Hello folks and first questions

[Kraaken]

Hello folks. I haven't had an aquarium in years and this is my first foray into saltwater. I was able to pick up a Red Sea Reefer 250 over the weekend which came with some good equipment. Neptune Apex controller, two Raidon XR15 Gen 4 pro, Ice cap powerheads, upgraded sump, ATO Eshopps 120s protein skimmer an AquaLife RODI etc.

My concern however is that I am doing a water test in the garage to make sure that the tank is still viable after transporting it home. I filled the tank up and just went to check on it and there is a leak from the main drain. Just to show how new I am to tank like this, when I filled it I made sure to keep water out of the over flow but the over flow chamber is now full. I am not sure if the bulkheads are glue in place or not but they certainly are not hand tight. the piping was siliconed at least on the bottom of the tank to the bottom bulkheads.

My question is normal for water from the tank to flow into the overflow chamber with water being below the top grate of the overflow? And is this a fixable thing? I'm not too disappointed I spent $2K and the equipment alone is almost worth that. I'll just get a Waterbox Marine 70.3 instead.

 

[Idoc]

If water got into the overflow with the level below the top, then the seams are leaking around the overflow. In the case of a power outage, you want the tank water to come to a resting level and not continually drain into the overflow or else it will continue to go to the sump and overflow down there! You can reseal the silicone around the overflow... di a search on here to see if others have done it. It should be a pretty easy job... remove all the old silicone first though, I would imagine.

Are you also getting a leak around one of the bulkheads in the overflow as well?

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

I would think that you put a bead of silicone in the inside of the overflow where the seams are. Let it cure and you should be good to go.

As far as the plumbing being siliconed together, that doesn't sound right to me. I always glue mine together. Bulkheads also need to more then finger tight, but that is an easy fix.

 

[Eight]

I am in the process of setting up a new Reefer 250, but have had several tanks over the years. You should not have water coming from the main tank into the overflow when it is below the overflow grate. But I agree with Arsenal above, you should just be able to put a bead of silicone along the seams and be fine.

The stock reefer plumbing screws into the tank from above. It's possible the prior owner had small leaks and added extra silicone to the underside of the tank. Depending on how fast the leak is, if it's just a few drips you could add more silicone to the bottom. (I wouldn't normally use silicone on those pipes, but if it's there already you might as well try.) if it's a bad leak, I might consider ordering a new drain assembly from redsea, removing all the old silicone and screw a new drain in. It might be worth it for the peace of mind.

One thing to remember with the Reefer tanks is that all their fittings are metric so you either have to stick with stock piping or convert to US standard PVC below the tank.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I agree with bead of silicone/ aquarium sealant by aqueon.
Be sure to clean area well wit rubbing alcohol before applying sealant and allow to dry minimum 24 hrs
AND
Welcome to the R2R community !!

 

[ScottR]

I’m assuming it’s a used tank. I would also get thread seal tape and use it on all the threaded pieces. Water can also leak from those. There should be zero water leaking from the overflow into the sump.

And welcome to R2R!

 

[Kraaken]

Thank you all for your replies. I emptied the tank and refilled it. At the time of refilling there was approximately 2-3mm of water in the overflow. I checked on it a couple of hours later and the level had risen to about an inch. I checked on it again 24 hours later and it risen to 2 inches. The bulkheads seem to be fine though, there were no leaks into the sump the second time around.

I will follow the advice given here and apply a bead of silicon to inside of the overflow, so my next question is... can I apply a bead of silicone over the existing joints and also any ideas of how to get a good bead in such a tight space?