Ohh what a week!!

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morgancouple

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 4, 2008
26
5
0
Morgan, Utah
It started over the long weekend....simple....garbage disposal blew up. Ok I can deal with that. Tuesday after work got a new one and hubby put it in. Run the dishwasher on wednesday and it wont drain. Wednesday evening feeding time for fishies and their treats are soggy....freezer not very cold, so we turned it up a little and talked about looking into a new one the next day if it was going out. Thursday morning...still in bed....just couldnt get up on time for work when our 12 yo son comes running into our room "Dad your tank's empty and it's raining downstairs".

Our 125 gallon tank is set up against the banister above the stairs that lead to the basement where our boys rooms are. When he came out of his room he stepped in the water. We ran into the living room and there is our beautiful tank with all but a couple of inches of water drained out onto the floor and running down the wall of the stairs. In that couple of inches was our 2 pacus, shovel nose catfish, 12" royal clown knife, and our two new 4-5" silver arrows (our 9" silver had "jumped ship" about 2 weeks ago). Our sweet quick witted son runs out of the room hollering "i'll grab a towel" and returns with one towel....:ROFL:With some fast acting and transfering different fish into different tanks (compatibility), we were able to grab everyone and get them to a safer place.

So now I have an empty 125g tank and flooded floors.....why not go to the fridge...lol. It's dead, freezer full of meat slowly defrosting, not to mention the brine shrimp and blood worms. So off to the store to grab a carpet shampooer and get the first passes done to extract a little water. Run to the city to buy a new fridge and transfer all the food before it goes bad. Hurry off to the big city to exchange the tank (covered by the lifetime warranty since it was a seal in the bottom that had split) I spent the rest of thursday then friday morning extracting water before I started shampooing and about 7pm tonight figured it was as good as it's going to get. Oh but in the middle of all this I talked to my dad and he explained there is a plug where the dishwasher hooks in that you have to remove so it will drain, so at least the dishwasher drains now.:D

After all is said and done I am a little concerned about the long term affects of this. My living room still smells like fish water, and what about under the carpet. We have all the windows open and fans running. Does anyone know if homeowners insurance covers something like this or have any experience with the insurance getting professionals to clean it up right?

Thanks for any advice you have.
 
There are companies that will come in for flooding. The pull up the carpet and put huge blowers underneath. you need to do this quick or you will have a house full of mold. I had a dog that liked to get in the sink. We had just bought new furniture and put one underneath the pass through window. The dog jumped up got on the chair and was licking the water from the pot soaking from dinner. We were out. The dogs head caught the faucet and the handle turning the faucet and turning it on. Creating a nice sprinkler effect. No one was home downstairs. We had flooded 3 condos including our own. We called a company and they came out quick. Did massive shampooing with a vacuum hooked to a truck and then put the blowers on. No mold No nothing. We did get a new kitchen out of it and new furniture. The dog died a month and ahalf later. I said only me could have a dog that would leave us a life insurance policy.

Short version. Call someone that does water damage quick. Mold is a bad bad thing.
 
Ok, so we have the carpet up and blowers on it, hopefully we will not get mold. Hubby broke out the level and it looks like it could be up to an 1/8th inch out of level. Would this be enough to cause stress and break the seal? Tank has been full and no problems for about 6 weeks.:confused:
 
Being un-level would not cause it to break from my experience. i have a 75 tal 12"x48" and one side is at least an inch lower than the other and i have no problems. but if it is not supported at a corner it would i bet. if you think it is the level then shin the corners and try again, just have the kids wear a rain coat to bed. but glad you got the fish alive
 
haahahahahhaha .... that plug ur talkin about cost me $150.00 to remove by a plumber that i aclled to fix my dishwasher after it took a dump cuz i got a new garbagedisposal lol!
 
LOL, i'm sorry i don't mean to laugh but that is a little funny.:ROFL::ROFL::ROFL::ROFL::ROFL::ROFL::ROFL::ROFL:
 
Wow, now that's a bad day!

Glad your fish are alright and the carpet/floor is drying well.

Did you have a piece of foam under the tank? A popped seal is usually due to the tank being un-level on the stand.
 
Never thought to do that since it is on the manufacturer's stand that comes with the tank, but we might have to do that since it is a little out of level....just in case....don't think I could do that twice and keep my sanity!
 
That sounds like an horrible week.

Nice to see that you still have your sense of humor.
You may as well smile as cry :)
 
A week after getting the new 125 up and running......it did it again. This time it was during the day so we only lost about 35 or 40 gallons before we found it. We have a 40 gallon hubby built about 10 years ago and it has never leaked a drop of water so instead of trading in the tank for another he has siliconed it himself. Well we have it up and running so everyone keep their fingers crossed that it won't bust a seam again. We put styrofoam uner the tank and both the stand and tank were leveled with a laser level. As far as the carpet goes, we took up the edges and put a carpet blower under it and once it was dried completely then I shampooed it and put the fan on the surface to dry it. It doesn't stink and has no stain lines so I think it will be ok.:mwave:
 
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