Bad day and lessons learned

[ctopal]

I came down to the tank in the am and the sump was low on water and the ATO alarm was on. I just assumed the ATO pump had gotten clogged with kalkwasser and didn't replace evaporation. And like all things connected with the hobby and being in a hurry, it got worse. I unplugged the ATO and added some water to the tank. Several hours later I got home to find a bubbly display and much less water in the sump and a somewhat damp floor. Two large snails had gotten themselves stuck in my overflow tube causing my tank to overflow. And this ended up frying my $200 ATO.

Lessons Learned:
1) Whenever a snail is in either side of my overflow box, remove it immediately.
2) Relocate all of my electrical controls to the walls next to the tank and not on the tank stand.

:sad2:

[sassAwrasse]

Sorry to hear about the bad news. At least it wasn't worse for you.

[Monsterman85]

I hate snails sometimes, they do a lot of good but sometimes do dumb things like that.

[ctopal]

I'm hoping the controller can just be repaired rather than having to buy a whole new unit.

[Tweaked]

Can you prevent snails with some screen or something?

[ctopal]

Good idea, I have some leftover brs mesh.

[Siebo]

If you can put a cover over your overflow tube like a durso tube has. Or if you have a controller put a float sensor in your overflow that will raise when the water is too high and shut off you return pump.

[LeslieP]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I hope it all works out soon. I glued some gutter guard across those ~1" holes in the overflow for the tubes, and also put it across the tops of my overflows. I cut it to size, zip tied it to the slits in the top of the overflow and then wedged it under rim of the tank. I can still get into the overflow if I need to, and snails and crabs can not. I'm going to assume that I'll notice if a baby snail gets in there and be able to get it out before it gets big enough to cause a problem.