ARG!!! Water on the floor... again.

[Mike]

So we were mixing up water last night in the 40g brute to do a water change today and it appears the hose popped off the pump and water spewed up and out of the trash can all over the kitchen floor. So 40 gallons of water in the kitchen. The lid was on the trash can, but since the pump and heater cords were out to plug in, it was not sealed. This morning when we woke up the 44g brute was almost empty...

Not a good way to start to start the day... especially since I overfilled it while maki.ng RODI last night, so already cleaned up the kitchen floor 12 hours previously. Of course a few gallons is way different then 40 gallons.

There are times I hate this hobby- Mike

[cbianco]

...There are times I hate this hobby- Mike

+1 I think we have all been there for one reason or another.

Question, how exactly do you clean up 40 gallons of water on the floor? Mops, towels...?

I hope your clean up is fast and without damage!

Christopher

[aquasport24]

Man, that's sucks. Might have to run to HD and see if they have a big wet/dry vaccum and some big fans.

[Big_Pun]

i feel your pain mike , it seems so crazy that a simple water change can be so complicated and frustrating. last week i tripped over a hose and spilled 5 gallons of dirty tank water on the floor, and of course its the day i siphon all the poo from my sump.

[Mike]

Luckily the wife's favorite area rug in the kitchen acted like a sponge and soaked up a lot of it. It is currently hanging over the rail outside and is most likely ruined. Probably $150-$200 replacement.... other than that we basically used a lot of towels and a shop vac.

We used to have a couple of cheap water alarms, which lasted a while and then died... time to invest in some new ones...

[Mike]

So for some reason I am rethinking how we mix our salt water. What do you guys use to mix everything?

[Europhyllia]

what are water alarms? sounds like we all need some...

[Big_Pun]

i do mine in 5 gallon buckets with a k2, and let them run for 2 hours and use right away, i know ive seen the articles that you should let it sit 24 hours but the bucket says you can use it right away i have done it like this with no pobs. something always happens when i let it run overnight, also my water conatiner is in my garage so its all ready warm(winter i put a heater in it). maybe if you just drop the pump in with no plumbing.

[Mike]

Here is the one we had before (actually had 3) but they stopped working after several times proving their worth. Replacing the batteries did not revive them. We paid maybe $8 each for them.

http://www.fireandtheftprotection.com/site.php/HomeSecurity/pd169326/lf001_water_alarm_by_leak_frog

We will be going to Home Depot today. Gonna check and see if they have any there. Will post up what we find and where.

[Europhyllia]

Oh that's very cute. Should work well if the kids don't steal them.

We have our RO unit and brute can in the laundry room. I have mishaps quite frequently and while it still sucks to waste a bunch of water at least if anything happens in the laundry room the laundry room is 2 inches lower than the rest of the house and has a drain in the middle so no water ever spills out of it.

Got to find some froggies though!

[Mike]

After doing a bit more reading and investigation, it appears that the manufacturer no longer makes the froggies. Karin, you will have to explore the many options that are less cute - but more likely to be left alone by your kids.

Like this:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002Q8GRPG/ref=xs_gb_A2Y6YH2GIW0JH7?_encoding=UTF8&pfRdReplace=1&tag=dealswoot-20

[kkiel02]

So for some reason I am rethinking how we mix our salt water. What do you guys use to mix everything?

I mix everything in the garage. But as we talk about before I only have been changing 10g a week on the 180. So one trip with two 5 gallon buckets. This time around I am going to do 20-30 gallon changes though. Oh and to actually mix it I just toss my mag 5(if I need water fast) or a maxi jet in the bottom of the trashcan and let it go.

[BSJF]

I have brute on wheels! Use a float valve so when I fill with RO/DI I don't have accidentis. I circulate with an interal pump, and only attach hose to the pump while I am doing WCs. Other than the ugly brute container in my living room, it works well! Keep meaning to get a decorative screen to hide it, but never do.

[ramsey]

I mix and store water in my garage. When I do water changes, I have a brute on wheels and a mag 7 with a long hose. I pump dirty water into the brute, roll it to the front door, then pump it down my drive way. I then put the pump in the new water, pump it into the brute at the front door, then roll it to my tank and pump it in. I was doing it with 5G buckets (6 trips). I don't miss that at all.

[jroescher]

I have a 55 gal black poly drum for mixing 25 gals at a time. An MJ1200 and a heater laying in the bottom for mixing. To change water, I drop another MJ1200 in with a hose attached to pump it out.

To keep from overfilling, I set an alarm on my phone for however many hours I need, and I put a note across the time on the alarm clock next to my bed. That way if all else fails, I see the note when I set my alarm at night. 55 gal drum gives me lots of hours to screw up.

[allan]

I have a 20 gallon top off container that when if it overflows the excess water spills into my mixing container, a 35 gallon brute on wheels.

When I charge the top off I put a paper on the front of my tank under the magnet glass scrubber that says "Allan, making water check levels".

The brute always has salt in it constant overflowing fills it up and dilutes the salinity. When it gets full I adjust the salinity and turn on the mixing pump. I only have to put a little salt to match the tank parameters so I don't let it sit much more than a few hours. Then I unplug the mixer pump and after I've removed 15 to 20 gallons from the tank I plug in the refill pump already plumbed to the sump until the water level hits the appropriate marker.

If I do a small water change I have to pull the hose out about a foot from the brute so the hole I cut into the tube will break the siphon. Because of this I try to do larger water changes.

That's how I do it... And I still manage to get water on the floor.

[CoryDude]

Sound like you and Kristy are having a rough weekend. Sorry 'bout that.

[dark8nge1]

I had my RO overflow on to a brand new Brazilian walnut floor so I got tired of it and got this http://www.genesisreefsystems.com/

Now I never have to lift another bucket or worry about anything overflowing. Its expensive but considering the damage I could cause otherwise its worth every penny.

[Europhyllia]

wow darkangel. wish you hadn't posted this. This looks awesome! Automatic water changes....

[dark8nge1]

I absolutely love it. Literally the only thing I have to do is dump a premeasured amount of salt into my salt into the clean water bin every two weeks and I'm good to go. Really helps since I do the full zeovit method and I'm testing and dosing on a daily basis.

Oh the owner of Reef Genesis is super helpful as well. He emailed me can gave me his cell number in case I need help with anything. I have talked to him a few times and he is a real nice guy.

[Europhyllia]

Nice. Maybe I'll stick with T5s instead of LEDs and next year's splurge will be automated water changes (instead of a light upgrade). Then all I'd have left to do is feed the critters...

(Too bad you're not in San Antonio. Would have been a great thing to check out if you were part of the tank tour)

[neogenix]

I'm actually planning interesting things with automatic water changes and a RKE if anyone's interested. Including safety switches for overflowing, automatic syphons for overfilled water containers, and remote water change management, if anyone's interested, let me know and I'll run through the pieces I'm planning on using, and the safety measures I'm putting in.