So I woke up to find half of the water gone in my tank again this morning. I had an important meeting at 8:30 and thought I'd have to cancel, but I fixed it in about 20 minutes and ran to work. But, that means I had little time to conduct forensics.
Relevant stuff about my setup:
- Canister filter (Simsun, $40 off amazon. in use for about a week. Basically a holding container for lots of biomedia - Seachem Matrix - Seachem Phosguard (GFO like stuff) and Seachem Purigen (phosphate and NO3 binder)
- Old style glass tube+limewood airstone filter (more below*) with air pump in and airline tube out down to 1 gallon plastic water jug to collect skimmate. This was turned off for the evening with the air pump disconnected AND (crucially I think) the airline tube to the jug was still attached. BUT, this has given me no leakage problems in the past. One would think that if this posed a leakage problem, this would be a problem both when the pump is connected and the skimmer is bubbling, AND when the air pump is not connected?
Both of these were in a Home Depot 7 gallon tough tote. There is nothing else in the tote.
The situation this AM:
Half the water was out of the tank (about 17 gallons). 7 in the tote and the remainder on the floor.
The tank water line was well below the inlet and outlet for the canister filter. It was not below the bottom of the skimmer, and IIRC it was just at the bottom of the airstone. (no pic, unfortunately)
The tote was full of water.
Canister filter was submerged
1 gallon plastic water jug (like the jugs 1 gallon of Deer Park comes in at the grocery store) was full (NOT floating, but full) and at the bottom of the tote. (note: it was maybe 5% full the night before)
I refilled the tank with the water in the tote, disconnected the skimmer outlet, and went to work (with the tank about 2/3 full when I left). It remained at the same level when I got home and there's no evidence of further leaks.
Highly Professional Explanatory Graphic Below
My thoughts:
I was quite angry and surprised because I thought I leak proofed this tank.
I am pretty sure the skimmer outlet did this; somehow suction started via the outlet and it drained 17 gallons first into the jug, then into the tote, and then into the floor.
Main evidence is that
a) 1 gallon jug was full of water, and there was no evidence it was floating. (if it was the canister leaking, then the empty jug would have floated as the tote filled and - even in the very unlikely event it filled with water when the tote filled, it would have fallen to one side instead of being solidly planted in the tote. Though not really necessary, I just put the 1 gallon jug into a 5 gal bucket and filled the bucket with tap water; sure enough the jug floated and eventually turned to one side, but remained floating.
b) the water line was well below the filter's inlet/outlet; I believe that even with a leak it's impossible for the water line to go much below the inlet and outlet?
Your thoughts welcome!
Highly Professional Explanatory Graphic:
* this is the skimmer:
Marine Depot's video on it below:
Relevant stuff about my setup:
- Canister filter (Simsun, $40 off amazon. in use for about a week. Basically a holding container for lots of biomedia - Seachem Matrix - Seachem Phosguard (GFO like stuff) and Seachem Purigen (phosphate and NO3 binder)
- Old style glass tube+limewood airstone filter (more below*) with air pump in and airline tube out down to 1 gallon plastic water jug to collect skimmate. This was turned off for the evening with the air pump disconnected AND (crucially I think) the airline tube to the jug was still attached. BUT, this has given me no leakage problems in the past. One would think that if this posed a leakage problem, this would be a problem both when the pump is connected and the skimmer is bubbling, AND when the air pump is not connected?
Both of these were in a Home Depot 7 gallon tough tote. There is nothing else in the tote.
The situation this AM:
Half the water was out of the tank (about 17 gallons). 7 in the tote and the remainder on the floor.
The tank water line was well below the inlet and outlet for the canister filter. It was not below the bottom of the skimmer, and IIRC it was just at the bottom of the airstone. (no pic, unfortunately)
The tote was full of water.
Canister filter was submerged
1 gallon plastic water jug (like the jugs 1 gallon of Deer Park comes in at the grocery store) was full (NOT floating, but full) and at the bottom of the tote. (note: it was maybe 5% full the night before)
I refilled the tank with the water in the tote, disconnected the skimmer outlet, and went to work (with the tank about 2/3 full when I left). It remained at the same level when I got home and there's no evidence of further leaks.
Highly Professional Explanatory Graphic Below
My thoughts:
I was quite angry and surprised because I thought I leak proofed this tank.
I am pretty sure the skimmer outlet did this; somehow suction started via the outlet and it drained 17 gallons first into the jug, then into the tote, and then into the floor.
Main evidence is that
a) 1 gallon jug was full of water, and there was no evidence it was floating. (if it was the canister leaking, then the empty jug would have floated as the tote filled and - even in the very unlikely event it filled with water when the tote filled, it would have fallen to one side instead of being solidly planted in the tote. Though not really necessary, I just put the 1 gallon jug into a 5 gal bucket and filled the bucket with tap water; sure enough the jug floated and eventually turned to one side, but remained floating.
b) the water line was well below the filter's inlet/outlet; I believe that even with a leak it's impossible for the water line to go much below the inlet and outlet?
Your thoughts welcome!
Highly Professional Explanatory Graphic:
* this is the skimmer:
Marine Depot's video on it below:
