wesman42
Valuable Member
So the ABS strainer on my overflow became brittle, and during my last fish-out session of my diamond goby, it broke completely, leaving behind maybe half the strainer and no end cap.
Fast forward to this morning, and I hear a "SSSSSSGUUUURGLESSSS" from my tank, which quite obviously is never a good sign. It looked like my main drain was clogged with something. The emergency drain was in full force, taking the load of the pump.
I opened and closed the gate valve on the drain several times in an attempt to free whatever was stuck, to no avail. So, I pulled out the big guns and moved up to my plumbing auger. At this point, I figured it was a snail or something, and due to my lack of motivation in replacing the strainer, it had crawled into the drain. Maybe it was a chunk of algae? Who knows.
I turned off the main pump, separated the drain at the union before the 90* bend going into the sump. I shoved it in, and all I could think was "wow, what resistance!". Eventually, whatever was blocking it gave in and I pulled the auger back out.
On the end of the auger was nothing but the cartilage and two eyeballs of my Flame Hawkfish. I was so mad! How on earth could he have fit in a 1 inch return!
Needless to say I learned my lesson, and I ordered another strainer, tossed the filter sock with his body, and dissolved him off the end of my auger with acid.
Moral of the story is, you really don't know what can fit where. When there's a will there's a way and they will find a way to fit into the nook or cranny that you'd never thought would be possible.
Fast forward to this morning, and I hear a "SSSSSSGUUUURGLESSSS" from my tank, which quite obviously is never a good sign. It looked like my main drain was clogged with something. The emergency drain was in full force, taking the load of the pump.
I opened and closed the gate valve on the drain several times in an attempt to free whatever was stuck, to no avail. So, I pulled out the big guns and moved up to my plumbing auger. At this point, I figured it was a snail or something, and due to my lack of motivation in replacing the strainer, it had crawled into the drain. Maybe it was a chunk of algae? Who knows.
I turned off the main pump, separated the drain at the union before the 90* bend going into the sump. I shoved it in, and all I could think was "wow, what resistance!". Eventually, whatever was blocking it gave in and I pulled the auger back out.
On the end of the auger was nothing but the cartilage and two eyeballs of my Flame Hawkfish. I was so mad! How on earth could he have fit in a 1 inch return!
Needless to say I learned my lesson, and I ordered another strainer, tossed the filter sock with his body, and dissolved him off the end of my auger with acid.
Moral of the story is, you really don't know what can fit where. When there's a will there's a way and they will find a way to fit into the nook or cranny that you'd never thought would be possible.
