i almost lost everything. (pics)

[elise]

I've had my 75gallon tank set up for a little over a year now.. ( Oceanic tank and proper Oceanic stand)


Ive put alot of money and dedication into making what it was. Didnt have corals (well a few polyps) But i had a millions of pods built up from year and great coraline. Though may not have looked like much - to me it was everything.


I honestly believe that someone is watching over me because tonight at around 9 pm i was looking at things in my tank.. And in the EXACT corner i was looking, water started dripping from the base... I couldnt believe what i was seeing. It took only seconds to get worse.. it was pouring our all around the tank base. The electrical outlet sparked and was smoking.
I was home alone and luckily was able to call a friend to help.

what if i was sleeping? or even upstairs? i wouldnt of noticed untill either my house was on fire or the next morning.. everything would have been lost.



I syphoned water into a spare 20g tank i had in mybasement and set it up in the kitchen. I put my most important peices of rock in there along with some crabs and my small watchman gobie. I gave my friend my pufferfish to look after in his tank.. i hope hes alright - its almost all i care about.

Today i'd like to say that 50 out of 75 gallons of saltwater dreched our new hardwood floor. im 20y/o, live at home and dont have to deal with insurance yet. I dont even know if this will be covered.. somehow i hope it can be water damage.

We used a shop vac and lots of towels but im pretty sure the wood is already warped

My parents are not even in the country right now. I have no way of contacting them. They come home tomorrow night.

it could have been so much worse... but still - it really sucked.


before:

now this

under the wet towel is some of the less important peices of live rock.. i have no where to put them.


Thank you for taking the time to read this... its really a big loss for me..
i dont know what im going to do now.

elise

 

[DeFeKt]

Man that sux big time. glad you come out ok, something about the mixture of water and electricity is the only thing that worries me in this hobby.
oh and the time i come a cropper on the wet floor and made mince meat of my arm when i landed on the tank lid. I'm the only person i know who can turn keeping fish into a blood sport.
8O
Might i suggest in big whoopazz tubs and getting a reseal done.
anyway...all the best with it.

Matt.

 

[No_Floaters]

Elise, sorry about your luck. At least you were there to catch it before it got really bad. Looks like you got your main pieces and livestock taken care of for now. You can put the leftover sand and rock into a big water-filled plastic tub with just a small powerhead to keep the bacteria alive.

Matt...what's a cropper..a whoopazz tub?

 

[DeFeKt]

lol, sorry forgot that us aussies are the normal people

cropper, basically i slipped....severly. other terms would be "ass-about", "ass-over-kite" "ass-up"

whoopazz tub, haven't you ever opened up a can of whoopazz? even whoopazz sized tubs?

anyhoo... any thoughts on what your going to do elise?

hopefully the stand doesn't warp and you can reuse it...other then that it's not really a big job. just a "prick" of a job.

$35 i got a 120gal resealed before i sold it by a tank builder..
so whats that $20 odd over there?

good luck again,

Matt.

 

[greenmaji]

Ocianic has a great warntee.. very long time period as well.. Since you have a proper ocianic stand they will replace the tank, and if the tank damages the stand, they will likely replace that as well.
Ive heard that a trick to home owners insurace that works sometimes is if your auto topoff system is connected to the home plumbing the water damage is sometimes covered.. if your topoff is plummed into your homes plumbing permantately see if it isnt covered like a tolet overflowing.. HTH

 

[Fluff]

Wow elise, that's horrible. Sounds like you handled it very well. I agree with greenmaji, contact Oceanic and see what they say.

 

[Royal Gramma]

Good idea running those fans across the floor! Don't know what the weather is like there but if it's not too humid or hot/cold open some windows to lower the humidity in the house that will increase as the water evaporates from the wood. The faster you can do this the less long term damage you will have.

I cringe at the thought of this happening to anyone

Best of Luck!

Mark

 

[Gatorfreak]

what's a cropper?

Similar to going a gutser.

 

[20 20]

If there's damage to the floor, Oceanic might cover that also. I've no first hand experience with this, but I've read that Oceanic is very reasonable for damages created by defects with their tanks.

 

[BillyZ]

Horrible story Elise. Wish I had some advice to give but it seems as though you are already doing all you can.


For those concerned about electrical hazards in this hobby, they can be pretty bad if you don't take proper precautions. The good news is that it's very simple to take the most basic precautions.

ALWAYS have a drip loop on all power cables.
Always use a power strip with a circuit breaker.
If at all possible, have that power strip plugged into a GFI outlet.
Make sure the power strip and other outlets are as far away as possible from any plumbing/filters etc hanging off the back of your tank.

 

[Gatorfreak]

I've had a minor flood (just a couple gallons) due to auto-topoff that decided you can never have too much water. Not sure which is worse for floods, carpet or wood floors. Scares me to think of this happening with my 90 gal.

I hope you get everything back up soon!

 

[AndyH5512]

Wow, that is awful. The silver lining to this cloud is that you were there as it began, and prevented a major disaster. Sounds like you saved everything. Keep your head high, everything will be fine.

 

[DeFeKt]

ALWAYS have a drip loop on all power cables.
Always use a power strip with a circuit breaker.
If at all possible, have that power strip plugged into a GFI outlet.
Make sure the power strip and other outlets are as far away as possible from any plumbing/filters etc hanging off the back of your tank

You forgot the main one
..if in doubt always wear rubber sole boots.

 

[lando]

Nice job. Sounds like you acted quick and avoided a major problem. It does suck, but like you said...it could have been worse. time to consider an upgrade?

 

[arminkropp]

Sorry to hear about your ordeal. Glad you somewhat caught it in time. Hope all goes well. I hope you keep us updated with all this. Been wondering myself if house insurance covers this.

 

[No_Floaters]

Hey Elise, I was going over some old posts and saw this one again. How did it go for you? Good things I hope!

 

[bamaboy2go]

Just read this post sorry about the leak. I hope it all went well for you. I get a bad feeling each time I find a wet spot on the floor, is it a leak, is it that I spilled water doing a top off or doing a water change. :?
I end up checking the tank over and over again. give us a up date as to how things go.

For those concerned about electrical hazards in this hobby, they can be pretty bad if you don't take proper precautions. The good news is that it's very simple to take the most basic precautions

been there done that got a bad shock never never spill water into the power strip!!! 8O 8O

 

[elise]

Hey everyone

Thanks again for the kind comments..

Oceanic is going to be replacing the Tank. They are also replacing the stand - they werent going to at first (because that is not under warrenty) But i sent pictures of how the corners are sort of splitting because they got wet and i was concerned about it.
He decided to give me a break for my troubles. Needless to say, our wood floors are still kinda ruined.

Brought my bad fish tank to the fish store and looked for the leak. it was easy to find. tons of bubbles in the silicone all round the bottom

i dont even know if i wanna do this anymore! :\

 

[greenmaji]

....tons of bubbles in the silicone all round the bottom

WOW! 8O 8O I've never seen that in any tank.. including the SUPER cheap ones I used to sell at a big box store! That just plain stinks..

i dont even know if i wanna do this anymore! :\

No, I hope it hasnt come to that.. 8O Don't let it get you down.. What you discribed is very rare as I said.. I've never seen it and I've handled hundreds of tanks..

Thank you for giving us an update on the situation.. Did you contact the home/renter's insurance to see if the floor was covered in case of such an event? If so let us know how that went.. thanks in advance..