adamjr
07/14/2006, 09:40 PM
I had a minor catastrophe on Tuesday. My wife beeped me on the nextel when I was an hour and a half away from home. The lights are off over the tank, the pump isn't running. Everything is drooping.
My Ghetto-Fuge which had run happily without incident for the last 2 years or so sprung a leak which doused my outlets and my power strip which tripped the GFCI.
I ran her through the reset procedure. No reset. Go and pull the two plugs from the outlet and see if it resets. Bingo. Hit the test button (she asked why and I said "So you don't risk electrocution. Any more questions?" She said no. Plug in the pump, no reset. Unplug the pump and pluc in the power strip. Still no joy. I told her I'd be home as soon as possible.
I did the same procedure but I used the right outlet and the pump worked. I took a gamble and risked my life and tried plugging in the power strip (2 circulation powerheads, 2 light timers, mini pump for the ghetto fuge, and a heater). It tripped the GFCI immediately.
Apparently when the outlet got doused some water must have gotten into the outlet and was not causing an issue until the left side got loaded. After replacing the outlet and adding an outdoor cover to it I began determining the damage. I began by just outright throwing out the power strip which also got doused. Then I tested my two digital outdoor light timers unloaded. One worked and the other had a toasted relay. Into the garbage it went.
I nearly electrocuted myself when I plugged in one of my Hagen Pro-3 powerheads. I have two that have been in service for about 3 years. When I plugged in the first one I took a hit (I hate that feeling) and a giant spark shot out of the outlet. I elected to just pitch both powerheads just in order not to take chances.
The Minijet 404 that ran the ghetto fuge was fine. The heater was fine. There was still a ton of life in the ghetto fuge. I turned it diagonal and put it in the currently unoccupied center section of my sump in order to preserve as much life as possible.
A few years ago I purchased a nice big HOB fuge off eBay from a guy that at the time was using the handle acryliccity. Since my ghetto fuge was thriving I never put it online. Now I had to. I had two old Maxi-Jet 1000 pumps and I was going to use one to run the fuge so I went to Home Depot for a couple odds and ends I was missing.
I brought one of the Maxi's with me and learned something all may find useful if you've never tried it. The output of the Maxi-Jet pumps fits perfectly into a 1/2" John Guest fitting. I do not know if that is leak proof but for an underwater application it works perfectly. It will make it really simple to remove the pump for cleaning.
The bad news was I found out that the impellers of both pumps were broken away from the magnets.
The other good news was that Premium Aquatics ships quickly. I ordered two new MJ 1200's. Also Sweetwater brand Saltwater Zoo Plankton was on sale for $1.95 a jar (ordered two) and I decided to order 5 pounds of Crude which I have read so much about lately.
It shipped on Wednesday and I recieved it on Thursday. I put the fuge online with the Crude and I was pretty happy with what was in the bag. I will probably rder another five or ten pounds in a couple of weeks.
All in all things could have been a lot worse. If not for the GFCI my wife could have come home to a smoldering foundation. On top of that since I was so busy with the tank I was barely paying attention to the All-Star game. I had food poisoning that landed me in the hospital a couple of weeks ago and that experience which included uncontrollable repeated vomiting was slightly more pleasureable then listening to that jerk Joe Buck.
Adam
My Ghetto-Fuge which had run happily without incident for the last 2 years or so sprung a leak which doused my outlets and my power strip which tripped the GFCI.
I ran her through the reset procedure. No reset. Go and pull the two plugs from the outlet and see if it resets. Bingo. Hit the test button (she asked why and I said "So you don't risk electrocution. Any more questions?" She said no. Plug in the pump, no reset. Unplug the pump and pluc in the power strip. Still no joy. I told her I'd be home as soon as possible.
I did the same procedure but I used the right outlet and the pump worked. I took a gamble and risked my life and tried plugging in the power strip (2 circulation powerheads, 2 light timers, mini pump for the ghetto fuge, and a heater). It tripped the GFCI immediately.
Apparently when the outlet got doused some water must have gotten into the outlet and was not causing an issue until the left side got loaded. After replacing the outlet and adding an outdoor cover to it I began determining the damage. I began by just outright throwing out the power strip which also got doused. Then I tested my two digital outdoor light timers unloaded. One worked and the other had a toasted relay. Into the garbage it went.
I nearly electrocuted myself when I plugged in one of my Hagen Pro-3 powerheads. I have two that have been in service for about 3 years. When I plugged in the first one I took a hit (I hate that feeling) and a giant spark shot out of the outlet. I elected to just pitch both powerheads just in order not to take chances.
The Minijet 404 that ran the ghetto fuge was fine. The heater was fine. There was still a ton of life in the ghetto fuge. I turned it diagonal and put it in the currently unoccupied center section of my sump in order to preserve as much life as possible.
A few years ago I purchased a nice big HOB fuge off eBay from a guy that at the time was using the handle acryliccity. Since my ghetto fuge was thriving I never put it online. Now I had to. I had two old Maxi-Jet 1000 pumps and I was going to use one to run the fuge so I went to Home Depot for a couple odds and ends I was missing.
I brought one of the Maxi's with me and learned something all may find useful if you've never tried it. The output of the Maxi-Jet pumps fits perfectly into a 1/2" John Guest fitting. I do not know if that is leak proof but for an underwater application it works perfectly. It will make it really simple to remove the pump for cleaning.
The bad news was I found out that the impellers of both pumps were broken away from the magnets.
The other good news was that Premium Aquatics ships quickly. I ordered two new MJ 1200's. Also Sweetwater brand Saltwater Zoo Plankton was on sale for $1.95 a jar (ordered two) and I decided to order 5 pounds of Crude which I have read so much about lately.
It shipped on Wednesday and I recieved it on Thursday. I put the fuge online with the Crude and I was pretty happy with what was in the bag. I will probably rder another five or ten pounds in a couple of weeks.
All in all things could have been a lot worse. If not for the GFCI my wife could have come home to a smoldering foundation. On top of that since I was so busy with the tank I was barely paying attention to the All-Star game. I had food poisoning that landed me in the hospital a couple of weeks ago and that experience which included uncontrollable repeated vomiting was slightly more pleasureable then listening to that jerk Joe Buck.
Adam