Flooding stories go here!

[howmanyds]

I have an inline heater that is installed on the tubing that goes from the outtake of my canister filter to my 75g tank. And I love it. So, with the duplication theory in mind, I decided tonight to install a second inline heater onto the tubing of my second canister.

So, I switched off the powerstrip and unplugged the filter, capped-off the water at the top of the filter and measured my tubing to prepare to cut. I got my scissors and began to snip. As the water jetted directly onto me I though "oops," but it was too late.

I had neglected to consider the fact that the tubing, when cut, would create a beautiful siphon from the tank.

The tank started emptying in full force into the inside of my cabinets and onto the inaccessible wall behind the stand. I quickly grabbed the nearby two gallon bucket, partly filled with my kids' shell collection. Thankfully I had a clamp right there in the cabinet which just barely allowed me to keep the water streaming into the bucket, though it kept hopping out.

In my panic I couldn't think of how to stop the flow, thinking that I'd have to pull out the whole 24" of spray assembly from inside the tank, but the two gallon bucket was almost full already. So I ran to the garage for a 5 gallon bucket and returned just in time to swap it out, spilling most of the bucket and spurting the tube all over the place.

With a slightly calmed disposition I then figured out how to simply disconnect the top of my tube from the tank (without having to pull out the whole spray assembly), and thus began my cleanup.

Thankfully, my wife fell asleep while reading to the kids, and missed the whole event.

Anybody else ever flood their room?

 

[MMantelli]

Haha awesome I'm not the only one that's done something similar. I mis judged the inflow and drain tube for a growbed I put on top of my cichlid tank. Well I ended up with 10g of water in my livingroom. Another time I misjudged the amount of time it takes a filstar xp2 to fill a 5g bucket from the tank and ended up with about 2-3g on my bedroom floor. And just Tue other day my python fell out of one of my tankes while filling it up and had the hose on full blast effect all over my living room. Theese all happened over the course of a year thouh.lol

 

[Cactuspixie]

Yep, been down that path more than once! The water gushed everywhere- including over the power board. Stupid me thought oh no! That's not safe! I had better unplug it! Zzzzzzap!!!
I had to cut up all the carpet and underlay the next day (except the 4 squares under the legs of the stand). The stench was unbearable!!! Still just have the bare concrete. Lol

 

[bshenanagins]

Just the other night I came home to my out of wack timer that allowed my lights and CO2 to remain on ALL DAY. I walked in to a bare tank and was like NOOOO! Luckily the fish were doing ok but you could tell they were starved for oxygen. So I reset the timer and pulled up my output so it was splashing the surface and encouraging gas exchange. Anyway, about an hour later I'm in my room in my basement and I start to hear a trickle in the back area by my boiler. It caught my attention but thought nothing of it. Next thing I know, the trickle becomes a water fall! I run to the back of the basement and water is pouring through the first floor! I run upstairs to find my output out of the tank and on the darn floor. Boy was I FUMING! Lol

 

[howmanyds]

Great stories!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I run a hose inside to fill my tanks. I was filling my 70g cichlid tank and got distracted by my kids. While in the kitchen I could hear this strange sound. Took me a while to realize it was the tank over flowing all over the living room carpet. I had to run all the way through the house, out the front door and around the corner of the house to turn the hose off. Took every single towel I own to mop up the mess. Luckily we have a wood burning fireplace in that room so the carpet dried and doesn't smell. Didn't learn my lesson. The next week I did the same thing with my 40g that was sitting next to the 70.

 

[howmanyds]

The first time I overflowed the 75, I thought it would be my last, but nooooo. Did it again a day or two later. Thankfully my kids are ever circling the house, so they've always caught it before the puddle reaches the carpet ten feet away.

Now whenever I put the hose in the tank I tell my phone to set an alarm for ten minutes. No more spills! (Knock on wood).

 

[Big Tex]

i think the dumbest mistake i make way too often, (every other water change) is letting my 5gal bucket overflow when siphoning water out, ive actually ran towards the bucket to pull the siphon out of the water and busted my a$$ on occasion lol

 

[Tetra1990]

I had a hob filter spring a leak at 1:30 am. It was only about 3 gallons of water but the wall behind my tank, which was just painted, got water on it. Also, the carpet was sopping wet. A few days with a large box fan blowing on the carpet+window being open dried the carpet. The wall still has some wrinkled paint though.

 

[Rare]

Filling the 130g, I sat down on love seat as I always do. I was staring at the tank & went in a trance state of mind, then sleep mood as I was listening to music. The phone rang & that got me up. I looked at the hose, the aqauarium and jumped. The sump was filled & overflowing.Thank my luck stars I bought a tarp that i use as a liner in there for any accidents like this. There was 1/2 inch of water at least hold in there..lol Glad I put the tarp in there.

 

[Tategrant]

i think the dumbest mistake i make way too often, (every other water change) is letting my 5gal bucket overflow when siphoning water out, ive actually ran towards the bucket to pull the siphon out of the water and busted my a$$ on occasion lol

Me too kinda lol. Whenever I do a water change I siphon my water out and my hose isn't very long so sometimes when I'm not looking the end of the hose creeps out of the bucket and sprays everywhere in a 10 foot radius. Most recently all over my bed... Gross