I know they are out there. I see them every time I go out to trouble shoot an existing system. You see some VERY crazy stuff out there. From inefficient or insufficient, to downright accident-waiting-to-happen. Sometimes they are done by a well-meaning but inexperienced hobbyist but the most frustrating ones for me are the ones that other “professionals” do. A true craftsman takes pride in their work. Even down to the tiny details. The expectation is that a professional can do this better than the person paying so one would hope that it is done well. Sadly I think that is far from the norm.
What I want to do here is make this interactive. I am going to share some examples of my own and if you want to join along, send me your pictures to ben@caecosystems.com along with any sort of description you feel necessary and I will add them to this post. I don’t intend for it to be mean-spirited but more like a learning lesson of what NOT to do. I think that can be just as informative as showing you how to do it properly…plus it’s fun to see how crazy stuff gets out here.
So without further ado, let’s jump in.
Here is something I saw when I was called out to give a bid for maintenance on an already existing system. It was freshwater and it was terrible. I’d show the rest of the system but I didn’t win the bid and this isn’t my client. I was deemed too expensive, which is fine. I thought this hole that the original installers cut to allow the filtration through the back of the cabinet top was pretty hilarious. No pride.
How would I have done this differently? Well, first off, I would have had the carpenter create openings to allow for equipment placement in the first place. If it was already made and that wasn’t an option, you could just take your time with a jigsaw or other tool and create a better breach there in the woodwork. Also, leaving that raw wood exposed to that water right there is going to make it de-laminate after not too long and fall apart and rot. You could either paint that exposed wood or I have even carefully smeared aquarium safe silicone on such areas. I just think a company willing to do something like this is likely not very good with maintenance either.
Sometimes a prospective client sends you pics of their system and you just have to take a knee for a second and not respond right away. Don’t forget I’m a business and can’t say what initially comes to mind when I see something. I’m not trying to hurt someone’s feelings. Notice they removed the back bracing to fit in this filtration…and then replaced it with OSB (oriented strand board). What the…OSB is neither structural (can support weight) nor something you want around water. And that return hose attached to it with electrical tape?!? Pure insanity. I really don’t have anything to say about how I would have done this one differently besides to say it just shouldn’t have happened at all.
This one was interesting. This was a restaurant in Sugarland, Texas with a huge aquarium that was an absolute disaster. Supposedly every one of their locations has a huge aquarium in it. Now, this was about 10 years ago or more but this restaurant had me out there to troubleshoot their system and make a bid for maintenance. The aquarium was saltwater and about 4,500 gallons. Believe it or not, though the owner of this location was really cordial and professional, they felt my bid for revamping it was too costly. Again, I understand. Doing a 4,500 gallon aquarium correctly is, as you can imagine, VERY costly. They wanted to know if I would just perform maintenance on it but I refused to touch it as-is. It was just a liability waiting to happen. I hope it got sorted out but I’m glad I didn’t have anything to do with it if it wasn’t going to be done properly. Check out the main pump that sat underneath the aquarium with a rotted dish towel under it…you know…to protect it.
Can you believe they had this Eheim 2260 canister filter on there filled with carbon? As if they was going to be able to do something to a 4,500 gallon aquarium.
The aquarium was so cloudy, you could barely see the fish inside of it. The filtration was a joke. It used a high-pressure sand filter like for a swimming pool, the canister filter, and pump and a chiller…that’s it. No sump, protein skimmer, UV sterilizer. What did they expect? The sad thing is some company made a lot of money selling and installing this for them.
Looking lengthwise through the aquarium, you could barely make out any of the fish in there. I hate to see these situations because I feel sorry for the fish, who should be respected to the highest degree. They should be cared for properly or not at all. Who wants to eat at a restaurant where animals are clinging to life right in front of you? Fish should never be treated as if they are cut flowers, discarded after a few days on display. Granted, accidents happen but intentionally putting fish in this sort of situation is sickening to me. Any professional company who thinks differently is doing this for the wrong reasons.
Inside the cabinetry up top was more of the same. Notice the power strip dangling over open water.
Here is the chiller under the aquarium which was plumbing so badly, it was slowly leaking saltwater everywhere and had developed large amounts of what we call “salt creep”. This is just salt crystals that form from pinhole leaks and splashes.
Moving on from that disaster…
This one was fun too as it occurred right in front of me. A new client contacted me but they weren’t interested in a new system, they were getting a used one given to them by a friend of theirs. This aquarium would be delivered and installed at my new client’s place by the maintenance company that had been caring for it on the other side of town. Now, when I am saying “other side of town”, this is Houston, Texas so that is quite a distance. I could tell the crew putting it back together did not want to be there and I imagine were doing it for cheap because…well, see for yourself. These are both drain lines but the one on the bottom is done out of flexible PVC. Besides the fact that this is just ugly plumbing, you don’t want a drain dipping down and coming back up. That creates pressure in the line and can cause the drain to be extra noisy as it has a hard time clearing air bubbles. I know not everyone wants to spend the money it takes to have a craftsman do things with pride in it, but I just can’t understand doing garbage like this. I kept my mouth shut at the time because I knew I was going to be redoing everything anyways. The upside of this story is it turned out to be a gorgeous aquarium that I still maintain and the clients are more family friends now than just clients. See the picture down below for what it looks like now.
So now it’s your turn. Please send me pictures and descriptions if you want and I’ll add them to this post. Thanks again for reading and I hope you get as much of a kick out of this as I do.
Recent Comments