jswinberlin
Reefing newb
I have a Seaclone Protein Skimmer and it's difficult to clean. I thought that it's mostly beneficial bacteria so I've been lax in even trying to clean it. Yesterday I topped off my tank with a couple gallons of fresh water. About an hour later it seemed like it was at the same level it was before I topped it off. I thought "that's weird" and went to put in another gallon. That's when I noticed the skimmer was running really high into the tank. "How do they know how much power to run without overflowing?" I thought. That's when I realized it was overflowing and the carpet beneath the tank was soaked. It was like a bad dream and ruined my otherwise great Saturday morning I was off to. I remembered thinking "It smells a little musty in here" when I woke up.
I proceeded to shop-vac the carpet and thought "man, I hope it didn't run through the floor into the ceiling below". It had and the drywall seam below was wet and starting to stain. I finished shop-vacing the carpet. Today it wasn't too bad. I sprayed a solution of 2 parts water and 1 part distilled vinegar onto the carpet. I let it sit for 15-20 minutes and sucked it up with a Hoover Max Extract carpet cleaner and cleaned. I dried the area with a fan and the ceiling. I wiped the ceiling with bleach and it removed most of the stain. A little paint will cover that up. Once the carpet was dried I sprinkled with baking-soda agitated then vacuumed. I put a DampRid dessicant room dehumidifier bag and an absorbing air-freshener near the spill.
All in all, I got off lucky. I've been a little lax with routine maintenance lately, but I'll certainly be checking the skimmer more closely from here on out.
I proceeded to shop-vac the carpet and thought "man, I hope it didn't run through the floor into the ceiling below". It had and the drywall seam below was wet and starting to stain. I finished shop-vacing the carpet. Today it wasn't too bad. I sprayed a solution of 2 parts water and 1 part distilled vinegar onto the carpet. I let it sit for 15-20 minutes and sucked it up with a Hoover Max Extract carpet cleaner and cleaned. I dried the area with a fan and the ceiling. I wiped the ceiling with bleach and it removed most of the stain. A little paint will cover that up. Once the carpet was dried I sprinkled with baking-soda agitated then vacuumed. I put a DampRid dessicant room dehumidifier bag and an absorbing air-freshener near the spill.
All in all, I got off lucky. I've been a little lax with routine maintenance lately, but I'll certainly be checking the skimmer more closely from here on out.
