Emerald525 Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 So what is it about things going wrong when you are away out of town?(whistle) We went to Texas for a long weekend and we come back an the fish in the agressive tank are not doing well.DOH! Then Beth finds out that our beloved Blenny has died(sad) but it gets worse.... he has clogged the external overflow box and the tank is about to flood the basement!:eek:(scary) Once again we were lucky that we were home and Beth was able to bail the tank before there was any serious flooding going on.(clap) Unfortunately our aqualifter broke but fortunately Kendaroo happened to have a brand new one she let us use so external overflow is working again.(clap) So lessons learned: 1.If you go out of town that's when something will go wrong(nono) 2.There are some awesome people in this forum ready to lend a hand at short notice!(clap) 3. If I had to do it all over again I would have drilled the tank instead of using an external overflow Again Thanks Kendra for the aqualifter and thank you Beth for being there when the tank overflowed!(clap)(clap) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Wow! Glad you got it taken care of. Otherwise my premonition of your basement full of water was going to happen(flame). I would definately have to agree that there are some great people here on the boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 I'm happy that nothing really bad happened. Yes, no overflow boxes anymore! Also, you should consider a flooding switch. I keep telling myself that I should put one too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dee77 Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 I went out of town and my sting Rey died Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted October 12, 2010 Author Share Posted October 12, 2010 Just say no to overflows! Thought about a flooding switch but then I thought what good would that do. I would be like "Oh crap Oh crap Oh crap! The basement is flooding!":eek:Nobody would likely get there in time and I would have a wet basement and a heart attack!(laugh) Yes again even though some fish died and it was a PITA, once again I consider ourselves lucky! Beth would beg to differ last night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 The switch could turn off the return pump, so you don't pump all the sump content on the floor. Then the Apex could send you an alarm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeFit Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 If its feasible, you can modify or get a sump that has a chamber that won't allow enough water to pump up to the display. you just run a higher risk of running out of water and burning up the pump. mine are all like that, if the overflow gets clogged the sump only has about 2 gallons of water in that last chamber so the tank won't overflow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted October 12, 2010 Author Share Posted October 12, 2010 The switch could turn off the return pump' date=' so you don't pump all the sump content on the floor. Then the Apex could send you an alarm[/quote'] We don't have an apex for that tank Alex! It's a good thought and I'm seriously thinking about breaking the thing down and drilling it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algae Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 So lessons learned: 1.If you go out of town that's when something will go wrong(nono) 2.There are some awesome people in this forum ready to lend a hand at short notice!(clap) 3. If I had to do it all over again I would have drilled the tank instead of using an external overflow Again Thanks Kendra for the aqualifter and thank you Beth for being there when the tank overflowed!(clap)(clap) All very true! Kudos for Kendra! However, the pro-cannibalization signature she has does creep me out a bit. But not in a bad way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 We don't have an apex for that tank Alex! It's a good thought and I'm seriously thinking about breaking the thing down and drilling it! You can use an Apex to manage 2 tanks. But yes.. drilling is the best way to go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted October 12, 2010 Author Share Posted October 12, 2010 You can use an Apex to manage 2 tanks. But yes.. drilling is the best way to go I did not know that. Really how do you get the Apex to work on both tanks?!! you are awesome Alex! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Just get another power bar. Then you program the other tank independently. You are lucky that you have all the tanks in the same room. Also, to connect the power strip to the Apex, I think that they use standard usb cables (I have to check). So you can get a 5 feet cheap cable for having the power bar under the FOWLR tank. You can admin the pumps, fans, feeding programs... Plus if you get the IO extension, you can have some cheap float switches hooked up as top-off, skimmer shutoff (sensor in the collection cup), flooding alarm.... You can also get a probe extension box and connect more ph/temp/orp sensors if I remember well. The nice side of the Apex (and other controllers) is that they see each single outlet as independent, so you can virtually create more tank as a cluster of outlets. That's why they have the possibility to admin about 200 and something outlets. Unless you have a tank with 200+ devices connected lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted October 12, 2010 Author Share Posted October 12, 2010 Wow, that sounds amazing! I'm going to have to have Beth contact you and pick your brain about this! I didn't know how versatile that wonderful little controller is so we could even link up to the solana too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Yes, even the betta tank lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanktop74 Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 I did not know that. Really how do you get the Apex to work on both tanks?!! you are awesome Alex! I knew this but haven't bought the dc8 brick and probes to do it yet... Might do it if we put up the other acrylic, or drill this one. Yes, Thanks Kendra for having what I needed at 9pm!! Your a basement saver, although I still didn't sleep well last night, thinkin I would wake up to more water on the floor! Beth 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kendaroo Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 Happy to help, dudettes.... man, I hate that word. But yeah, glad your tanks are good, etc... Algae, I had the most delicious quiche for dinner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hozer21 Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 Its all way great to have friends that can help out in a pinch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 You can use an Apex to manage 2 tanks. But yes.. drilling is the best way to go +1 on that, all you need is a DC-8 or better yet get another EB-8 and you are golden. Glad it was not worse-(clap) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylaster Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 wow glad it didnt get any worse for sure! Im very paranoid about flooding, my tank has triple redundancy. An internal corner overflow, inside that i put in two durso stand pipes... then to keep my paranoia going i also drilled a hole in the back of the tank at the top of the water line, put in a bulkhead and put in a pvc 90 inside the tank pointing up so if the durso's get plugged that will take over and send the water into the sump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted October 13, 2010 Author Share Posted October 13, 2010 wow glad it didnt get any worse for sure! Im very paranoid about flooding' date=' my tank has triple redundancy. An internal corner overflow, inside that i put in two durso stand pipes... then to keep my paranoia going i also drilled a hole in the back of the tank at the top of the water line, put in a bulkhead and put in a pvc 90 inside the tank pointing up so if the durso's get plugged that will take over and send the water into the sump[/quote'] Wow Roy that's being safe! Impressive! We should be more careful given there is close to 400 gallons flowing in the basement!(laugh) Do you wear Depends too! Just kidding! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batchelor Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 I'd like to get rid of my external overflow too. Do you think it would be possible to drain the display tank down just far enough so you could drill the back glass from the inside of the display without removing any livestock? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted October 14, 2010 Author Share Posted October 14, 2010 As far as I know, that is not ideal because you should lay the tank face down and use the weight of the drill and should have a constant drip of water on the drill bit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 I think it could be done, but it is a risk. As Kim said, some water drip is needed to cool down glass and bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylaster Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 i thought that was you buying depends at the same place i was getting mine Snug fit huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted October 14, 2010 Author Share Posted October 14, 2010 i thought that was you buying depends at the same place i was getting mine Snug fit huh? (laugh)(laugh)Yes the fit is nice and there's nothing like that extra feeling of security! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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