I came home from work today to find my 46gal tank dark and quiet. Power went out mid-day, and my plug-in type gfci doesn't reset itself once power comes on (for tool safety, have to find some new ones). Anyway, it's happened before, and nobody seems the worse for the wear. However, I look down the hall to my new 7 gal bowfront and notice it's half empty!!
I couldn't figure out how this happened, considering it's sumpless and there were no leaks. After a minute of blankly staring at the tank, I see a drop of water drip from the air intake tube of the rio venturi powerhead attached to my bakpak skimmer. Stupid me draped the airline tubing over the back of the tank so the intake was well below the waterline. The sudden backflow that happened when the power went out must've been enough to push water up the air tube, over the top, and started a siphon. I figure about 3 gallons of water in the carpet.
My galaxea and hammer were high and dry for 4 hours...
Can't tell yet, but I think they may actually be ok. I was also lucky that the gfci didn't restore power, otherwise I would've had two burned out pumps and a broken heater, possibly zapping the water. Yet another lesson learned the hard way....
Chris
Chris
