Lance's 225 gal tank

[Lance]

People! Check Your Overflow Emercency Drain More Often!


When I came home for lunch today I went to check on the tanks like I always do and was greeted by the sound of a pump sucking air. The water level in the 90g was close to overflowing. WTF! Looked into the sump and both overflow drains are barely trickling. Turned off the return pump which was sucking air, (return portion of the sump holds about 10 gallons which the display can handle.) Checked out the overflow and sure enough a large snail was upside down wedged tightly in the stand pipe. Pulled it out and away went the water; but why wasn't the emergency drain working? Went and got my electrical fish tape and ran it down the standpipe. Out of the drain and into the filter sock comes 6 good sized Valonia bubbles. I get a flashlight and look into the overflow box and way down deep, and in almost total darkness, is a colony of Valonia. Hardy buggers living in darkness like that.
It could have been so much worse: If I hadn't been so careful to make sure the display could handle the water volume of the return portion of the sump there would have been a nasty flood in the living room. And the pump could have burnt out. Either it must not have been sucking air for too long or Eheim's are indestructible.

In Conclusion:
1. Check your emergency drain more often.
2. Make sure your display tank can handle the volume from the sump.
3. Clean out the overflow box more often.
4. If possible, use 45's on the drain lines instead of 90's (I don't think the
Valonia would have got caught up if I had used 45's.

P.S. I'm going to the shop tonight to make a cover for the overflow box to keep the bloody snails out!

[lastlight]

Wow there are nearly as many ways to ruin a system as there are to run one. Thanks for the heads up man. With the proliferation of valonia in my own tank I should check my own pipes out too.

I was over at a friend's house the other day and he has no valonia i could see in his display. I was looking closer at one of his vortechs and there was a mini colony living behind the impeller inside the housing!

[Lance]

Originally Posted by lastlight

Wow there are nearly as many ways to ruin a system as there are to run one. Thanks for the heads up man. With the proliferation of valonia in my own tank I should check my own pipes out too.

I was over at a friend's house the other day and he has no valonia i could see in his display. I was looking closer at one of his vortechs and there was a mini colony living behind the impeller inside the housing!

I have absolutely no valonia at all in the 225g. It must be that either the Sailfin or the Foxface is eating it. There's a small Foxface in the 90g but he doesn't touch the stuff.

[abcha0s]

Just curious - shouldn't your ATO have kept your sump water level constant? It's probably a good thing that's not what happened because as you pointed out, there's only so much water your display can handle before it ends up on the floor.

Anyways... I'm glad it wasn't worse - and yes - Eheims are industructable.

[Lance]

Originally Posted by abcha0s

Just curious - shouldn't your ATO have kept your sump water level constant? It's probably a good thing that's not what happened because as you pointed out, there's only so much water your display can handle before it ends up on the floor.

Anyways... I'm glad it wasn't worse - and yes - Eheims are industructable.

My ATO set-up runs to the 225g and not this tank. This tank has the sump outside and is not really accessible for the water line. I feed the FW to this sump by gravity feed from a 5 gal reservoir using an HIV drip. A slow drip from 3pm when I get home from work to about 8pm is about right. The tank is covered and does not evaporate much.

[Lance]

3 Videos

Had the camera out to video the Fire Clowns spawning, (feel kind of like a voyeur ) and while I had it out took a vid of each tank.
Click on the picture.

[christyf5]

Great vids Lance! I gotta try that!

[MitchM]

Looks great, Lance.