Renters with Reefs

[jsn124]

Hey all,

I was hoping to get some thoughts and (hopefully) encouragement on this topic. I'm guessing that quite a few of us here rent apartments in the NYC / tri-state area.

I finally have all the parts for my new setup having been collecting parts and doing plenty of reading over the past 6 months. Now that I'm all set for some reason I'm really paranoid about setting it up since I live on the 3rd floor of my apartment and I'm worried about water overflowing. :dead1:

A few days ago I had a small accident in the bathroom where I make RO/DI. I usually place the waste water line in the bathtub to drain. Unfortunately it came out (the shower curtain must have been moved and it popped out) and by the time I found out there was probably 2 or 3 gallons on the floor. Long story short the maintenance guy knocks on the door and asks if there was a leak... I told him I had "spilled" water on the floor which was true! This shouldn't happen again but it still makes me a bit nervous.

I've planned my tank very carefully... it's only a 20 gallon display w/ 10 gallon sump. I have two 1" drains (one primary and one backup). There is plenty of room in the sump if the pump goes out. I suppose the worst case is if BOTH drains clog. I'm looking at about 2 gallons pumping from the return chamber into the display.

Finally, FWIW my wife and I do have renters insurance although I'm not sure it covers water damage. Also, we have a dog and paid something like a $500 pet fee so that also makes me feel better about this.

Thanks for any feedback or encouragement here!

 

[Deanos]

LeakFrog

 

[bad coffee]

call your insurance broker and add water damage. That way the apartment is covered. Unfortunately, nobody will insure your tank. It's kinda on it's own, since its' 'live animals'

Make sure you add the value of your aquarium equipment/decoration (live rock) that will be there after a fire. It will only cost a couple of bucks for coverage.

B

 

[nanoreefer22]

Why not eliminate the possibility of a leak altogether? Just go sumpless with the system and thats one less thing to worry about. The system is small and there are HOB skimmers, that will do the job for you.

 

[Deanos]

Sumpless tanks leak too :shhh:

 

[nanoreefer22]

I should of been more specific

 

[jsn124]

Deanos: thanks for the link to that device. Looks great and I'll probably get one just in case!

Bad coffee: right, I'm going to call them to verify our coverage.

Nanoreefer22: I definitely considered the HOB but the tank is custom built and already has the plumbing all in place. I could plug them but I really want the sump setup.

Thanks again for the feedback! I feel much better and I think the rewards are worth the risk

 

[LeslieS]

My HOB skimmer was the leakiest part of my system... :-(

We give generous tips to the super, maintenance man, doormen, and porters at holiday time. When the maintenance guy saw how much damage we had done to our floor with salt water all he wanted to know was if we wanted him to fix it

We also give tank tours on take your kid to work day!

 

[boardryder]

I have your same worries and had the same thing happen with my ro/di unit. I was flushing the membrane and the waste line shot out of the drain and before I knew the water started a waterfall from my kitchen down the back stairs to my landlords.

I also hooked up my coralife UV off of my canister filter and a hose busted off. Lets just say if I hadn't been there I would have had about 30 gallons on the floor and my electrical outlet was right behind the tank shooting flames.

So in retrospect. Hard plumb everything as much as possible. Envision anything and everything that can go wrong. Test worst case scenerios. Make electrical saftey number one(I'd rather flood my place and the neigbors than burn everything down). Properly maintain and check things for potential problems. Read, Read, Read. And make sure you have insurance coverage for that worst case scenario you planned for that goes wrong. Also, have plenty of extra towels and maybe a shopvac!

I've seen a lot of setups that scare me, and they seem to have no problems. Good luck, and take it slow as that's the best prevention.

 

[ihatefish]

as long as u keep up on you're tank everything should be fine. Just check every once and awhile make sure things are running fine. As long as the sump doesn't overflow when the power goes out everything is going 2 be alright.

 

[reefman]

same here, but in kitchen. if u get insurance, make sure to ask if it covers damages from fish tank water to damages to your property as well as property n lawsuits from neighbors.
note: nothing is valid unless its in the policy.

 

[MikeyZO]

you could always buy a shallow rubbermaid type storage container and put the sump in there, this way at least if that leaks it will go in the container and not on your floor. I did that after a mishap where water back-siphoned out of my skimmers venturi line (I forgot to plug it back in) and I lost about 5 gallons to my rug. It happened one other time and cleanup was a breeze and no headache.

 

[jsn124]

Thanks for all the feedback. I had a chat with my insurance rep and specifically asked if my current policy would cover water damage if it spilled from my tank... it turns out that we're covered. So that's good!

I'm feeling much better. Honestly I was just a bit shaken up when I had the RO/DI accident the other night... I know, just get over it!

I really appreciate all of the tips and thoughts on this issue. I'm confident I have my bases covered. I just finished all of the plumbing and the fresh water test worked out great, no leaks! Tonight I'm going to go through all of the exercises by shutting the pump off, making sure the sump can handle the back siphoned water, main drain clogging, etc.

Thanks again!

 

[AlexWasserman]

We rent and we have 5 fish tanks... a couple of gallons for goldfish from the fair, a couple of nano-cubes, 180G reef, and 260G predator...

The owners actually like the tanks. In previous places we've been fine too... And I've had then leak all over the place... I've had a return pump come loose, and pump water up into the lights above the fuge, fuse everything, cause all kinds of leaks etc...

Although, in our current place, one of the boilers blew once (not our fault), so the landlord flooded our basement cinema room badly... after that I feel less bad about a little leaking.

As for insurance, damage from the tanks leaking is covered, I made sure of that, but they won't cover the tank itself.

 

[jsn124]

AlexWasserman: Sorry to hear about your cinema room! Hope that worked out in the end.

Sounds like my insurance coverage is the same. The agent was very nice when I spoke with them and asked them to be very specific regarding this issue and my current policy. If the tank accidentally broke or water overflowed onto the floor they will cover the water damage only, not the tank and equipment.

I currently have my tank and stand in our living room on a parquet floor. So practically speaking, if water overflowed it would probably warp the floor like heck. My policy would cover that damage up to a certain percentage of our policy coverage.

Anyway, glad to hear about other folks' situations... more importantly that we can all enjoy our reef tanks even if we don't own a home

 

[tonep]

Just wondering if anyone has heard of anyone setting up some type of leak sensor (like the leekfrog or other) that would shut down your pump if it senses water?

 

[KathyC]

Tonep..the Leakfrog doesn't shut down pumps, it just sounds a loud alarm that there is water on the floor.
I don't know if there is a system that will shut a pump off :scratch:

 

[tonep]

I understand but I believe it could be modified to shut down a pump with a relay.
Just wondering if anyone did any mods to it or another device to shut down a pump when a leek is detected.

 

[boardryder]

A relay sure can be triggered off of a leak detector. You just need to make sure the relay will trigger off of the voltage supplied by the detector. Nice thinking.

Sounds like an interesting fun project for me one day. I'll let you know in a few years when I actually get around to it!