Do not put a large snail into your overflow

spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
Because it may crawl into your inflow pipe, get stuck and restrict the water flow into your sump... you can imagine the rest.
We did this a month ago and luckily we were still up and I was looking at the tank. The slight sloshing sound disappeared and the overflow was filling up with water FAST (we haven't painted the glass behind the overflow and I could see it happen).
We both jump up and run to the tank, open up the cabinet and sure enough the pump was almost sucking up air. We pulled the plug on everything and it took about 15 minutes to figure out what had happened. I unscrew the standpipe and sure enough the snail was in there. The snail was a large Turbo snail and big enough to clog the pipe.
So let the algae grow in your overflow

We sure learned our lesson fast.
 
scopus tang

scopus tang

Active Member
Ditto that
. Also if you have a DIY intake/overflow of some sort, make sure that it is covered so snails cannot get into it. When I first set up my 65 at school with a chiller (lacks a sump), we had a intake with no cover. Came in one day and there were six snails stuck in the inflow.
I made a insert out of egg crate and fiberglass screen for my overflow both to reduce algae growth and prevent snails, hermits, and/or fish from getting into it.
 
t316

t316

Active Member
Originally Posted by bgbdwlf2500
http:///forum/post/2638097
this was my thought too, that should have been common sense

Correction...I meant no disrespect from the comment. Actually, IF the snail was purposefully put in there, it was a good thought (to clean up all of the yuck that builds up in there). I was just picking on Spidey. I'm sure she see's the pun, but I have done stupider (is that a word?) things.
 
bgbdwlf2500

bgbdwlf2500

Member
Originally Posted by T316
http:///forum/post/2638101
Correction...I meant no disrespect from the comment. Actually, IF the snail was purposefully put in there, it was a good thought (to clean up all of the yuck that builds up in there). I was just picking on Spidey. I'm sure she see's the pun, but I have done stupider (is that a word?) things.
no disrespect here either but you know if something bad can happen it will...
one of my clowns and my sixline both got lost and i couldnt find them...i finally did on the other side of the overflow..the clown took me awhile to find but the wrasse since it was the 2nd fish to do it was easy to find
 
spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
Originally Posted by T316
http:///forum/post/2638086
Spidey...tell me you didn't put him in there on purpose?

Oh yes, on purpose to clean the green hair algae that was building up in the corner overflow. It did not even cross our mind that the big turbo would crawl into the standpipe and into the system from there. I was just admiring how clean the overflow became in a few days and then woosh something is going on
 
bgbdwlf2500

bgbdwlf2500

Member
Originally Posted by SpiderWoman
http:///forum/post/2638254
Oh yes, on purpose to clean the green hair algae that was building up in the corner overflow. It did not even cross our mind that the big turbo would crawl into the standpipe and into the system from there. I was just admiring how clean the overflow became in a few days and then woosh something is going on

luck was on your side, you were there when it happened.
 
spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
Originally Posted by bgbdwlf2500
http:///forum/post/2638304
luck was on your side, you were there when it happened.
Exactly! Luckily also we have the water levels checked so that if the overflow gets clogged, the water from the sump part won't overflow the DT and the same way if there is a power outage, the sump/refugium won't overflow. Still a scary situation late in the evening. If we had not noticed what happened, the pump would have sucked air big time and probably burned itself without water.
 
N

nemo_66

Guest
i purposefully have a turbo snail in my overflow. its small though, and i have a cover on every pipe in there so it cant go inside the plumbing.
 
7duster3

7duster3

Member
Sorry to hijack this, (prepare for a stupid question...) can i put a few large turbos in my sump to clean up a bit?
 
spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
Originally Posted by 7duster3
http:///forum/post/2652576
Sorry to hijack this, (prepare for a stupid question...) can i put a few large turbos in my sump to clean up a bit?
After my experience I don't recommend that. He can get sucked into the pump. Just use a scraper to clean up.
 
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