Approximately three years ago this weekend I came downstairs from my bedroom only to find water that came over my feet. Thinking like every good reefer, I immediately thought that my tank had sprung a major leak and was flooding the second floor of my house.
Now at the time the only tank I had on that floor was a 75-gallon one, but having had it ingrained into my head that any problem in the house was the fault of me and my aquariums, I nonetheless blamed it initially. Fortunately, the tank was intact and had not dripped a drop in to the flood.
Unfortunately, the jet that fills the commode had ruptured and during the course of my six-hour sleep had managed to release over 2,000 gallons of water onto the second floor of my house. Luckily my main tank and the other near it were on the other side of the tank so their contents were not diluted, which would have produced even more problems.
While this does not seem to have any relationship to our hobby, the problem with leaks, drip and other issues came to the forefront again for me this week when a line going into my RO/DI unit came apart and shot 200 gallons of water, TWICE, as I didn’t learn the first time, onto the floor of my basement. As a result of this, I thought it might be a good time to take a break from my world tour articles and talk about something we all know happens: water where we don’t want it.
I know the old adage is don’t cry over spilled milk, which may be good advice to follow, but I know that most spouses or significant others do not forget when we have a major issue with the saltwater from our tanks being somewhere where it shouldn’t be. I have a tank that sits near me where where fish love to splash and I have had guests get splashed even with a couple of drops of water and not be happy.
Worse, I was involved with a tank where the bottom split and as a result 4000 gallons of saltwater was dumped into the basement of his house. Needless to say, the latter case was worse, but in reality a leak or spill of any kind from one of our tanks can lead to let’s say at best friction in a relationship or at worst a very heated discussion.
Look, we all know we are going to have a spill or leak or drip water somewhere and it will usually happen at the worst time and on the most expensive thing in the house, so the question is what can we do about it?
First, don’t lie to your spouse when you set up the tank and tell them you will never spill a drop. The reason for not doing this is simple, they will remember your saying that and will bring it up every time even if just the humidity in your house goes up. I have found it better to say, I know you are worried about a leak or spill but I am taking every precaution to prevent one from happening and am prepared in case one does occur. But you can’t just say that, you actually have to think ahead and be prepared. So in this regard I have worked to prevent leaks or spills and am prepared if one happens.
At this point you may be asking yourself how do you prevent leaks or spills and unfortunately the answer to preventing or reducing these is not easy. I have found, however, that there are a number of things we can do that can reduce them. First I try to hard plumb as much of my tank as possible and use as few flexible hoses as I can.
This is done because over time hoses tend to shrink and crack after being exposed to saltwater and when a leak does occur it is always when I am sleeping or out of town. If a hose is needed, it always fits as snugly on a barb fitting as possible. In the best scenario it is on so tight that it needs to be heated up in hot water before being placed on the fitting and then as it cools it almost bonds onto the barb.
And to further decrease the likelihood of it leakingall hoses are clampedonto the fitting as well, even if the hose is in water. This is done as not only to hoses tend to shrink over time, but most of them are also exposed to vibrations, and if these precautions aren’t taken the likelihood of a water issue will always be there. [Ed. Note: Zip-tie all the things!]
如果你足够幸运能够努力探究,that is use PVC pipe or something similar, to plumb the tank then there are also things you need to do when doing this as well to reduce the likelihood of a leak. First, all PVC fitting should be cleaned with the purple PVC cleaner and allowed to dry before being glued.
这可能看起来微不足道,但我有粘无数fittings both clean and uncleaned, and when I have had an issue with a fitting coming apart invariably it seemed to be one that was not cleaned. Or if they were all cleaned the only time I have had them come apart was when I did not give the PVC adequate time to dry before exposing it to saltwater. So plan ahead and give the pipes and fittings time to cure completely before running water through them.
如果您能够用力固定所有东西,那么您还应该在任何需要清洁或可能随着时间的时间更换的设备周围使用门阀和工会。这似乎是一笔不必要的费用,但是如果您无法关闭水源,并且需要看到一些东西来修复或清洁它,那么在地板上会有水。
Not all fittings are slip to slip, that is glued together, many can be screwed together, with there being male and female fittings. For most of my time plumbing my tanks, I preferred these types of fittings as they are easy to find and easy to take apart. However, I also found over time that some of them leaked and I never understood why.
幸运的是,我有机会与大师水管工谈谈这一点,原因很简单:我当时使用Teflon胶带将雄性线放在雄性线上,然后再将配件拧在一起。
He informed me that PVC fittings are not for the most part water tight under pressure when Teflon tape is used. Instead he recommended something called Real-Tuff to apply to the male fittings that would make them water tight. Since I have been using this I have to admit to no leaks from these fittings. Not even the pin hole leaks that used to drive me crazy.
但是,管道只是泄漏或滴水的一种来源。我还发现,松散的软管,盐喷雾剂和未灌输的补充系统也可能是溢出物的主要来源。我所说的松散软管的意思是,某些毫无戒心的人会撞到或拉出任何不应该在的水的软管。
In my own case, the slow flowing line from my calcium reactor was a constant source of spills in that it was in a place such that small kids seemed to constantly want to take it out of the tank, or worse when I was in a rush I would inadvertently pull it slightly out of the sump.
Because the flow through it is so slow, less than a gallon an hour, there is not rapid rush of water on the floor, so as a result it usually takes a while, usually the morning after it was pulled out, before its damage would be noticed. So to prevent this from happening it is now firmly anchored to the tank, so it can’t be pulled out.
In the same vein, all refill and reservoir hoses for make up water are now also firmly anchored in place. These produced similar issues as unless a refill of the tank was occurring they were dry. So they could be pulled out of place with no notice. However once the tank or reservoir needed to be refilled the water that they should have been putting into these quickly spilled onto the floor. So that is why they too are now immovable.
Lastly in terms of prevention, on should also make sure that any overflows drains or other means for taking water from a tank are oversized so that if any blockage occurs they will not overflow. Even better would be if some redundancy is built in so that if an overflow would be blocked, a second way for the water to flow in the system could occur. Again as with most things, a blockage of the overflow due to detritus or a dead fish or whatever always seems to occur when you are sleeping or away, so plan accordingly.
Despite having the best laid plans of mice and men spills, and leaks will still occur, so in this regard you need to be prepared. Having spilled an ocean of water over the years I think I am well-qualified to help in your preparation. First, try to get to the spill or leak as quickly as possible.
因此,为了减少大量泄漏或溢出,我的水箱周围都有泄漏探测器。这种小电子设计的作用像是水的烟雾探测器,并发出相同的刺耳音调。盐水似乎比淡水更快。
They are around $10 apiece so at that price they are well worth the money to prevent the floor, carpet, or ceiling from being destroyed from a bad leak. There are even high tech ones, obviously for more money, that can send you an alert, should a leak occur while you are sleeping or away.
尽管有这些设备,但仍然会发生大泄漏和溢出物,因此可以帮助清理三个设备派上用场。首先,在低技术方面,可以节省尽可能多的旧毛巾。我的房子里有近50条毛巾,可悲的是不得不使用比我想承认的要多得多。但是,要快速搅拌湿的烂摊子,没有什么比这更好的了。
Second I also have a wet/dry Shop Vac for drawing off water as well. If water has pooled I use the Shop Vac first and then the towels dry the area off as much as possible. However, I also have 3 tanks over carpeting and have had a couple of spills on the carpet.
Now you can use the Shop Vac and towels to dry the carpet, and it will seem dry on the surface, however underneath the carpet is padding. And while it is called padding, it is actually a big sponge and as such if you do not get it dry it will act as a moisture reservoir for a long time and produce the kind of mod and mildew that your significant other will never forget.
为了干鲤鱼ting you need a fan, and not just a simple box fan, but really an industrial fan that home reclamation crews use. And you also need to know that you can and need to lift up the carpeting and padding and get the flow from the fan underneath it to dry it completely.
Most carpeting is held in place with nail boards, so all you need to do is get to the edge and with a flat head screwdriver lift the carpet and padding off the board bit by bit and then have the fan blow underneath it to dry it. Once it has dried it may seem like it has shrunk a bit so you need to pull it and kind of stretch it to get it back into place. And then you can nail it back down with a mallet. Sadly, I have become a master of drying carpets due to my own stupidity, but I hope my experience will be helpful.
Having a leak or spill from a tank is kind of inevitable, but with proper planning and preparation its likelihood can be reduced and its size minimized. But if you are wavering in doing some of the things suggested, I should point out that that 2,000- gallon leak of clean water that I mentioned at the beginning produced about $30,000 in damages.
However, that pales compared to the 4,000-gallon spill of saltwater, as that produced almost $200,000 in damages. So considering how expensive it could be you might want to make sure that your chances of a major leak or spill are minimized. And if you do nothing else as a result of this article other than this you might be spared a major problem.
Please please shut off your mains water supply when you go on vacation, even if it is just for a long weekend. As my insurance adjuster told me, she covers at least two large claims a month due to water damage and felt that half of them could have been reduced if people had just shut off their water main when they went away.