I'm gonna write this in hope that inspires all of you to not fall into this same fate of not having spare parts on-hand for equipment failures. This topic isn't addressed much on this forum, but please, I emplore all of you, have spare parts or even spare pieces of equipment for imperative equipment (powerheads, pumps, lighting, heaters) on-hand at all times. Equipment failure is never convenient...
Story begins where I'm watching over the reef of a local club member while he goes on vacation for a month. He offers to pay me for my services and I think why not, he's got a big new beatuiful tank and I could use the extra cash, so I accept. The tank in question is a custom 120g tank made by Miracles in Glass with a custom sump, custom hood, pretty much custom everything
. As the owner is a close friend of mine, I even helped him out with many phases of the construction and have pretty intimate knowledge of his tank. A few quick stats, lighting is 2x250watt MH with 2x96watt PC and 2x36watt PCs; Skimming is with a BIG AquaC Urchin in-sump skimmer; a calcium reactor AND kalkwasser reactor control the dosing, and an expensive aquacontroller operates the whole system.
The system has one design flaw... It has but one pump, a Sequence Reeflo Barracuda. For the un-initiated, we're talking a BIG external pump here, 5400gph and some astronomical feet of head. The pump is bulkheaded directly to the sump with appropriate union shutoff valves and the output goes to a wavemaking device called an Ocean Motions unit. For you UK reefers, its basically a drum that slowly changes flow between 4 outputs which then go up to the tank. Creates fantastic changing water movement although it costs $400
. The reef itself is FULL of corals and fish, multiple thousands of dollars of rare species, the owner is a real collector.
So on monday I noticed some water on the floor. After a little snooping around I found that the female locking sleeve that was on the union fitting on his check valve was cracked likely due to over-tightening. The tank owner did not have a spare check valve around and these are pretty much mail-order only so I ordered one to be in on wed, gobbed some silicone on it, and stuck some towels around it just in case it still leaked. Well, it still leaked, and the next day (tuesday) probably 2 gallons of water had drained out and the towels were drenched. No big deal I said, the fitting is coming on wednesday and I've got more towels and lots of saltwater on hand. So I replaced the 2 gallons of saltwater, did the daily feeding and left. So yesterday, wednesday the fitting is not in yet, call the company, and am told, "yeah sorry we forgot to ship it, so we're sending it out today but dropping the shipping charge for you. It should arrive on friday". Great, thanks guys...
So I go over to the tank owner's house and my jaw drops. The floor is covered in water, and the pump is partially airlocked and barely flowing water. The collar on the union almoast completely failed sometime that day and water was leaking steadily from the seal that was now only sealing from the weight of the piping. So I go into panic repair mode. Grab a couple powerheads I have laying around, jury rig them up in the tank hanging from their chords, mop up the water and sprint to the hardware store. I purchase a sump pump checkvalve which I know wont last more than a few months in a saltwater environment but whatever it'll be OK till friday. Jury rig that in place of the old valve, dry up with towels and wringing them into the toilet and fire the pump back up. Phew, disaster averted right? WRONG! If there's one thing you should expect is that equipment failures are never simple fixes...
Pump is pumping again, water replaced, floor dried, and I notice the floor of the sump is still getting wet. At this point it's like 11pm. All my fittings are holding water no problem and after much spelunking it appears that the water is coming from the pump, leaking on-to the shaft, and spraying on the walls of the sump. It appears as though the main shaft seal on the pump is going bad. Great. Take the pump out again, strip it down and sure enough, the seal is cracked and failing. Quick, everyone guess if the owner of the tank has a spare pump or a spare seal on-hand... Nope. I call my local reef shop owner frantic at 11pm, praying he's still awake. As luck would have it, not only is he awake but he's at the store putting away an order of fish. He too knows the owner of the tank very well and offers to lend some equipment to limp along till replacement parts can be ordered. Cause a reeftank without flowrate for gas exchange will be a sespool of death in a matter of hours. Luckily he loans me a Mag 12, a Seio 2600, and some fittings to keep things alive. I get them back to the tank, rig them up and get them running. Cleanup the gallons and gallons of saltwater on the floor and just collapse there from exhaustion at 2:00am. Tank saved, parts ordered, bedtime for SkiFletch.
Lessons learned, always always always have spare parts for things that can and will break. Check valves, pumps, seals, Orings, ball valves, fittings, PVC glue, spare powerheads, lights, ballasts, etc. Whatever your tank needs if something breaks you need to have on-hand. At the risk of sounding full of myself, were the tank not in my capable hands, he may have been looking at a total loss. Even so repairs will be hellish and cost the owner way more than had he just had the spare parts on-hand to fix as needed. Overnight shipping is not cheap. So buy your spares and build a network of local reefers you can call in case disaster strikes. What if it's your tank with these troubles, will you be able to fix it or cope?
Story begins where I'm watching over the reef of a local club member while he goes on vacation for a month. He offers to pay me for my services and I think why not, he's got a big new beatuiful tank and I could use the extra cash, so I accept. The tank in question is a custom 120g tank made by Miracles in Glass with a custom sump, custom hood, pretty much custom everything
. As the owner is a close friend of mine, I even helped him out with many phases of the construction and have pretty intimate knowledge of his tank. A few quick stats, lighting is 2x250watt MH with 2x96watt PC and 2x36watt PCs; Skimming is with a BIG AquaC Urchin in-sump skimmer; a calcium reactor AND kalkwasser reactor control the dosing, and an expensive aquacontroller operates the whole system. The system has one design flaw... It has but one pump, a Sequence Reeflo Barracuda. For the un-initiated, we're talking a BIG external pump here, 5400gph and some astronomical feet of head. The pump is bulkheaded directly to the sump with appropriate union shutoff valves and the output goes to a wavemaking device called an Ocean Motions unit. For you UK reefers, its basically a drum that slowly changes flow between 4 outputs which then go up to the tank. Creates fantastic changing water movement although it costs $400
. The reef itself is FULL of corals and fish, multiple thousands of dollars of rare species, the owner is a real collector.So on monday I noticed some water on the floor. After a little snooping around I found that the female locking sleeve that was on the union fitting on his check valve was cracked likely due to over-tightening. The tank owner did not have a spare check valve around and these are pretty much mail-order only so I ordered one to be in on wed, gobbed some silicone on it, and stuck some towels around it just in case it still leaked. Well, it still leaked, and the next day (tuesday) probably 2 gallons of water had drained out and the towels were drenched. No big deal I said, the fitting is coming on wednesday and I've got more towels and lots of saltwater on hand. So I replaced the 2 gallons of saltwater, did the daily feeding and left. So yesterday, wednesday the fitting is not in yet, call the company, and am told, "yeah sorry we forgot to ship it, so we're sending it out today but dropping the shipping charge for you. It should arrive on friday". Great, thanks guys...
So I go over to the tank owner's house and my jaw drops. The floor is covered in water, and the pump is partially airlocked and barely flowing water. The collar on the union almoast completely failed sometime that day and water was leaking steadily from the seal that was now only sealing from the weight of the piping. So I go into panic repair mode. Grab a couple powerheads I have laying around, jury rig them up in the tank hanging from their chords, mop up the water and sprint to the hardware store. I purchase a sump pump checkvalve which I know wont last more than a few months in a saltwater environment but whatever it'll be OK till friday. Jury rig that in place of the old valve, dry up with towels and wringing them into the toilet and fire the pump back up. Phew, disaster averted right? WRONG! If there's one thing you should expect is that equipment failures are never simple fixes...
Pump is pumping again, water replaced, floor dried, and I notice the floor of the sump is still getting wet. At this point it's like 11pm. All my fittings are holding water no problem and after much spelunking it appears that the water is coming from the pump, leaking on-to the shaft, and spraying on the walls of the sump. It appears as though the main shaft seal on the pump is going bad. Great. Take the pump out again, strip it down and sure enough, the seal is cracked and failing. Quick, everyone guess if the owner of the tank has a spare pump or a spare seal on-hand... Nope. I call my local reef shop owner frantic at 11pm, praying he's still awake. As luck would have it, not only is he awake but he's at the store putting away an order of fish. He too knows the owner of the tank very well and offers to lend some equipment to limp along till replacement parts can be ordered. Cause a reeftank without flowrate for gas exchange will be a sespool of death in a matter of hours. Luckily he loans me a Mag 12, a Seio 2600, and some fittings to keep things alive. I get them back to the tank, rig them up and get them running. Cleanup the gallons and gallons of saltwater on the floor and just collapse there from exhaustion at 2:00am. Tank saved, parts ordered, bedtime for SkiFletch.
Lessons learned, always always always have spare parts for things that can and will break. Check valves, pumps, seals, Orings, ball valves, fittings, PVC glue, spare powerheads, lights, ballasts, etc. Whatever your tank needs if something breaks you need to have on-hand. At the risk of sounding full of myself, were the tank not in my capable hands, he may have been looking at a total loss. Even so repairs will be hellish and cost the owner way more than had he just had the spare parts on-hand to fix as needed. Overnight shipping is not cheap
. So buy your spares and build a network of local reefers you can call in case disaster strikes. What if it's your tank with these troubles, will you be able to fix it or cope?
Crazy time of it mate! A big well done for having the knowledge to repair as best as and keeping the tank away from the 'danger zone'.
after all the trouble he put you through
