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View Full Version : Thank goodness for ground probe.


BMW Rider
03-12-2005, 03:44 PM
Yesterday, I did some routine cleaning and a water change on my FOWLR tank. I gave the sump a good cleaning out since there was a bit of crud starting to accumulate in it. I went out for a few hours in the evening, and when I came home there was a strange smell in the whole house. My wife had got home shortly before me, and said that there was something wrong with the tank. There had been some strange noise under the cabinet. Investigation revealed that one of the heaters had broken and shorted itself to death. Of course instant panic for the fish sets in, but fortunately all were fine despite the mess in the water. Of course since I had just done a water change earlier in the day, I had no water ready and my mixing tank was not even refilled yet. So the only thing I could do last night was to get the remains of the heater out and put in a huge bag of carbon. This morning The tank is looking better, the water has cleared up a lot. The skimmer had pulled out over a litre of black scum overnight. I am thankful that I had a ground probe in the sunmp becuase I suspect that its the only thing that saved the tank while the heater was self destructing. I had kept planning to swap the receptacle for a GFCI one, but never got-round-to-it (I do have them on the reef tank at least). That's the top priority now right after the water change this morning. Next on the list will be to replace all of my glass heaters on both tanks with titanium ones. I don't need this happening again.

One positive note, the cyano bacteria that had been developing in the tank is fried this morning. Not sure if it really gone though, and I would certainly not reccomend this as a normal treatment. :eek: Only time will tell how much affect this will have on the system. I have my fingers crossed.

SeaHorse_Fanatic
03-12-2005, 04:17 PM
Whew. Sounds like you dodged a big, nasty bullet. Hope everything will be ok.

Anthony