Your reefing “Duh” moment of the day

[Dania]

Duh moment 2 completely on me. I forgot to plug back in the heater and filter when I cleaned out the 10 gallon. It's now plugged back in. I remembered to on the 5 gallon and 2.5 gallon go figure.

 

[YeetReef]

Said duh moment was I got a new filter. A HOB nano slim filter and when I plugged it in it was super loud. Was super angry thinking that I happen to get the one machine that sucked to compares to everyone else's. Took me like 20 minutes of listening to the horrendous blender noise to check and clean the propeller in the filter. Boom now silent as heck.

 

[pdjemail]

70% of the time, that Dog Gone RO unit is running over while my feet are propped up and im watching a TV show !!

Woke up at 4.30am last Friday realizing I left my RODI running, nice flood in laundry room where it is situated

 

[workhz]

A bit of a theme. Left rodi running. I have a water sensor under it but the water went the other way for a bit. Probably less than a gallon on concrete. I usually set an alarm on my phone but got careless. Maybe I need a loud timer next to the rodi too.

 

[mindme]

Over the past few days, I’ve had at least one “duh” moment when working on my tank. So I figured I’d post mine and give you the opportunity to share yours if you wanted.

Tuesday’s “Duh” Moment: You need a filter sock to actually catch free floating particles headed to the sump
Wednesday’s “Duh” Moment: Let’s place a power strip on top of the skimmer…when you’re working on tuning said skimmer to keep it from overflowing
Today’s “Duh” moment: For your ATO to work, it should actually be plugged in

Well that’s all for right now. Let’s hear some of yours

Edit: Please note this thread is to have some fun poking fun at yourself. It’s not a bash thread

I did about a 20 gallon water change at 4am in the morning about 3-4 weeks ago. Well, from 4am-8am.

Before going to bed, I look under the sump and I notice on my UV pump line where the shut off is, that the flex hose isn't on it very far. So I reach in and give it a big tug. All is good.

Go to bed. Wake up in the middle of the night and hear a loud noise coming from the tank. Walk into the living room, suddenly I'm stepping in water. what the heck? Open the cabinet and the sump is near dry, the return pump screaming. And....a large fountain of water coming from my UV return pump.

Apparently when I pushed the connection at the shutoff up, I loosened it up at the pump. I don't know how long it took before it came off completely and the "fountain" splashed out, but I had been asleep only about 2 hours.

So yeah, break out the towels and everything else to dry up the floor. Luckily I had a bunch of RO water already filled up, I just hadn't put salt in yet. I almost did the night before, but I was like I'm not going to use it for 2 more days, so I didn't. So throw in salt, get the salinity about right. Get the floor dry, set an alarm for a few hours to let the salt mix at least mostly. Wake up and replace the missing water.

And that is how you do a 20g water change the hard way.

My RODI water alarm is now next to the sump, in front of the UV pump.

 

[mindme]

A bit of a theme. Left rodi running. I have a water sensor under it but the water went the other way for a bit. Probably less than a gallon on concrete. I usually set an alarm on my phone but got careless. Maybe I need a loud timer next to the rodi too.

I have PTSD from this I think.

Tonight, I suddenly had a moment of fear. OMG, I forgot to turn the RODI off, and it's been at least 8 hours. The laundry room is going to be flooded for sure. Jump up, run out to the garage/laundry room.

And false alarm, I did actually turn it off. whew. But the fear was real.

 

[ScubaSkeets]

I am running a Fluval FX6 on one of my tanks. Once, after cleaning it, I filled it back up and put it back in the cabinet under the tank. Fished the cord through the back of the cabinet, then plugged "a" cord in. I hear something running, but the canister filter is not moving any water. I Unplug, I pull it out, I disassemble, I make sure everything is in the right place, I make sure enough water is in it. Put it back, fish the cord through the back, plug in. There's sound, but no water movement. Maybe the valves are closed? Nope...they're open. what the heck?
Repeat 2 or 3 times.

I finally figured out what I was doing wrong.

After fishing the cord though the back of the tank, I was grabbing the wrong plug on the other side. I was plugging in the protein skimmer instead!

 

[Reefing102]

Definitely seeing a theme with the RODI systems. I can also relate to the switched plugs too. I’ve done that one in the past

 

[vetteguy53081]

Woke up at 4.30am last Friday realizing I left my RODI running, nice flood in laundry room where it is situated

Thats where mine is.

 

[workhz]

I mean worst case, I do have a drain in the basement room where the rodi is and it is fresh water (not salt) but it could still create a mess. Best to just start a timer on your phone and set it every single time. I do have a water sensor and that's good back up. I had a sensor next to my sump and when the skimmer was overflowing and splashing water around it went off. Water sensors are sub $20 now for wifi ones. No reason not to have them.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I like this thread.

Recent duh moment, got skimmer set up at the level I want, then it overflows when I hit the return feed mode.

Well duh! If the skimmer is set in 7.5" of water, and now it's working in 9" of water, it ain't gonna work the same.

Turn off skimmer with feed mode.

 

[BostonReefer300]

I mean worst case, I do have a drain in the basement room where the rodi is and it is fresh water (not salt) but it could still create a mess. Best to just start a timer on your phone and set it every single time. I do have a water sensor and that's good back up. I had a sensor next to my sump and when the skimmer was overflowing and splashing water around it went off. Water sensors are sub $20 now for wifi ones. No reason not to have them.

Do you have a wifi water sensor that you like? I have several Apex ones, but they're expensive. Thanks

 

[BanjoBandito]

I don't know if it's a "DUH" moment, but I swear my phosphate hanna checker just SHUTS OFF whenever I look at it. 3 minutes goes by and then it flashes a number and BOOM off. Some day I'll be able to focus long enough to just test phosphate once.

 

[BanjoBandito]

Also +1 on overflowing the RODI system. lol.

 

[mtfish]

I have been running the tank without a controller for awhile. So, manually topping off fresh water each day. Plugged ATO pump in and was going to take something to the garage and come right back. yeah, sure. Dumped 40 gallons of water in the tank almost filling up my sump. Dropped salinity from 35 to 31. Fish don't care but I am sure the corals have their eyes narrowed. Setting up my new GHL controller as we speak.

 

[workhz]

Do you have a wifi water sensor that you like? I have several Apex ones, but they're expensive. Thanks

Not sure about like but they work for sure as I don’t have much to compare against. I got a Govee 3 pack for $49 loud and sends alerts. I should buy more for other parts of the house but I have dumb non wifi loud ones under the sinks and by the washer.

 

[Reefing102]

I need to get a leak detection system as I have none whatsoever.
An old Duh moment of mine is about 8 years ago, I made the saltwater system at the LFS that I worked at freshwater (that was a bad experience…) left the top off system running overnight for what would equate to about 14 hours (at least 8pm-10am). Never flooded due to the drain system but that was a mistake I never made again (and shockingly wasn’t fired)

 

[bexlc]

Set an AI 32 face down on my carpeted floor while I plugged it in and put the bracket together... lucky I didn’t burn the house down. There’s now an arm chair over the two burn holes in the floor.

 

[Miami Reef]

My duh moment was removing a heater from the water as it was plugged in and it exploding.

 

[Dania]

Yikes! Hope you weren’t hurt!