Water leaks

[signde]

rough day over here, wondering if this has ever happened to anyone else

bought a fluval 404 canister filter off craigslist this weekend. set it up sunday, everything seemed fine. it worked great.

this morning i wake up to the sound of running water. my 125 is missing about 20 gallons of water. i quickly realize the filter i bought is leaking.

my house is one level but i have a crawl space. the tank is sitting on wood frame of my house, no concrete. my carpet pad is soaked. i rented a steam cleaner to suck up as much water as i could but after a couple of hours of work i realized it wasn't helping much.

i have a dehumidifier and fans running at max now. i hope that will knock out the water in the carpet pad. at this point i am more worried about mold/mildew and structural damage than anything.

has anyone else ever had this happen? do i need to take the tank down and move it in order to let everything dry out properly?

i just spent a whole day saturday swapping out substrate. i don't know if i have the emotional energy left to tank the tank down again for this.

[jon carman]

I have done it all many times over. I have talked to my neighbor outside as my python overflowed the tank. I have had the hose on my eheim pop off and pump half the tank on the floor.

All I have done so far is hair dryer, all the towels, and a lot of time getting what I could the best I could. If it is old carpet I wouldn't worry about it, if it is new I might move some stuff.

[fishme]

I feel your pain. Here's a post I made several months ago. This was my fault, not the fault of the filter:

"Woke up this morning and found my 75 gallon tank had about one inch of water in it. Seven near-grown cichlids were lying on the substrate barely covered by water. Looked like a bunch of fat men soaking in the surf at beach edge.

I immediately assumed the tank, which I purchased off Craig's List last week along with a couple of 30 gallon tanks and a ton of accessories, was leaking. A quick check all around the bottom of the tank showed it was bone dry. To make a long story short, the Fluval 404 canister filter that came with the tank, was the culprit. After unplugging everything, I moved the filter and discovered that the one of the locking mechanisms on the side, which locks the lid onto the body of the filter, was unhinged and there was a noticeable gap. Apparently it kept pumping water into the canister and it was rolling out the side as fast as it came into it. It only stopped draining the tank when the water level got below the intake hose.

I noticed when I woke up that all my digital clocks were blinking, indicating a power failure during the night. I'm thinking the power went out, and when it came back on the canister lurched into action and the hinge, which I obviously had not secured properly, came loose.

I quickly filled the tank, secured the canister lock, and got it running again. So far so good. The fish don't seem any worse for the wear, though there could obviously be problems later. They're swimming around close together as if they're sharing views on a great adventure. So far the only casualty is a submersible heater. It was running dry, and when I re-filled the tank, I noticed there was water inside the heater, so I immediately unplugged it and threw it away. All in all, if that's the only bad thing that happens I'll consider myself very lucky.

Check and double check the hinges on your canisters. You don't want to join me on the dummy list."

[signde]

wow, did you have any water damage to your home?

after running 2 fans and a dehumidifier at full blast for 3 days i think i have everything under control.

odd coincidence, the filter that caused my woes is a fluval 404 also. i can't get it to seal no matter what i do. possible the o-ring is bad or it is warped. i'm leaning towards the latter. the jerk i bought it from said he would refund if it didn't work however when i told him what happened he refused a refund. lesson learned for me.

[mruble]

I have a 404 that seals perfectly fine as long as it is powered up. Lose power or unplug it and it starts to weep on one side. I have changed the o-ring three times with no luck. I am getting ready to connect the intake to a surface skimmer, so the most water I would lose is about 5 inches. I am also looking for a palstic tub to set it in so I can catch the 5 inches of water. If all goes well, the tub will submerge this piece of crap, and I will replace it. Deer season is coming up also, so I might have to sight in on a Fluval target this year.

[signde]

are these notorious for that?

i think i was finally able to make it seal. in the end the only way to make it seal was to sit on it to push the motor housing as far down as possible. there was wiggle room with the clamps after i did this.

i'm letting it run on a storage container outside for a while before i trust it again. i will also make sure i cut the power and let it sit for a while to see how that goes as well.

[bunnie1978]

I have a fluval 204 I think... does the same thing.

[signde]

that is not very re-assuring

[mruble]

I believe that the plastic housing is just not thick enough. I do have four other 404's that have no problems - yet! I liked the old 403's better, never had any problems. More labor intensive to clean, but no surprises!

[signde]

that is good to know about the 404. i've been running it for a while on a storage bin and it seems to have no leaks. i think sitting on it did the trick.

[signde]

i think it is water world week at my house. work up this morning, no hot water. check the water heater in the garage... flooded!

sheeesh. when it rains, it pours. literally.