Water Change Fiasco

strout · 11-05-2009, 09:01 PM

As ya'll know I am wanting to get my nitrate level down. The tank is going on a year old and the bottom of my sump had small granular pieces of LR in the sump along with alot of stuff that my skimmer didn't get out of the water, brown powdere looking stuff . I figured that the stuff in my sump that the skimmer didn't skim might be adding to my nitrate problem and I figured I would drain the sump and also add one of those bags to my drain hose from my tank to the sump to help keep this build up from happening again. Sounds like a good plan, lol. Anyway, got all of the water draind out of the sump and got it all cleaned, looking like new. Now on to the filter bag (this is where I got into trouble) The clear plastic tube connected to my ball valve on my drain from the tank isn't very flexable and it was to long, it hung down to the bottom of my skimmer and then started to run along the bottom of the sump, it needed to be shorten, So I pryed the hose up so that I could cut about 6 inches off the tube, I got the tube cut and in the process cut my thumb with the knife. So its off to the hospital and got three stiches in my thumb. 2 hours later I am back at the house to finish up with the sump work. I had done a 17 gallon water change before I started the sump work earlier in the evening and had saved 15g of fresh SW to fill the sump back up. So I fill the sump back up and turned my skimmer back on. You would think that my nights work should be finished at this time, you would be wrong, lol. I turned the skimmer back on and half the water in my sump disappears, as I am now out of fresh SW, I grabbed my bucket of top off water and pour a bunch into the sump to bring the level back up, then I think that there might be to much FW in the sump so I go and get one cup of salt pour it into the sump. This FW still wasn't enough to bring the sump level back up and I had no more fresh SW so I go get my old water that I hadn't dumped yet from the water change from ealier in the nite and put about 8 gallons of that back into my sump. This is when I calmed down a bit and figured out what was going on. When I had reached into the sump chamber to pull the hose out so I could cut it, I had turned my ball valve on the drain hose and it was almot closed and the water in my sump was in my over flow chamber and was fixing to over flow my tank. Anyway, I kept playing with the ball valve until I got it reset and everything was working fine. Now you might think at this point that my problem is solved and I coud go to bed, you would be wrong again. Now, all that extra water I had put in my sump trying to bring the water level back up, its fixing to over flow my sump, lol. I get all the extra water out of my sump, and my work is finished and my 2 hour job that took me almost 7 hours. So all that fresh SW I used in the water change got contaminted by the 8 gallons of old SW that I put into the sump trying to bring the water level up. The funny thing about all of this, I checked the saltwater to see where it was at, and it was spot on.

Lotus · 11-05-2009, 10:33 PM

Ugh... there's nothing worse than water change disasters. I hope your thumb is better soon!

strout · 11-06-2009, 05:58 AM

The filter sock seems like it was a good investment, my water is staying cleaner, and the skimmer seems to not be working so hard. I wll change it out tonight and put another one on, so I can see how dirty it has gotten.

TRe · 11-06-2009, 09:16 PM

that sux bigtime! ill be running filter socks as well on the new tank.... only thing that sucks is theyve gotta be cleaned ALOT

epond83 · 11-07-2009, 05:26 PM

Seems like having a ball valve on your drain hose isn't safe, can't you size it so that it runs unobstructed?

strout · 11-07-2009, 06:43 PM

Yes, I can do that, but when I first got my tank, I knew nothing about having a tank and did what I was told by the LFS and I just never saw the reason to go thru the effort to change up what was working. The ball valve isn't easy to turn and I am surprized I didn't feel myself moving the setting. Everything is working now and my thumb is healing. The only thing I did wrong was freaking out when I saw the water disappearing from my sump, if I would have stayed calm and figured it out, I would have been alright.

11-05-2009, 09:01 PM	#1
strout Large Fish Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 732	Water Change Fiasco As ya'll know I am wanting to get my nitrate level down. The tank is going on a year old and the bottom of my sump had small granular pieces of LR in the sump along with alot of stuff that my skimmer didn't get out of the water, brown powdere looking stuff . I figured that the stuff in my sump that the skimmer didn't skim might be adding to my nitrate problem and I figured I would drain the sump and also add one of those bags to my drain hose from my tank to the sump to help keep this build up from happening again. Sounds like a good plan, lol. Anyway, got all of the water draind out of the sump and got it all cleaned, looking like new. Now on to the filter bag (this is where I got into trouble) The clear plastic tube connected to my ball valve on my drain from the tank isn't very flexable and it was to long, it hung down to the bottom of my skimmer and then started to run along the bottom of the sump, it needed to be shorten, So I pryed the hose up so that I could cut about 6 inches off the tube, I got the tube cut and in the process cut my thumb with the knife. So its off to the hospital and got three stiches in my thumb. 2 hours later I am back at the house to finish up with the sump work. I had done a 17 gallon water change before I started the sump work earlier in the evening and had saved 15g of fresh SW to fill the sump back up. So I fill the sump back up and turned my skimmer back on. You would think that my nights work should be finished at this time, you would be wrong, lol. I turned the skimmer back on and half the water in my sump disappears, as I am now out of fresh SW, I grabbed my bucket of top off water and pour a bunch into the sump to bring the level back up, then I think that there might be to much FW in the sump so I go and get one cup of salt pour it into the sump. This FW still wasn't enough to bring the sump level back up and I had no more fresh SW so I go get my old water that I hadn't dumped yet from the water change from ealier in the nite and put about 8 gallons of that back into my sump. This is when I calmed down a bit and figured out what was going on. When I had reached into the sump chamber to pull the hose out so I could cut it, I had turned my ball valve on the drain hose and it was almot closed and the water in my sump was in my over flow chamber and was fixing to over flow my tank. Anyway, I kept playing with the ball valve until I got it reset and everything was working fine. Now you might think at this point that my problem is solved and I coud go to bed, you would be wrong again. Now, all that extra water I had put in my sump trying to bring the water level back up, its fixing to over flow my sump, lol. I get all the extra water out of my sump, and my work is finished and my 2 hour job that took me almost 7 hours. So all that fresh SW I used in the water change got contaminted by the 8 gallons of old SW that I put into the sump trying to bring the water level up. The funny thing about all of this, I checked the saltwater to see where it was at, and it was spot on. Last edited by strout; 11-05-2009 at 09:11 PM..

11-05-2009, 10:33 PM	#2
Lotus Moderator Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 14,778	Ugh... there's nothing worse than water change disasters. I hope your thumb is better soon! __________________ Lotus and Ecotank's tanks "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

11-06-2009, 09:16 PM	#4
TRe Super Fish Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: ft. lauderdale Posts: 3,411	that sux bigtime! ill be running filter socks as well on the new tank.... only thing that sucks is theyve gotta be cleaned ALOT __________________ 82g Reef 48x22x18 - 2 X 250w MH, MSX extreme 160, Aqua controller jr, Natureef doser/2 part, Koralia3 & modded MJ900, Po4 reactor, Kalk reactor, ATO, 60g sump/frag tank (4 bulb 24" T5's over frag tank) 125g for sale! 300g SOLD!

11-06-2009, 05:58 AM	#3
strout Large Fish Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 732	The filter sock seems like it was a good investment, my water is staying cleaner, and the skimmer seems to not be working so hard. I wll change it out tonight and put another one on, so I can see how dirty it has gotten.

11-07-2009, 05:26 PM	#5
epond83 Medium Fish Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 470	Seems like having a ball valve on your drain hose isn't safe, can't you size it so that it runs unobstructed?

11-07-2009, 06:43 PM	#6
strout Large Fish Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 732	Yes, I can do that, but when I first got my tank, I knew nothing about having a tank and did what I was told by the LFS and I just never saw the reason to go thru the effort to change up what was working. The ball valve isn't easy to turn and I am surprized I didn't feel myself moving the setting. Everything is working now and my thumb is healing. The only thing I did wrong was freaking out when I saw the water disappearing from my sump, if I would have stayed calm and figured it out, I would have been alright.