Just a little reminder for all of us to be vigilant.....things WILL go wrong....

[jgleach]

Well, last night when I got home from work I found a note from my wife. (No, she didn't leave me because of my reef addiction.) She had made a large pot of chicken soup that was still too hot to move to the fridge when she went to bed so the note asked me to take it to the basement fridge when I got home. When I got to the basement, I noticed that it was WAY too silent to be normal. I didn't hear any pump noise or water movement. I made my way over to the breaker box and found that the breaker for most of my basement equipment had tripped. I reset it and started to make my way back upstairs.....as I passed by the back of my tank, I heard electrical popping and saw whisps of smoke coming from my calcium reactor pump.....and then the breaker tripped again. I immediately unplugged the reactor and upon further inspection, found an unwanted intruder....had met his maker in my basement. Somehow, a chipmunk got past the 3 German Shepherds and 2 cats and made his way into my basement only to discover that chewing on electrical cords can prove fatal. It also has the potential for electrical fires.....

Many of us do not pay as close attention to our equipment as we should. We are dealing with lots of electrical equipment, lots of moving salt water, and there are so many things that can cause disasters to happen. I have to tell myself daily to do at least a cursory inspection of all my equipment....when we slack off, VERY BAD things can happen.

Jeff

[Gluestick]

Wow, that's crazy! Yeah, I need to be a little more vigilant about checking my equiptment as well... Kind of take for granted that nothing has ever gone wrong ---knocks on wood---

[woodycb]

I found a family of mice in my basement chewing on a phone wire that was not in use. That wire was right next to the wire that feeds my tank mechanicals. I let my two cats down there and started ending up with dead mice everywhere. Nothing happened thank god, but my cats come and go freely in the basement now.

[little_squid]

wow thats crazy
was everything ok fish/coral wise?

[Saltyfishguy]

Tis true there had been a couple times I didnt know my heater went out though the controller said fine This week I had gone to rearrange as alwyas ....felt cold temp was 72 lost a clam and a beautiful red haddoni

[skearse]

http://hvreef.org/yabb/index.php?topic=5483.0

One of the scariest things I've personally seen in the hobby. Jay (wagerja) is a long time reefer, and just like Jeff mentioned got a little lazy checking on things (OK, so he was getting married and closing on his house, but still...). When I got over there that night to help with the aftermath I was completely amazed that the whole house hadn't gone up with everything else. Frightening, to say the least.

[mhender]

The worst I had happen was a few months back I awoke to 150 Gallons of saltwater soaking into my livingroom rug and a house full of smoke. It seems that the pump in the 300 Gal system failed and caused the tank to siphon over flowing the sump and flooding my living room. The salt water got into a surge supressor causing it to short and start to burn up. The short basically electrified the whole living room floor due to the 2 inches of saltwater. Just about killed me when I steped into the room. Also gave my son a nice jolt. Several hundred dollars for cleanup and removal and reinstallation of the carpet and new padding and it's all as good as new. I did make sure that I installed over flows on all of the equipmnet and now the tanks will all overflow in to the septic system if that ever happens again. Boy was my wife happy about that one, God bless her for her understanding :)

I really need to install GFI circuts on all of those outlets in that room sometime soon.

Also, saltwater from an aquarium sure can cause a awful smell after a few days sitting in a carpet. Smelled like a cow died in that room until we had stanley steamer clean the carpet after we pulled it out and trashed the padding.

Hope that never happens again .......

Not to mention the loss of a few thousand dollars worth of corals. Gotta love this hobby !!!

Mark

[Gluestick]

Wow Mark! That is horrible! Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

[mhender]

Thanks Val,

Everything is back to normal and that's all part of having hundreds of gallons of saltwater in your livingroom. Wasn't the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last that I end up flooding some part of the house. That's one of the down falls of having a multi-tank system and all of the plumbing and pipes that go along with that type of system.

Thanks
Mark

[whiirly]

Mark
To install GFC Breakers is easy and well worth the investment(especially after being zapped)They are not cheep but wont be the most expensive piece of equipment you have either.

The reason I suggest breakers instead of outlet is sometimes its hard to reset a outlet if its behind your tank.I have to have the wife reset mine because my big but cant get back there

I can help if you need I am not an electrician but have done several of these in the past

[mhender]

Thanks for the offer to put in a GFI. I think I can do it. I have replaceb breakers in the past so I think I can do it again. I was looking at them at Menards and I could get what I needed for under $50. SO I think that's the way I'm going to go.

Thx
Mark