swmmnglessons said:
What an idiot...always use a check valve!
Or place the pump higher than the aquarium
I totally feel your pain, I'll share a story, so you don't feel quite so bad.
4 yrs ago, we were living in a rented house, I had been working on something the night before (for the life of me I can't remember what), and in a moment of sheer stupidity, I left my tool box out (this was not a common practice, we took great lengths to prevent our children from getting into stuff that could hurt them, to the extent of childproofing the tank stands). Anyway, I went to work, it was a Sat morning. At about 10:00am (I was working 8:00AM - 4:00pm) I get a phone call that went something like this....
ME "Hello"
Wife "Umm, hey...umm, did you know you left your tools out last night?"
Me "No, what's the big deal, put them up..."
Wife "Well that's the thing....Kit...uhh ...got your hammer"
OK, this is not the way you start this type of explanation...She should have said, "Everyone is OK, nobody is hurt,...but...." With the pauses, as soon as the word hammer came out of her mouth, I figured Kit had brained his sister with the hammer.
Me "Where are you at, what hospital?"
Wife "I'm at home"
Me "HUH!!!"
Wife "He didn't hit anyone with it"
Me "whew, so what did he do?"
Wife "He tried to hit the blenny"
OK a little explanation at this point. I had a 150g tank set up, and a 20g tank I was using as a grow out tank. The 150 was acrylic, that tank would have withstood a .38 round and only dimpled. The 20g was glass, both contained blennies.
Me "In the 150....(pleading tone)"
Wife "No"
Me "String of cussing that went on for about 5 min and is not suitable for this board, but you get the picture"
Me again "Is he OK"
Wife "Aside from thinking your gonna kill him, hes OK"
Me "How bad is the tank?"
Wife "Well..."
Me "I get the picture "
Me "Alright I'm gonna try to come home, do what you can, If I'm not there in 30 minutes, I'll see ya at 4:30"
My Captain being a non fish keeper was not sympathetic, as a matter of fact after telling him what happened it took him 10 minutes to stop laughing. He did not let me come home.
After hours of feeling sick and helpless to save my fish and corals etc... I finally got home. My wife being the smart wonderful woman that she is, had immediately called the LFS that I worked for part time, my boss, being the good guy that he was, brought her a new tank, lot's of buckets and his industrial shop vac. My wife was thinking fairly quick that day (although she could have noticed the 2yr old running around with the hammer a little earlier), turned off the main pump to the 150, drained the sump and the tank (to the top of the corals and LR) for water, put all the corals and fish and LR in buckets with airstones. She didn't worry about the sand (that was a chore, I don't think I ever got all the slivers of glass out of the sand). Then she went to the task of vaccumming up the carpet, you really have no idea how much 20g of water is until it is spread out on the floor, it seems like a small tank, but pour it out on the floor and see how far it spreads. We got as many fans as we could and had them all pointed at the floor and a couple of them we lifted the edge of the carpet and had some blowing under there. So when I got home, I already had a replacement tank and just had to go about moving everything from the buckets and what was left of the tanks to the new tank. For anyone wondering, he missed the blenny, I only cut myself 5 or 6 times trying to get the glass out of the sand, and to this day that boy won't touch a hammer, unless he's helping me work on something and I ask him to bring it to me. There were no losses! My wifes quick thinking and actions saved all my fish and corals lives. But you can bet your ass if you need a hammer in my house, you have to go hunting one, and you better be looking up, cause ain't no tools ever stored at less than 6ft off the ground anymore
