Close Call: What are Some Close Calls You Have in the Hobby

[Gumbies R Us]

Sometimes in the hobby, we might notice something that isn't serious at the time but could become much worse if we did not see it at the right time. I am wondering if you have had a close call before, maybe it was an equipment malfunction, an unwanted visitor, etc..

 

[Slocke]

Twice my HOB overflow failed while I was away at work and both times my sitter happened to notice just before my tank overflowed.

 

[EricR]

Urchin holding down ATO float has happened a couple of times but I caught it. (Pump would've turned off at max run time without too massive salinity drop,,, hopefully)

Tossed ATO fill tube behind tank for maintenance and forgot more times than I'd like to admit:
-- turn everything ON and walk away with fill tube out of tank = bad
-- once fill tube was below ATO water level (with ATO still OFF) so,,, uhh,,, syphon was not my friend there

 

[PandorasChalk]

Being at home when my first saltwater tank, an Aqueon 14 gallon rimless cube, sprung a leak. Had I been at the store or away, I would of come home to 3/4th the tank being empty of water, or just completely collapsed as the silicone was failing fast when it happened.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Being at home when my first saltwater tank, an Aqueon 14 gallon rimless cube, sprung a leak. Had I been at the store or away, I would of come home to 3/4th the tank being empty of water, or just completely collapsed as the silicone was failing fast when it happened.

Glad you caught it when you did!!

 

[homer1475]

Had a DIY ATS with those cheap amazon spot grow lights. One of the wires fell into the water causing it to pop, smoke, trip the breaker, and trip the GFCI. If I wasn't right in front of the tank when it happened, could have been the end of the tank.

One good thing that came of it.......

No idea why, but the only thing it seems to have effected, was killing every vermetid snail in my tank. I've been vermetid free for a couple years now.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Was using my Cordless Drill above the Aquarium, should have put the pad over it. It was just one small hole for a hook. Somehow I caught my sleeve on the battery catch, battery falls four feet, strikes the corner of the tank. It didn’t break the top glass or the tanks glass.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Was using my Cordless Drill above the Aquarium, should have put the pad over it. It was just one small hole for a hook. Somehow I caught my sleeve on the battery catch, battery falls four feet, strikes the corner of the tank. It didn’t break the top glass or the tanks glass.

Glad your tank is ok!!! That could have been really bad if it cracked the glass or landed in the tank.

 

[Gtinnel]

I was disconnecting my trident and without thinking about it I set the disconnected sample hose down and left. I didn’t even think about the fact that I started a siphon.
I lost a gallon or so of water in the floor but luckily on my way to bed I walked close enough to the tank that my socks got wet.
If I would’ve not noticed it I could have easily siphoned out a lot of water.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I was disconnecting my trident and without thinking about it I set the disconnected sample hose down and left. I didn’t even think about the fact that I started a siphon.
I lost a gallon or so of water in the floor but luckily on my way to bed I walked close enough to the tank that my socks got wet.
If I would’ve not noticed it I could have easily siphoned out a lot of water.

Good thing you noticed it when you did!

 

[anthonymckay]

One day a week I head into the office to work. The commute is about 1.5+ hrs each way, and my company has its own coach busses for employees to take to the office from the surrounding areas/cities that I use. I'm waiting for the bus and as it's pulling up, I get a text from the power company notifying me of a power outage in my area. I was able to head back home immediately and fire up the generator for our home and everything was fine. If that text had come a minute later, I'd have been stuck on that bus/at the office all day till the busses headed back the other direction later in the evening. My tank would have been without power for at least the next 8-10 hrs. No heat, no flow, etc. Everything would have been toast!

 

[PotatoPig]

Day 1:

Had return line too low in the tank and the hole to break the siphon did not work when I paused the pump to check how the “feed mode” worked, then went to grab some tools while waiting for the pump to restart. Drained about 15-20 gallons into a mostly already full 20 gallon sump.

Disaster was averted because worrying about splashing during maintenance I’d lined the bottom of my DIY frame with 6mil plastic sheeting, turned up at the horizontal members of the frame base, to create a waterproof basin that had enough capacity for the overflow.

Damage limited to draining the sump and mopping out the “overflow basin”.

Return line is now permanently ~1” below the water surface so entirely hits air long before the sump fills. Waterproof basin still in place.