johnnstacy
08/05/2006, 07:11 PM
I have learned a lot about saltwater fish and tanks over the past few years but I have probably learned more about myself during the same time. Patience is such a huge attribute in reefing, in so many ways.
Anyways on to my little disaster story:
We bought a home a couple of miles away from our existing home. We hadn't sold ours yet. This is good and bad. The bad of course is that if you may end up with 2 house payments. The good news is that aside from moving 4000 sq ft of household goods, it gives you the time you really need to set up the tank at the new house. Time is critical for a tank move. I was feeling fairly relaxed. Moving over most of the supporting equipment over during a one week span of time. Reactors, some lights. Things I didn't have to have on to make the tank function. Okay, so it is a Sunday morning and I get a call from someone who had looked at the house a week earlier. They wanted to buy it. Cool! "Just one thing" she said. " I need to be moved into your house in 10 days". What the.......! I still had half the house to move and the wife was spending a month in California so it was just me. Hell!
Here is what ended up happening. I got everything but the tank moved over to the new house. The people were supposed to move in the next day. I still had the tank at the old house and we are not talking about a small system. (I think I have pics under my user.) This is a 180 g on the main floor with a 60 gallon sump in the basement. Huge amounts of plumbing and electrical between floors. So the morning before they moved in, I am draining the tank from the main floor into the bathroom drain. I got distracted and ended up having to leave to go to the new house for a few. I came back and even though I had turned the pump off, it had continued with siphon. Worse yet, the hose had fallen out of the sink and onto the wood floor near the tank. I get to the porch and I can immediately smell something burning. I am hearing crackling noises. I walk in and see the VHO's flickering on and off like a haunted house. I've got plugs on the floor that have melted and the bottom of the wall is black from the heat. I am standing in about 1 1/2 of water. I'm afraid to touch anything in fear of being electrocuted. I pull the power strip from the wall. The only circuit in my entire system that is not gfi protected. I of course started crying. If ever I thought my world was coming to an end, it was at that moment. I've got thousands of dollars in equipment fried upstairs. Downstairs I have water coming through the ceiling and the air conditioning ducts and another 1" of water down there. Oh and the new homeowners are due to come by and check on things before they move in tomorrow!!
I was just in shock. Such a little thing...a missed siphon. Failure to slow down and relax and take the time neccessary to do things right. In the end it cost a lot. Somehow, miraculously, I was able to get most of the water up. The wood floor had been sealed. There was damage to the ends where the planks butt up to each other but not as bad as I thought. Still, it was a huge expense to fix it all. I had 3 of those X-10 modules plugged into that power strip. All of the terminals had been melted flush.
The moral of the story here is patience. I'm 41 and I still blow it. Sometimes in a big way. I'm still learning patience even now.....
Happy reefing!
Anyways on to my little disaster story:
We bought a home a couple of miles away from our existing home. We hadn't sold ours yet. This is good and bad. The bad of course is that if you may end up with 2 house payments. The good news is that aside from moving 4000 sq ft of household goods, it gives you the time you really need to set up the tank at the new house. Time is critical for a tank move. I was feeling fairly relaxed. Moving over most of the supporting equipment over during a one week span of time. Reactors, some lights. Things I didn't have to have on to make the tank function. Okay, so it is a Sunday morning and I get a call from someone who had looked at the house a week earlier. They wanted to buy it. Cool! "Just one thing" she said. " I need to be moved into your house in 10 days". What the.......! I still had half the house to move and the wife was spending a month in California so it was just me. Hell!
Here is what ended up happening. I got everything but the tank moved over to the new house. The people were supposed to move in the next day. I still had the tank at the old house and we are not talking about a small system. (I think I have pics under my user.) This is a 180 g on the main floor with a 60 gallon sump in the basement. Huge amounts of plumbing and electrical between floors. So the morning before they moved in, I am draining the tank from the main floor into the bathroom drain. I got distracted and ended up having to leave to go to the new house for a few. I came back and even though I had turned the pump off, it had continued with siphon. Worse yet, the hose had fallen out of the sink and onto the wood floor near the tank. I get to the porch and I can immediately smell something burning. I am hearing crackling noises. I walk in and see the VHO's flickering on and off like a haunted house. I've got plugs on the floor that have melted and the bottom of the wall is black from the heat. I am standing in about 1 1/2 of water. I'm afraid to touch anything in fear of being electrocuted. I pull the power strip from the wall. The only circuit in my entire system that is not gfi protected. I of course started crying. If ever I thought my world was coming to an end, it was at that moment. I've got thousands of dollars in equipment fried upstairs. Downstairs I have water coming through the ceiling and the air conditioning ducts and another 1" of water down there. Oh and the new homeowners are due to come by and check on things before they move in tomorrow!!
I was just in shock. Such a little thing...a missed siphon. Failure to slow down and relax and take the time neccessary to do things right. In the end it cost a lot. Somehow, miraculously, I was able to get most of the water up. The wood floor had been sealed. There was damage to the ends where the planks butt up to each other but not as bad as I thought. Still, it was a huge expense to fix it all. I had 3 of those X-10 modules plugged into that power strip. All of the terminals had been melted flush.
The moral of the story here is patience. I'm 41 and I still blow it. Sometimes in a big way. I'm still learning patience even now.....
Happy reefing!