Snail blocked overflow!

BlueDevil · May 5, 2016

So I wake up this morning to hear the racket of a pump sucking up air and I freaked out thinking the new tank was malfunctioning. Come to find out, it is the old one that is overflowing just a little. I immediately pulled the plug on the pump and started looking around at what might have gone wrong since I could hear water draining into the sump from the overflow. Come to find out a dang turbo snail had gotten into my overflow box and was partially blocking the drain pipe!!

I didn't know exactly how much water was in the ATO bin so there's no way to tell exactly how much water actually got dumped out of the tank. I can't imagine it was too much though. The area rug near the tank only had a corner wet. I drained half the tank, just enough to where I could scoot the tank and stand forward just a little. There certainly is still just a tiny bit of water under the stand. The bottom of the stand is a little wet too. Moving the stand back and forth left a tiny trail of water, but no more than just a teasponful maybe.

I absolutely had to leave after doing as thorough of a quick cleanup as I could since I had a meeting I could not miss this morning. The hard wood floor which would have been directly under the tank doesn't seem to be soaking wet - quite dry to the touch actually.

With that being said, anything you folks would recommend I do? Hopefully, this tank won't be around much longer once I move everything over to the new tank. Do I need to drain the entire tank and completely lift it off the area it was sitting and let the stand dry completely before putting it back where it belongs? A possible stop gap solution would be to move the tank completely, put a pond liner sheet and then place the stand on top of it so the stand doesn't spread any moisture while it dries.

In 13 years of having this tank, this did not happen once, and sure it enough, it happens a month or so before the tank was to be torn down. Just my luck!

Any advice would be appreciated.

TheEngineer · May 5, 2016

YUP! I used to have this happen constantly in my last tank. I was too lazy to fix the problem. The solution is extremely simple. Just buy a strainer for the top of the drain and you're done.

BlueDevil · May 5, 2016

icecool2 said:
YUP! I used to have this happen constantly in my last tank. I was too lazy to fix the problem. The solution is extremely simple. Just buy a strainer for the top of the drain and you're done.

Well, it won't be an issue going forward with the new tank as it has a ghost overflow box with a weir on the internal box. Not to mention two secondary drains in case one gets blocked by some freak accident. So my concern is the cleanup of the current overflow problem. Don't want it to warp the hardwoods or create mold etc...

Lowell Lemon · May 5, 2016

Switch to a normally aspirated snail instead of the hot rod turbo version...your gas miliage should increase as well...lol. I know usless information...have a great day and glad you suffered little to no damage.

Breadman03 · May 5, 2016

I'd set up a fan to help speed up the drying process.

TheEngineer · May 5, 2016

BlueDevil said:
Well, it won't be an issue going forward with the new tank as it has a ghost overflow box with a weir on the internal box. Not to mention two secondary drains in case one gets blocked by some freak accident. So my concern is the cleanup of the current overflow problem. Don't want it to warp the hardwoods or create mold etc...

Ah, ok. Do your best to get under the stand with some paper towels. A fan blowing over the area for a couple days will take care of any excess moisture. How much water did you lose?

BlueDevil · May 5, 2016

icecool2 said:
Ah, ok. Do your best to get under the stand with some paper towels. A fan blowing over the area for a couple days will take care of any excess moisture. How much water did you lose?

If I had to take a guess looking at the sump, I'd say a gallon or two at most.I would imagine the pH would drop with the ATO pumping water in but the pH didn't seem to be affected at all. If I had to get under the stand, it would involve completely draining the tank and getting it off the stand. With the weight, it'll be hard to get under the stand.

TheEngineer · May 5, 2016

BlueDevil said:
If I had to take a guess looking at the sump, I'd say a gallon or two at most.I would imagine the pH would drop with the ATO pumping water in but the pH didn't seem to be affected at all. If I had to get under the stand, it would involve completely draining the tank and getting it off the stand. With the weight, it'll be hard to get under the stand.

How big is the tank? I wouldn't expect a pH change, but you would get some amount of salinity drop. 1 or 2 gallons isn't much, but enough that I would be surprised you found the floors dry.

BlueDevil · May 5, 2016

The tank is a 36 gallon. Yeah, I didn't expect a huge pH drop but I too was surprised that the floors weren't wetter than I found them. The 1-2 gallons was just a guesstimate. It might not have even overflowed in typical fashion. The drain was still sucking up some water, so it might have been a slow trickle along the tank glass. I found that the inside bottom of the stand was wetter than the floor. It might have soaked up most of the water. And the area rug soaked up the rest. I will check the salinity this evening - that might tell a more accurate story.

Reefrookie220 · May 5, 2016

The tank is upset about the upgrade Yash. It feels unappreciated, having a hard time letting go of 13 years.

BlueDevil · May 5, 2016

Reefrookie220 said:
The tank is upset about the upgrade Yash. It feels unappreciated, having a hard time letting go of 13 years.

LOL! I wonder how much it paid the snail to do the dirty work for it?

Reeflogic · May 5, 2016

Lowell Lemon said:
Switch to a normally aspirated snail instead of the hot rod turbo version...your gas miliage should increase as well...lol.

Just make sure it doesn't lie on emission tests!!

Bummer Yash, I'd do as advised earlier... (as far as the flooring is concerned) Get some air moving ASAP. Water will migrate under the baseboards, etc. You can almost guarantee the bottom of the stand against your flooring is damp. If there is any room under the stand, air will move through it with a fan. Get a little microbial solution (bleach water) and spray the area and you're golden. Doesn't sound like much water escaped the sump, but better safe than sorry.

A little salinity change with the addition of ATO shouldn't be that big of a concern, just use salt water in the ATO for a week and get it back to normal. Crazy that this happened now lol, I'm with Waylon, the tank is ticked off at you lol.

BlueDevil · May 5, 2016

Thanks Doug. Baseboards was my first concern as well. However another reason I don't think a whole lot of water drained is because I have a rolled up bath mat behind the bottom of the stand in between it and the wall and there was barely a cup or so of water soaked I tot he mat. So I don't think a whole lot could have made it to the baseboards.
The biggest area of concern would be the wet stand bottom. I'll run the fan constantly until the stand feels dry and wipe the floor area off with a mild bleach solution.