Biggest nightmare came true...

[reeflover]

This morning my father woke me up to about 5 gallons if tank water on my floor, and under my tank. I mopped it all up and now that everything is dry I am trying to figure out where the water came from. However no more water is leaking......where could this have come from? I have been checking the silicon on the tanks (dt and sump). I also checked the PVC return piping and nothing was leaking. I have no where else to look. I filled it back up with water and turned everything on and of course it's not leaking anymore. What could this be from??

Thanks!
Connor

 

[Mike J.]

5 gallons is enough water to damage the structural integrity of a floor. I hope you also used a wet vacuum and a strong fan to dry things out. Do not rest until you figure out where the water came from. Skimmer overflowed? Bulkhead leaking? Drain/return pipe over side of tank?

 

[alan.reef]

keep looking for the leak. 5 gallon of water on floor overnight lots of water.

 

[bmac16]

Top off back siphon somehow
Reactors/ return lines

 

[reeflover]

I have been looking and looking and cannot seem to find it. The dt I don't think is the problem because when I first got down there nothing about the floor in the stand was wet. No drips down the stand nothing. I am worried however because there is water between the bottom of the sump and the wood it is sitting on as well as water under the stand. Thank goodness this is on tile and not carpet.

I did notice the skimmer cup had been overflowing as it was skimming really set for some reason but the skimmer is in the back of the sump towards the wall, away from the front doors. And everything in the back behind the tank is completely dry so I imagine that it just overflowed into the sump. That automatically rules out dripping return and reactor issues. This is mind boggling....

 

[The Flying Turkey]

I have been looking and looking and cannot seem to find it. The dt I don't think is the problem because when I first got down there nothing about the floor in the stand was wet. No drips down the stand nothing. I am worried however because there is water between the bottom of the sump and the wood it is sitting on as well as water under the stand. Thank goodness this is on tile and not carpet.

I did notice the skimmer cup had been overflowing as it was skimming really set for some reason but the skimmer is in the back of the sump towards the wall, away from the front doors. And everything in the back behind the tank is completely dry so I imagine that it just overflowed into the sump. That automatically rules out dripping return and reactor issues. This is mind boggling....

Have you tried turning off power to your pumps and watch what happens? You may have a back-siphon issue overflowing your sump when the power goes off.

 

[johnanddawn]

Have you tried turning off power to your pumps and watch what happens? You may have a back-siphon issue overflowing your sump when the power goes off.

+1
That much water without salt stain would indicate not a slow leak but rather a power outage sump volume problem (or skimmer)
A slow event will always leave salt trail