woke up to water all over the floor!

pohtr

pohtr

Member
This morning I was awakened by my husband to tell me the livingroom floor was all wet.
Fortunately we don't have carpet. Anyway I blotted and wiped and blotted and wiped it all up but couldn't figure out what went wrong. It seemed to be done doing whatever it did so I just kept an eye on it for a while then forgot about it. (not a good idea).
A bit later in the afternoon when everything was chaotic...phone ringing, people leaving, dogs barking...my husband again came to me and said..."You need to come look at this fish tank of yours..."
Sigh. So in I go and the water level is overflowing the main tank again. Water is on the floor and the sump is too low for the pumps and air bubbles are getting all up in the main tank and the pumps are slurping and the only thing I could think of to do was to shut off the pumps.
After watching things for a while and trying to figure out what is going on I took the filter off the bottom of the overflow pipe in case it was clogged and after a while noticed that the flow seemed a little unenthusiastic. Well, all of a sudden the light bulb went off in my little brain! I took off the plastic mesh stuff that sticks out of the top of my durso and right up in the middle of it was a big fat snail!
problem solved.
 
m000240

m000240

Member
Ouch, that sucks......thats why I'm going with two stockman overflows....one clogs, still have another.....
 
oceanists

oceanists

Active Member
`if you have hard wood or laminate floors make sure that you wiped it up really well , otherwise they are going to warp
 
pohtr

pohtr

Member
I just soaked it up with lots of towels. We have pine wood floors with poly on them. Where the water ran from the liv. rm. into the hall it is old refinished heartwood pine & in that area the water could run down between the boards, pass through a little insulation and go straight to the ground. (one single layer of boards there) . No warping so far. Maybe I should install a little drain in the floor under the tank? Just kidding....
 
maeistero

maeistero

Active Member
i'd be most worried about wet wood, especially aged wood without a good finish, between the stand and floor. it's not going to dry and the tank will sink into it. it'll ruin your floor. you're options if this is the case is move the tank now, or face replacing the floor later.

if you do move the tank and plan on living there for awhile, i'd cut out the wood flooring top layer, cut to a 2nd layer of plywood IF you have that subfloor below that, and install stone/ceramic tiling on that. if you can get it below your floor level you're about set. silicone below the quarter trim that butts up to the regular floor and that will hold some gallons until it's discovered. bigger the tank, the more it'll hold. quick fix for a problem that needs a quick eye, but it's a helluva lot cheaper than that new wood floor.
 
J

jdragunas

Guest
yeah, my wood floor is ruined in my dining room...
I had a water problem, right by my tank, and i was like... what the heck is going on??? Nothing was leaking, all the water levels were fine... Turns out the consensation from my furnace had filled the bucket it was draining into, and was overflowing in my garage, which seeped through to my dining room floor. boy was i
... now the edges on my floors are rotten... sucks!!!
 
maeistero

maeistero

Active Member
clearance 12" square floor tiles are usually pretty cheap, so if it's just some sections you can redo your tank on a fireplace like setting without doing the entire room.

i'm talking stone, ceramic, or fragile marble only. stay clear of anything vinyl due to the weight, the edges will peel up with water seepage also.
 
J

jdragunas

Guest
yeah, well i wanted new wood floors in there anyway... the people that put them in (before we moved there) didn't seal the floors. They're also those ugly-looking wood tiles... can't remember what they're called. oh well...
 
maeistero

maeistero

Active Member
:thinking: you sound like my fiance...
"SURE, you can get a new tank... but only if you put it in THIS room." inevitably i end up redoing the entire room due to the smell or floor and another tank ends up in my basement fish lair.

of course she gets another completely remodeled room that comes out of my fish budget.
 
J

jdragunas

Guest
lmao
not a bad idea... but i'm the financial head of the household... so i'd be rediong a room for MYSELF out of my fish budget... maybe i can blame it on his video games, or comic books.... hmmm... gotta come up with a really good story!!!
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
oh man.... ive had some problems....... first of all there was the time i forgot that i was filtering water with my DI filter in the next room (i was in my bedroom talking to you guys).... Yeah.... we just redid the ceiling in the kitchen. But the other one was crappy and the new one looks realy nice and didnt cost much because we already had all the old wood, so my step dad wasnt too pissed. Then there was something with my protein skimmer where water was leaking out of the little airvent for some odd reason..... These actualy happened two days in a row so i was able to blame the 2nd time on water that was already in the ceiling and had settled from the night before.....
oh yeah, and when i lsot the little o-ring to make my protein skimmer waterproof went to school, came home, and cleaned it up before my aprents got home
tricksy arent i? haha. I am jsut being super careful now and am always paranoid. i actualy went to check my tank as soon as i read this thread.
but hwo would it overflow in the first place? did you not leave any extra room in yoru sump?
 
pohtr

pohtr

Member
Mine was spilling over from the main tank cause the overflow was clogged. So the sump was being drained down which also caused the skimmer pump to be enough in air for the venturi to be pumping water out over the top of the sump ....double trouble!
However, about the floor...the bottom of the stand is a 2x4 frame with a raised bottom. Part of that raised bottom has been disconnected and rests on the floor (so the sump & tall skimmer would fit under there). Enough of the floor itself is visible to monitor its condition. It looks fine. The floor is new and was laid over one layer of old unfinished heart pine. The finish on the top (new) layer is the supposedly commercial moisture cure type.
One word of caution on the ceramic tile method. I installed tile for 27 years and know that it will work well only if its installed properly. That would mean using thinset and cement board and having at least 1 1/2 inch of flooring under the tile itself. Also it would not be water proof unless a water proof membrane was used. The water would seep under the tile via the grout and edges and saturate whatever flooring is under the tile. If that top layer is plywood then the tiles will loosen when the wood swells. A drain would be helpful.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top