When it Rains, it Pours!!!

[dcantucson]

Hello fellow reefers. When it rains it pours, onto my floor! This is the one that may just make me call it quits. :(

Tonight when I walked in from work I found my tank almost empty. As far as I can tell I had about 110 gallons covering my entire living, dining, and hallway rooms. The electric went off for about 3 hours and one of my check valves failed. I had to go buy a new wet vac to handle th water volume and it took me about 3 hours to suck up all the water.

As for my livestock, it looks like I will end up losing almost everything. There wasn't even enough water for the fish to be up right. The live rock is 3/4 dry and well, the corals you can imagine. Dry and melted from the MH lights. This is a massive loss to say the least and it couldn't have come at a worse time. First my cat and now this. I not one to cuss be Fuck Me!!! :shock:

 

[Smitty]

Damn Dcan...that's really messed up, and I'm sorry to hear that.

 

[Sunshine]

I am so sorry to hear that. That is heart breaking. Hope your fish make it thru this.

 

[yote]

AWW MAN.
Sorry to hear that David.Hang in there my friend.Things will get better,you just got to work through the bad when it comes.

 

[ggNoRe]

Man, I'm very sorry to hear it.

 

[Wes888]

Aw man! That's awful! Really sorry to hear that!!

 

[PRC]

Your tank went BP on you. That sucks DCan.

 

[d2mini]

HOLY CRAP!
Dude that soooooo sucks!!!!! :pissed: :frustrat: :sad:

Is this an issue with the zero edge, the way they're set up?
Other than a leak I can't imagine how my tank could empty like that. :12:
I think i'd be on the phone to zero edge, even if it was just to rip them a new one and burn off some steam.

 

[BL1]

That sucks Dcan, hopefully you don't really call it quits. You had one of the nicest tanks here.

 

[ccCapt]

That sucks big time. Sorry to hear about it. :(

 

[daugherty]

holy crap. sorry to hear that david. well when you are ready to rebuild i will send you some frags.

 

[Bifferwine]

Sorry to hear that David. If you need any help, let me know. I will do whatever I can. :(

I also don't understand how your whole tank was drained... Was it a reverse siphon from one of the returns? Did you have a siphon break hole drilled in the line?

 

[Chris_150G]

Damn thats the worst. Sorry man. I can imagine how upsetting it must be.

Maybe its an opportunity to redecorate and do something different in there.

 

[dcantucson]

I also don't understand how your whole tank was drained... Was it a reverse siphon from one of the returns? Did you have a siphon break hole drilled in the line?

I'll try to explain. It's really simple, but I'm not the best at explaining things.

There are three return or pump inlets (bulkheads) drilled in the bottom of the tank. Two pumps (one has a Y joint to split the return) return the water to them and within each line are check valves. When you turn the pumps off, then the only thing stopping the water from reversing the flow back through the pumps and into the sump are the check valves. There are six inch pipes on the inside of the tank to which Loc-lines with flow accelerators are connected. These are what produce the current in the tank as I have no powerheads what so ever.

The back siphon continued until it reached that 6 inch return pipe and tubing. Thus I have about 6 inches of water left in the bottom of the tank. The set-up has been reliable for 2 1/2 years without incident. Larry once said that check valves should not be relied on, and I'm thinking he had a very good point! Guess it time to devise a safer system somehow. Either that or replace the check valves at least once every year.

 

[Hiker4twenty]

Sorry Dave!

 

[koda_dad]

OMG... soooo sorry to hear about this. Trying to imagine....but honestly I can't how severely pissed I would be.

Hope things work out on the insurance etc side. Good luck!

 

[Bifferwine]

I'll try to explain. It's really simple, but I'm not the best at explaining things.

There are three return or pump inlets (bulkheads) drilled in the bottom of the tank. Two pumps (one has a Y joint to split the return) return the water to them and within each line are check valves. When you turn the pumps off, then the only thing stopping the water from reversing the flow back through the pumps and into the sump are the check valves. There are six inch pipes on the inside of the tank to which Loc-lines with flow accelerators are connected. These are what produce the current in the tank as I have no powerheads what so ever.

The back siphon continued until it reached that 6 inch return pipe and tubing. Thus I have about 6 inches of water left in the bottom of the tank. The set-up has been reliable for 2 1/2 years without incident. Larry once said that check valves should not be relied on, and I'm thinking he had a very good point! Guess it time to devise a safer system somehow. Either that or replace the check valves at least once every year.

Ooooh I understand now. Your explanation was fine. How do other Zero Edge owners handle this? Do they just hope that their check valves don't fail, and keep their fingers crossed? Since the return pipes are so low, drilling siphon breaks in them wouldn't work.

 

[dcantucson]

holy crap. sorry to hear that david. well when you are ready to rebuild i will send you some frags.

Thanks James! You're just looking for someone to dump some of that Xenia on aren't you? :lol: :mrgreen:

 

[Bifferwine]

David, what do you have left that is alive? Did you move it that stuff to your Red Sea Max? I can 'hold' stuff for you if you like. I also have a few spare containers, trash cans and buckets in my shed if you want to use them.

 

[daugherty]

Thanks James! You're just looking for someone to dump some of that Xenia on aren't you? :lol: :mrgreen:

ohh you want xenia ok it will be in the mail. no i got some mushrooms trumpets, zoas and some leathers i could frag when you are ready