[cwolfus]

Yup, Mike. Kudos to you too. That was a very valuable thread.

 

[cwolfus]

I'd like to see more of these annoyance/success threads.

 

[drdoolittle]

Sorry to hear that Eileen.

funny thing about the Litermeter. I emailed SpectraPure a few weeks ago inquiring about preventive maintenance of my litermeter. I asked about the lifespan of the tube and rollers, how often it should be replace. I was told that unless it leaks i should not have to replace it and as far at the rollers. I just need to wipe it down clean every now and then. these should work for the lifespan of the unit.

I was pretty shock to recieve those answer "unless its leaks i should not have to replace it". It kinda defeat the purpose of preventive maintenance. Once it leaks, its too late. So, i decided even though it currently working that i'm going to replace it anyways. Your is the second unit i heard that leaked and causing damage to equipments. Either case, i was already planning on replacing mines asap, its been running for 2.5 now and it think its due for replacement.

Truely sorry to hear about what happened, if there anything we do. Please let us know. Thanks for sharing, it just validate my concern.

 

[Apon]

If it can fail, it will fail. Most of you know that I don't have much equipment on my tank....The only thing that can fail in my tank that can really hurt it quickly, it would be the pumps. ( no heater for me) And course I got the neigborhood power outage. : ) I think I might get a spare pump now.