Why do the weird things happen to my tank...

[Rogue951]

So I woke up at around 4am to hear my return pump running dry and my display tank filled to the brim. (But not overflowing, whew...)

Return pipe was clogged by SOMETHING.... I have a center tank overflow with a single outlet drilled halfway down the tank. I bought this 40g breeder like this years ago. Would do it differently if I could.

Anyway, I fed a piece of tubing up from the bottom and figured out the clog was somewhere behind the tank.

I poorly threw this together back then not thinking I'd ever need to access it.
So I had to take a red hot drill bit (flame heated) and slowly burn a hole into the top of my durso style pipe to make some kind of access.
Stuck an inspection camera down the hole and what do I see?




Somehow he managed to climb the overflow, over the teeth, up the durso pipe, into the opening, make the U turn and fall down the pipe.

Someone please explain what posessed this hermit to do so????

So next question.... how do I get him out...

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Rogue951

So next question.... how do I get him out...

I had a filefish do the same. I had to dismantle my plumbing.

[Rogue951]

dont say that. =(
would require taking apart my tank and moving the whole thing off the wall.

[Rodney]

Could always try a small plumbing snake to push it out, otherwise I think your stuck
Or if you have a spare pump hook it up to the bottom and try and blast him out, could be messy tho

[FishyFishy!]

Hook a return pump to the bottom of your drain tube and blow him out LOL

I vote for that.... And make sure you take a video!

[Rogue951]

lol yes I thought about the blow out method with either compressed air or with a pump. and yeah the mess came to mind so that was my last resort.
After all that thought and work and hours of wasted time. The most useful $8 tool I have ever bought.



You can see what it had to crawl up and over and around and up again to get into the pipe in the first place.

Serious ninja hermit here.



I wish I took a picture but I actually tried a "long line" rescue, firefighter style. lol.
dropped a string down in some vain hope it'd grab it and pull itself out.
didn't work so well.

[KPG007]

Wow, thats pretty incredible! Good job getting him out

[neven]

since im on LED, i installed a mesh cover that reaches my overflow strainer height so its eliminated all my hermit crab issues, had one do the same thing but luckily i use PVC hoses so it wasn't as bad to fix. But the one that got stuck in the valve, not realizing it and i turned it to hear a big crunch.

[input80]

Ouch Jason, good job, good thing it wasn't worse.

[hfp75]

The shell looks empty where is he?