The hardware drama thread.

[MagpieTear]

Monday morning I came downstairs to the sound of splashing water. Being 3 am and not having had any coffee yet, it took more than a moment to realize, I shouldn't be hearing that sound! Flick on the office light and see I lost almost 15 gallons out of my 55, and the carpet is soaked. Needless to say, before I pour my first cup of joe, I'm wide awake. Grab a flashlight start checking seams and all of a sudden my pant leg is wet. Shine the light on my Fluval 305, and see a small but high pressure stream coming out of the pivot of the Aqua Stop valve on the return side.

Unplugging it stopped the spray, so I ripped the unused airstone out of the 20H (uprooting a large chunk of HM in the process) and dropped it in the 55 and proceeded to refill the tank. Cleaning up would have to wait until I got home from work. I had enough time after work to swing by Elmers before I had to get my son off the school bus and I was surprised to find they had a bunch of the valves in stock. After the GPASI discount, it was cheaper than anywhere online, and I had it the same day. I'm just so glad the valve decided to let go while I was home, not while at work. Otherwise it would have taken the tank down to just 3 or 4 inches of water and burned the pump up.

You have any good stories of hardware failures, catastrophic or otherwise?

[LRKeefer]

Yeah, nothing gets you moving like a puddle on the fish room floor when you are trying to get to work.  That was my Tuesday.  Took me a minute to figure out why my fuzzy slipper was wet.  No equipment failure, just a seam gave up on an old old tank.  Still meant moving three other tanks to be able to get the leaker out.

Glad yours wasn't a total catastrophe.   

[danwalzer]

Was doing a water change in my 90 about a month ago. I was filling back up, when I saw our puppy who was in the front yard chasing somebody up the street. I went and got him and started talking to the people, losing track of the time. Needless to say I had a huge puddle on my hardwood floor in the living room. When I went downstairs to get towels, it was dripping out of the recessed lights in the gameroom  all over the new carpeting! I had a a couple fans running for several days to get everything dry. Luckily I have an open space into the ceiling in a utility room where I could put a fan. Note to self, the dog stays in the house and I stay in the room from now on when i'm filling!

[Italian1026]

~ Dan also forgot to mention that his wife called me asking me which one if not ALL the tanks did i want cause he made the livingroom into a big swimming pool and was leaking through the floor downstairs on HER new carpeted floor.. hahah           sorry Dan i had to tell the rest of the story...

[Ohi-bow]

I had a bit of a disaster about 6 weeks ago myself.  I came home from work at 1 am to the sound of water in the basement where I keep all my tanks.  I ran downstairs to see about 30 gallons of water and descending left in my 165 gallon tank.  I got electrocuted because my corallife digital timer was literally floating and still functioning somehow.  All of my mbuna in the tank were flipping out.  My basement is finished so you can imagine the mess.  The seam blew out on the tank.  I tried resealing the tank but it blew out again, this time in the garage after 2 days of holding water.  Wasn't going through that again without testing it first. It took me 8 days of soaking up water, running dehumidifiers and shop vacs to get that mess cleaned up.  I currently have all my mbuna in a mess of 20 gallon tanks, which isn't exactly ideal.  I bought a 150 last week and currently have it cycling, can't wait to get them back in that.  So glad I had some extra tanks laying around.  Wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.  My wife is still fuming about the whole ordeal.

[Mud Pie Mama]

Stories like these make me NAUSEOUS!


Anyone know how often seams blow out on big tanks???  Is it one in a million?  Or should a big tank be replaced every XX years?

[FINesse]

   I'd heard long ago that  29/30 gal.s blew out the most, becaause the glass thickness didn't make the leap until 40 gal & up. I'm sure that's been remedied since,  but wish makers could add a bit of metal to reinforce frames & crosspieces . we'd all rest easier!
  Being a cichlid keeper, I had a tank full of Africans & caves & rocks...One night I came home and walked through the room  thinking, "That's an odd shadow on the floor..." SQUISH. The fish had toppled the rocks, cracked the bottom and drained the tank.

[hooha]

these are my nightmares    I've read about using egg crate at the bottom of cichild tanks to help prevent moving rocks breaking the bottom of the glass....

[joshvito]

I had a new 3mo old 20G long tank leak about 5G on my 3rd floor living room.  I was in an old victorian apt. building at the time.
I caught the leak on my way out the door to work.  I was late that day, had to transfer all the equipment from the sump to the main 55G tank.
I also electrocuted myself, cause in my haste, I forgot to unplug a heater, and ZAP!
The tank had a bad bottom seam.
-
The tank was replaced for free, but I use it to house fish now.
The only noticable water drainage below me, was some murky black water running down my lower neighbors door.
I lucked out!

[insularexotics]

Was doing a water change in my 90 about a month ago. I was filling back up, when I saw our puppy who was in the front yard chasing somebody up the street. I went and got him and started talking to the people, losing track of the time. Needless to say I had a huge puddle on my hardwood floor in the living room. When I went downstairs to get towels, it was dripping out of the recessed lights in the gameroom  all over the new carpeting! I had a a couple fans running for several days to get everything dry. Luckily I have an open space into the ceiling in a utility room where I could put a fan. Note to self, the dog stays in the house and I stay in the room from now on when i'm filling!

Dan,
When I started my first job in the Public Aquarium field, a wise Senior Aquarist gave me the Aquarist Prime Directive: Never leave a running hose unattended.  just sorry I couldn't share that with you in advance 
Rich

[danwalzer]

I'll bet he said that from experience, because once it happens one time, you WONT do it again!