Tank overflowed. HELP!!

[Reefdiver77]

I came up this afternoon to check out my tank and low and behold, I had probably 2-3 gal of water on the floor. It looked like the tank ran over. The water level in the main tank was fine, but the level in the sump was low. Overflow and return pump both working well. Just wet carpets and salt stains down the side of the tank I noticed 2 Mexican Turbos in my overflow earlier today. I did not bother them since they were feasting. I suspect one got into the U tube from the overflow and temporarily partially obstructed it allowing the water in the tank to rise too high and not be pumped back to the sump from the main tank. I found one of the snails and removed him. The other one must have moved himself. Does this sound feasible? Anyone have any suggestions for how to prevent this in the future? TIA.

Vicki

[smoknreefrs]

thats how my overflow happend...i would suggest doing a search on RC to find out how others "fenced" off the overflow so that nothing can get in....

[Rendos]

Vicki...I think we could possibly come up with some sort of cover for you to prevent this in the future. You could possibly even attach some mesh netting over the box that is inside the tank to prevent critters from getting in. I could probably make you an acrylic cover that would just sit on top to do this very thing.
Something like this...
http://fishman.smugmug.com/photos/7574150-M.jpg

[bshumake]

Ditto on the cover. In the meantime get some egg crate and fit it over the overflow to keep them out. Or you could get some fiberglass window screen and that would work just as easily.

[just dave]

Just take some black gutter guard( used to cover house gutters to keep leaves out) and cable tie it to the teeth of your overflows surface skimmer. You can gut it so it is high ( like a tall fence) and snails will not get in the overflow and it will prevent fish from jumping into it as well. It can be purchased from Lowe's and Home Depot ( it is a black flexible plastic grid with diamond shaped openings and the roll is the size of a coffee can) and while it is a pretty big roll it is fairly inexpensive. You also may discover other uses for it as well. I know I use it a lot.

[Reefdiver77]

Thanks to you all for the suggestions. You got my brain working and I looked and found an acrylic panel I am not using in my Wet/Dry. It has 3 cut out areas. I put the u tube through one of these cutouts. It lays perfectly over the top of the overflow and I even have a cut out area where the return tube from my fuge goes. Hopefully this will work and we will not have the overflow situation again. Again thanks.