carpet clean up :(

[ellisz]

What do you do when your tank sits on carpet and you have a mishap? Seems like I am prone for messes or something

Woke up this morning and I heard some sucking noises from the fish room. The sump was low and the auto fill was empty so the small pump that supplies the fuge was sucking air. I can't figure out what happened either. My sump is a 20 gal tank that sits in a 32 gal rubbermaid container. There was no water in the 32 gal container. The fuge is raised and sits on a table but I could see no water on the table but there is some underneath.

I am thinking of cutting the carpet around the tank so that if this happens again, I can just pull it up with ease. I really would hate to have to take the tank apart.

How do you all handle water problems? I need some ideas.

 

[ellisz]

Well, it ended up being a hermit stuck in the drain of the fuge! I had pulled him off last week and it never really dawned on me of the damage that would do. I really thought it would just drop in the sump but his shell was too big.

I ended up cutting the carpet around my tank. Once I get everything dried, it should be unnoticable. Will be easier next time if an accident happens.

Do you all have disaster plans in place? I thought I was pretty good but I guess not. I might put a higher drain line in the fuge for an emergency drain when needed.

I was lucky too that the fresh water bin was near empty. The salinity in the tank was not effected but the fresh water pump is most likely toasted. Might have to get that second float set up.

Thanks for reading...

 

[mrmarine]

well i reccomend getting a liquid vaccum or maybe sticking something waterproof around or under the tank to prevent furthwe water damage
(i think that you csn rent liquid vaccums at home depot or somethinmg like that)

HTH
Mr. Marine

 

[powderbluetang]

lol a sucking noise well what i do is just have a sump that get constant water and has a overflow so it never get empty or empty enough to effect anything

 

[ellisz]

I have a shop vac but unless you get air under the pad it could mold. I sucked up the bulk water and I am using a high speed blower to dry the pad now.

My sump should never get get empty but if water is vacating the sump or fuge, it will. I have an auto top off for the sump and a small ph in the sump feeds the fuge which drains right back into the sump. Pretty simple really, as long as the drain to the fuge stays open...

thanks

 

[Davidfrances]

I have been taking a 3/4" oak cabinet grade plywood sheet, cutting it to compliment the footprint of my stand (i.e. My new 120 gal. is 2'x4', so I cut the plywood 3'x5'), and placed a raised edge around the entire perimeter of the sheet using 1.5"x 1/8" pine edging strips. I then stain it to match my stand, and coat with several coats of polyurethane. Finally, I seal the inside edges with silicone sealer. Then I place it on the carpet under the stand.

It will only hold about 5 gal or so, but it works for small emergencies. I haven't figured out how to handle major spills yet.

If you move the aquarium in 5 years of so, it seems like the carpet springs back quicker as well.

 

[ellisz]

Yeah, seems like most of my spills will be from the fish room behind the tank. I have thought about sealing the gap on the floor to try and keep as much water as possible in the fish room which is vinyl.

Best method is to keep the water in there tanks