Quote:
Originally Posted by RarePlantBroker
Three + years and a dozen vivariums later--why am I still making stupid mistakes?
I have a vivarium with a drip wall. When I first tested said drip wall, after one "off cycle" the pump kicked into overdrive when coming back on. I tried to repeat this quirk, and couldn't replicate the issue--and continued to build the tank with the same pump (note: I have a box with 7 other small submersible pumps of various sizes in the garage...).
After totally finishing above vivarium, I moved it into place on my new custom built oak shelves--and plugged in the pump--guess what happened! Suddenly this pump is now rocket-propelling water out of the small vent holes in the front of the Exo-Terra... I shut the pump off and on--no problems, and once again I can't get the problem to replicate.
Fast forward 6 weeks. I've now had my two auratus in the tank for about 10 days. I come home from work today to find water covering the shelf, the "sump" area dry, two light fixtures shorted out (on the shelf below), and a dry drip wall.
Tonights project is no longer doing epoxy work on another new vivarium. I've just finished replacing the light fixtures, and am preparing to catch two green and bronze rockets (if I can coax them out of their newest hiding places), and fishing a pump electrical supply through a piece of pvc--all because I thought that the pump malfunction was "a fluke, and wouldn't happen again".
Moral of the story--if a $10-$12 part isn't working perfectly, throw it out and buy another one--or it may cost a lot more....like your sanity!
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Slightly off topic, but the vivarium is fixed! I wrangled my wife (and her small, delicate hands) and my son (who has eagle-eye vision from literally hours of playing fast-moving video games) into assisting with this "repair." My son watched the frogs (fortunately there's only two in this vivarium), and my wife reached into the sump and threaded the cord towards the hollow tree I used for my cord and drainage.
As a side note, I always wondered why there were little holes in the blades of an electrical plug--turns out it is so that you can tie a string through them and thread a plug back through the same hole (at least that's my theory).
