Here’s a pretty good nightmare, as relayed to me by a third party. The details are somewhat sketchy, however, there was enough information provided that I could fill in the gaps. This incident is about an automatic refill malfunction.
Seems that the particular fellow in this “used to top off the Aquarium water only after enough had evaporated, leaving the water line near the bottom of the refill register. Low water level was his indication that it was time to see about changing the water. It was a fairly large Aquarium and, in my opinion, it sounds as if water changes were done approximately every 2 months or so. Whatever the water change interim was it certainly was not often enough!
Well as it happened, this fellow was leaving for a two-week, late summer vacation. He did everything he had to do for his fish with but one exception. He did not perform a water change. Although the water level was close to where he would normally change it, he figured he would just do it as soon as he returned from his vacation, since he really didn’t have the time now. In fact, he even wrote himself a little note and stuck it on the refrigerator door just so he wouldn’t forget. Think about this. Late summer (August?), temperatures in the upper 90’s every day, the place completely closed up for two weeks, nobody monitoring, etc. Hmmmmm.
I can only assume he had a very good vacation. I do know, however, that he was horrified upon his return home. All his fish were laying on the bottom of the tank, dead – dried up dead! There was no water left in the tank= he walked across the room, didn’t notice the wet floor – at least on the surface. His immediate concern was with the tank and his eyes were glued to it as he walked over to it. Upon closer inspection, he saw the refill had not functioned at all and there had developed a crack in the corner of the tank, in the side, extending to the bottom, which drained all the water out. His pump was fried. His fish were dead.
This is indeed a nightmarish chain of events, but really did happen.
Just think about it.
In conclusion
Never take a vacation, or invest in a security guard to baby sit your Aquarium 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Only kidding!!! On a serious note, however, at least once a week, make sure that all components are operating at peak performance and correct any which are not. Additionally, never, ever, give your tank or any of its components an open invitation to create a disaster like this fellow did.
