# Aquarium equipment to the rescue



## Greg_o (Mar 4, 2010)

So the other night, was finishing doing some tank related maintenance and enjoying a delicious fermented beverage when I noticed water on the floor. Now, when doing tank stuff, while enjoying a beverage, it's not completely uncommon for water to end up on the floor. What was odd was this was at the other end of the basement, far away from any tanks, reservoirs, RO/DI's etc.

I followed the water through the backs of two closets, into the bathroom and (uh oh) into the furnace area. I looked around and realized the furnace has an additional piece of equipment that collects condensate water, has a float switch, then when nearly full it pumps this water up a line that eventually goes into the sewer line. This unit was not working, and thus, overflowing onto the floor, hence the spill.

To stop the immediate spilling action I would have to siphon water out of this box but it is at floor level making that impossible.

Aqualifter to the rescue! Slowly but surely it drained the box which stopped the spill.

No to figure out why this unit isn't working. I was able to learn that the outbound water line was clogged, which made the water in the unit stagnant and gross to the point where the float switch was stuck. Cleaned the box and float valve - great now the pump turns on but that outbound line is still clogged. Replacing that line was impossible for me because it terminates in an area I simply don`t fit into. So I needed to unclog this line.

Pressurized CO2 to the rescue! Played around with my fittings and adapters and attached my CO2 tank to this waste line and blasted it. It worked!

I have since learned it`s good practice to add some 1:1 water:bleach to this collection unit everything few months to keep it and the waste line clean.

Also had s situation last spring where the roof inside the garage was leaking really badly. Put a large garbage container under it but it was clear it would overflow overnight so used a pump on a timer to discharge the water out onto the driveway every hour.


Hoping this doesn't come off as a humblebrag, I`m now really curious to hear other members experiences of putting their aquarium related stuff to work in odd or unique circumstances.


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## DaFishMan (Dec 19, 2006)

Props for creative repairs. Gotta love co2 !

My 75 gal has fell to crap since last years power outage. With my deep substrate at least a couple hours of vaccing will be required.

I can do that my old way: in 5g bucket loads making at least 20 trips to the sink, constantly refilling the tank, watching the siphon bucket and pinching the hose to control flow. What a PITA.

OR I'm thinking use a spare eheim classic 2213 as a vacumn so I can vac for half hour to an hour non-stop without the water level dropping, then do my water change after. I have a pile of cotton batting to trap particles from returning to the tank. I just need hose extensions and maybe a pvc valve to alter flow. If it works, it'll save my back. Could be worth a try


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Both very inspiring, thank you.

I recently had a plumbing problem and had to grab a short piece of junk hose to siphon some water out of the toilet. Aquarium hobby gave me the idea.


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