I've got a 40 gallon tank, which I put an airstone and tubing in. Since I was just preping the tank, I didn't have any fish yet. I didn't have a pump or a check valve, I just put the airstone attached to the tubing inside the tank, buried the stone at the bottom, and left it there. The previous days, I just left the airstone and tubing not at the bottom, but just laying inside the tank for a bit. That was at ~1 am in the living room. I go to bed, while my roomates are still kinda drinking. They turn in much later, and last roomate comes back in at 4am.
Fast forward to 7:30am. My roomates wake me up and tell me something went wrong with my fishtank. I wake up groggily, and then walk into the living room and see that the carpet next to my tank is soaking wet, and that I've lost around 20-25 gallons of water on the floor. I check it and it came from the stupid tubing and airstone: water kept flowing from the bottom of the tank into the airstone, up the tubing and on to the carpet. Stupid capillary action, stupid pressure laws, stupid bernoulli's law, and whatever physical phenomenon is to blame for gravel vacs and pythons
Bummer.
I start cleaning up, (Roomates leave to go to Magic Mountain DAMN THEM ) I go get a rug doctor (costs me $26), vaccum maybe about 2 gallons worth of water off the floor when the maintenance guy comes by. I live on the second floor of an apartment complex, and the first floor guys saw that the water was dripping through the floor into their apartment. The water leached through the floor, and when I went downstairs to check the damage, I could see that the path the water took through the beams of their ceiling. Their carpet was also wet.
Great...
I'm pretty sure it was my fault for doing the airstone thing, but I'm kinda pissed at my roomates for not noticing that the aquarium was losing water (They did notice the wet carpet at 4am, but didn't bother to check). I talked to the maintenance man, and he said that they would have to do a carpet teardown, and do a mold check on the floor and ceiling. Which seems to me will cost a pretty penny. The maintenance guy was cool about it though, and basically said "**** happens." I don't have renter's insurance, so I might have to pony up some money, hopefully not too much. The maintenance guy said that this was minor compared to the one time this guy set off the sprinkers in his place (cost him 4000, but he had renters insurance), but I still think i'll have to pony up ~400-600$. GAH.
So what have I learned from this:
1. Don't keep airstones and hoses inside the tank until you are going to use them immediately.
2. Use check valves. A 2 dollar purchase can save you a life of grief and a few hundred dollars.
3. Don't expect drunk roomates to notice the obvious. (Wet floor + Less water in fishtank = ? )
4. See all 4.
Sadness! I am so annoyed!
Update:
3x dehumidifiers x 3 days + drywall cutting/replacement + carpet replacement = ~1000 $. The guy doing the carpets offered a discount if I gave him the fishtank. UGH.... I don't know how much discount he'll give me for the fishtank, but if its high enough I might bite. ****!
Fast forward to 7:30am. My roomates wake me up and tell me something went wrong with my fishtank. I wake up groggily, and then walk into the living room and see that the carpet next to my tank is soaking wet, and that I've lost around 20-25 gallons of water on the floor. I check it and it came from the stupid tubing and airstone: water kept flowing from the bottom of the tank into the airstone, up the tubing and on to the carpet. Stupid capillary action, stupid pressure laws, stupid bernoulli's law, and whatever physical phenomenon is to blame for gravel vacs and pythons
Bummer.
I start cleaning up, (Roomates leave to go to Magic Mountain DAMN THEM
) I go get a rug doctor (costs me $26), vaccum maybe about 2 gallons worth of water off the floor when the maintenance guy comes by. I live on the second floor of an apartment complex, and the first floor guys saw that the water was dripping through the floor into their apartment. The water leached through the floor, and when I went downstairs to check the damage, I could see that the path the water took through the beams of their ceiling. Their carpet was also wet. Great...
I'm pretty sure it was my fault for doing the airstone thing, but I'm kinda pissed at my roomates for not noticing that the aquarium was losing water (They did notice the wet carpet at 4am, but didn't bother to check). I talked to the maintenance man, and he said that they would have to do a carpet teardown, and do a mold check on the floor and ceiling. Which seems to me will cost a pretty penny. The maintenance guy was cool about it though, and basically said "**** happens." I don't have renter's insurance, so I might have to pony up some money, hopefully not too much. The maintenance guy said that this was minor compared to the one time this guy set off the sprinkers in his place (cost him 4000, but he had renters insurance), but I still think i'll have to pony up ~400-600$. GAH.
So what have I learned from this:
1. Don't keep airstones and hoses inside the tank until you are going to use them immediately.
2. Use check valves. A 2 dollar purchase can save you a life of grief and a few hundred dollars.
3. Don't expect drunk roomates to notice the obvious. (Wet floor + Less water in fishtank = ? )
4. See all 4.
Sadness! I am so annoyed!
Update:
3x dehumidifiers x 3 days + drywall cutting/replacement + carpet replacement = ~1000 $. The guy doing the carpets offered a discount if I gave him the fishtank. UGH.... I don't know how much discount he'll give me for the fishtank, but if its high enough I might bite. ****!
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