Need help with a leaking tank... :O

[Brett S]

Lol, I love the lack of paint behind the tank. Did you figure out where the leak was coming from? How did you configure your tubs? I’ve been waiting for an update all day

 

[jschottenfeld]

Phew! What a tiring weekend!! Thanks to @FishGuy and Brett I'm in a much better spot right now.

I configured the drain to position 1 in tub1 which has pretty much a straight drop with little horizontal run before heading down to my basement and to make it even better I ran a second drain a little lower right next to it which already had it's own pipe heading down to the sump. My display tank had two drains, always a big fan of 2 of everything in case one fails. Additionally I made position 2 on tub 2 the supply bulkhead. This has the longest run and doesn't matter one bit for my pump. Most importantly, I raised the height of tub2 by a set of cinder blocks and that really improved the drainage from tub2 to tub 1. In the near future I will be adding a 2nd drain on tub2 in order to handle more flow from tub 2 to tub 1. Is it better to stagger the height of the two draining bulkheads or keep them at the same level?

Tomorrow I will setup my AP9x's over the two tubs and also drop in my Tunzes to create additional water movement and I should be good to go for the months that it will take for a new tank to be made...

Just need to clean up the disaster I caused in my living room. My wife is so good, she was fully supportive of everything I did and a new tank to order!

 

[jschottenfeld]

IMPORTANT NOTE.......Never heard of this one happening.

I found what caused my leak. It was a leak in the front right corner of my tank and it was caused by a favia! About 10 years ago I had purchased 2 small half dollar sized favias. The were on discs and I placed them on the bottom of my bare bottom. Over years the favias grew and grew and they started to slowly grow up the front and side wall.

I'm convinced that this favia was so strong that it pushed my seams apart since that was where the leak was coming from. I found out when we were moving the tank out of my house and the little bit of water shifted and came dribbling out of that corner.

I really liked this favia and when I was emptying the water he wouldn't budge. I didn't want to try too hard seeing that my tank was already in a dangerous state and didn't want to put much pressure on any areas.

When I had the empty tank at the curb I took a hammer and putty knife to try to get under it and I couldn't. Since I had nothing to lose at this point with the tank at the curb I started to really wail on it with the hammer and ....nothing. I could not get under it no mater how hard I tried.

Because of how strong this guy was I'm convinced he pushed my seam apart.

Lesson of the day...
Do not have corals grow over seams in your tank!

 

[Brett S]

That’s great news. I’m glad you were able to get things working. You still have a lot of work ahead of you, but at least things are stable (and not dripping) for the time being. Maybe you should start a build thread for the new tank (or just turn this into one)

 

[Brett S]

Because of how strong this guy was I'm convinced he pushed my seam apart.

Lesson of the day...
Do not have corals grow over seams in your tank!

Wow, that’s crazy, and a little scary. I have an encrusting coral that started to grow up the front glass of my frag tank. It’s on the front so I’ve been meaning to remove it anyway, but I’ve been lazy and keep putting it off. Maybe I should prioritize that.

 

[jschottenfeld]

Here's how I currently have my tubs set up.

 

[jschottenfeld]

I put everyone to work!
Here are my son and wife catching my fish and putting them into the tubs.

 

[gentlefish]

Oh my God. What a disaster. So much work. You will be so tired an exhausted. I keep my fingers crossed that all the bits and pieces fall in place for you.

 

[jschottenfeld]

I'm exhausted. More updates tomorrow after I hang my lights and drop in some Tunzes.
Brett, do you think I should stagger my pair of drains on tub2 or keep them at the same height?

 

[esther]

What. A. Wild. Ride.

So glad nothing catastrophic happened and you’re well on your way!

 

[Redfoxtang]

Been through this twice in one year and man do I feel your pain. My tank broke loose at 2am and I woke up to the sound of a waterfall hitting my tile floor. Almost all 265g of water! Stay strong!

 

[fishguy242]

same height,only suggested higher for emergency drain

 

[Brett S]

I'm exhausted. More updates tomorrow after I hang my lights and drop in some Tunzes.
Brett, do you think I should stagger my pair of drains on tub2 or keep them at the same height?

I’m thinking same height might be good. The only reason I might consider putting it higher is if the current drain is quiet right now and you aren’t planning to change the flow... adding a second at the same height might wind up increasing the drain noise. But if it’s already loud, or you plan to change the flow then you may as well do them both at the same height.

 

[jschottenfeld]

Today I setup my lights and will put in my Tunze's after dinner.

Quickly fabricated a hanger with some 1-1/2 pipe and while doing so a couple of ooop's came to light. (no pun intended)

Ooops 1: Originally I thought that I was going to use saw horses to hold up the pipe and left room in between the two tubs to accommodate the space for sawhorse. Had I known that I was going to go with this pipe setup I could've had the tubs closer and that would've given me a nice short drop for my drain from tub2 to tub1. We'll see if my son and I have the energy to move tub2 over.

Ooops 2: I constructed the pipe to go straight across both tubs without accounting for the 12" drop between the tubs. I could reconfigure but what I'll probably do is just put my light sensitive corals in tub1 with 22" height of the kessil off of the surface vs an 10" height for tub2. I can put my acros in tub 2 and my zoas and other softies in tub1.

Overall I'm very happy how this turned out...vs the possibility of a catastrophe! Granted my COVID Neftlix binging in the living room might be partially blocked, but that's a small price to pay for keeping my tank going relatively uninterrupted.

 

[Christopher1492]

You have a great family to be so supportive, understanding and helpful!

I put everyone to work!
Here are my son and wife catching my fish and putting them into the tubs.

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

A temporary battlefield fix is getting a couple of besey bar Clamps. The trick is to gently GENTLY tighten them until you see the leak stop this will work only o the vertical seams and the clamp obviously would be on the "W" dimension of the tank. If you do not overtighten you should be able to buy yourself enough time sort it out. One often overlooked reason for glass aquariums leaking is a tweaked bottom. If the stand is not flat, that is, one corner sits lower, you will put a rotational shear stress on the seams.

 

[Brett S]

Looks great, and seems like much less back breaking work today.

 

[jschottenfeld]

It's Wednesday night, there's a Nor'easter...and me and my fish are chillin.

Right now calm is taking the place of panic. I still have some tweaks to the system to improve drainage, light and flow placement for corals, but for the most part everyone is doing well.

In fact my entire family is more interested in my tanks than they have ever been. It's really cool. Because the tubs are much lower than my previous display tank, you get to see so much more...up close.

Since I'm going to have another 2-3 months in front of me without a display tank, that shouldn't stop me from picking up some frags to grow out for when my new tank does arrive!

First things first, I need to research tanks.
Anyone have recommendations?
My size is set because it has to fit my stand. 72" x 18" x 24"-26"

 

[fishguy242]

hi, check out joes glass cages

 

[don_chuwish]

Planet Aquariums MEGA Matrix