Made a HUGE rookie mistake, almost disaster!

I'm not as proud on the internet forums as I am in real life, so I'll humbly admit my mistakes in the hopes that others might learn from them instead of laugh at them... but by all means, feel free to laugh if you would like. I have thick skin.

A few days ago I noticed some algea growth in my overflow, so I grabbed a large turbo snail and threw him in there (most of you know where this is heading already). All was good until last night, when I was laying in bed, and realized I forgot to fill the ATO resevoir. Put on my PJ bottoms and wandered out to find the returns spewing bubbles into the tank, a sure sign the return pump was sucking air and that the ATO was empty. So in a slightly sleepy daze I got the bucket of RODI and started filling the ATO. ATO pump kicks in and starts topping off the tank. I keep filling the ATO and the ATO pump keeps running, and the return pump keeps sucking.

"Thats funny, that cant be right" I tell myself. I'm starting to think I have a leak when I stand up and look at the main tank, and my heart jumps out of my throat. The water is, I kid not, less than 1/8" from the very top. I'm talking covering the support braces...

I immediately hit the kill swich and the tank starts to drain. Then my heart jumps again... my sump probably cant handle the amount of water in the DT. Precious few seconds fly by as the sump fills, my finger ready to hit the pump switch. 1/2" from the top, the water stops. Crisis averted.

That *&%$ turbo snail decided to climb up the overflow pipe and get sucked in, to where he promptly got stuck in the bulkhead. Spent 10 minutes fishing him out... he's fine now.

So, because I wasnt thinking worst case when I threw the snail somewhere he shouldn't be, I almost flooded the floor and lowered my SG a bit as well.

Hopefully some other rookie will read this and think "what an idiot", but then recall this thread when he goes to do the very same thing. Then my public humiliation would be worth it.

Hope you enjoyed the laugh.

~ Sacul

 

wow, close call. I just reach in there with my hands and tweezers and clean as much algae out as possible.

 

Could of been A LOT worse!

 

LOL

Oh I have been there soooooo many times.

Mind racing, electrical catastrophe about to take place, pending water leaks into others apartments. Only seconds to act, before the unthinkable. Honestly I wonder how I avoiding electrocution for so long. The odds are no longer in my favor.

I am sure others will read this and go, hmm I had not thought of that, snails causing the mass destruction of my tank, by getting stuck in plumbing.

Thanks for sharing, I could picture the entire saga in my head.

 

i have had 3 floods because of critters i thought with this tank i was safe from that...guess again. lol flooded.

 

Hajaha lucky son of a gun .ur better than me i have to floods under my belt

 

My biggest mistake was when I flipped a vale water starts dripping me on my head and I flip start flipping the pump switches when all I had to do was turn the valve back open. Let's just say 40 gallons of salt water dripping down threw the light fixture dose not make mom and dad happy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

LOL! That was a close call,but I think we're all guilty of silly little near fatal mistakes.I think my worst was when I still had a sea-clone skimmer on the back of my old 55 and adjusted the air valve(like you constantly have to do)and walked away,luckily my son caught it a few minutes later spewing over everywhere.The biggest problem was the water ran right down in the floor electric receptical,thank goodness it is a gfi outlet,sometimes i think thats the only thing that saved the tank and possibly the whole house.
I relocated my aquirium outlets in the wall vs. the floor(it's an older house).And did I mention that I can't stand sea-clone skimmers?

 

lol i had a flood when i drilled my tank because I forgot one of the valves was closed and it dumped about 5gallons of water EVERYWHERE!!! in a matter of sec's.

 

Yeah I have a flood record too! 1st time I filled my 100g as a matter of fact! 20g or so all over my hard wood floors! Sucks! But you got lucky