P-Dub
The ocean is open to all, merciful to none.
So, it is bound to happen to all of us, eventually, if you have an old tank in operation. This happened on my old LeeMars 125 gallon that I have had for many many years. Acquired new bout 20 years ago or so to be sort of exact. This happened the day after I returned from a 10-day absence while out of town to lay my dad to eternal rest. I arrived on Friday evening to a happy tank, well cared for by my wife and monitored by me via Neptune Apex while out of town. The following morning I did a quick perimeter check and under tank/sump look-see followed by a systems check on the Neptune web app as I do every morning. All appeared normal except for a three-decimal point drop in my salinity. This is not all that unusual for the Apex conductivity monitor, as all that have one know. They really aren't that reliable. Shortly after I left for an all-day work appointment. I received a video phone call from my wife about two hours into my building inspection stating that the floor was wet and the area rug was soaking. It was odd to me as neither of the leak detectors sent a notification. I asked her to look under the tank in the sump area and see what she sees and show via the camera. I see a clear leak out of the calcium reactor spurting a small stream onto the lid of my refugium. No problem, I just have her turn off the feed valve from the return manifold to the reactor, I remotely turn off the reactor recirculating pump, CO2 valve on the cylinder, and power to the refugium lighting. She confirms the leak has stopped and shows via video it has, in fact, stopped. Well, now I know that I have a bit of a mess to deal with and a reactor repair. Inconvenient but not catastrophic. An hour later another video call stating that the water spill to the floor had widened exponentially. Still no alarms. Baffled we do a video look-see throughout the sump area under the tank, behind the tank, and the tank itself. Naturally, water was dripping down the rear-left area of the sump from the tank area, the one area that is not accessible due to the TV armoire blocking access which she is unable to move. This is a problem, a big problem. My heart sinks and I access the Apex mobile app noting a precipitous drop in salinity, but still no leak alarm. Stand by, sensor placement, and notification lesson later shared. This is catastrophic. I immediately shut down everything that may be leak-related, end my inspection, and head for the 45-minute trip home.
I arrive home to a mess. Furniture moved and further investigation revealed a two-thirds length seam failure from the top rim, also cracked at the corner, down at the left rear of the tank. This happens to be where my overflow box is located on my tank. So, I promptly remove the drain stand-pipe and let the overflow box drain out, and turn off the internal circulation pumps that were forcing water over the weirs continuing the draining of water. Fortunately, when LeeMars built these tanks the over-flow box was first created with a glass box silicone glued in and an outer Plexi box with weir teeth glued to that. I have a water-tight tank as it stands. I can finally breathe. My wife has the wet/dry out already and towels everywhere. The area rug lifted, AC on dehumidify mode, and a fan going. No more water is leaking. I reluctantly leave to finish my inspection feeling a little ill but apparently safe for now.
I finally finish my inspection as quickly and as thoroughly as possible, head home, and take a step back to assess the totality of my current predicament, install bar clamps to the tank to help support the compromised seam, and deal with the mess existing in my living room. It is daunting, to say the least. Where I live, there is no retailer that would have a viable tank to replace the one that I have. I do have a brand spanking new RedSea Reefer 350 Delux that I won here on R2R still in its box in my garage. That is a viable option. Logistically, a huge PITA to tear down my existing 125 and set up the 350. Add to that, the 350 is 50 gallons less in tank volume so I would have to sacrifice some corals. I get on the phone to contact a fellow reefer and proposition him for assistance asking him to take a number of my more prized corals to foster and help in the impending tear-down and new build. The tank is stable, it is late, I am frazzled, hungry, and tired being jet-lagged by 7 hours. I shall sleep on this and deal with it Sunday morning.
After a surprisingly decent night's sleep, having only slept 6 hours in the previous 36, I needed a good rest and thankfully got it. With fresh eyes and a clearer mind, I re-evaluate my current situation. I am battling my choices and the only clear choice is a tear-down and new build. I release the clamps just to see what happens. The overflow box has not accumulated any water so the glass portion is holding. It is at this point that I realize I have another option. Fix the tank in situ. How to do this is the next consideration. Simply cleaning out that seam and re-caulking is not going to work. I have a full 11.5 oz tube of black silicone on hand so that's a bonus. It dawns on me that there is a local tank builder here and that he has two-inch strips of glass the same thickness as is installed on my tank that he uses to add euro bracing to his tanks. What if I clear out as much silicone from the seam and all areas surrounding it? Can I possibly install a strip on the inside of the box the full length of the seam and on the outside as well? I discuss with him the feasibility of this solution and he believes it to be possible. So I have a plan. Clear as much silicone from where the seam has failed, remove any surrounding silicone inside and outside the tank, clean the living tar out of everything in the overflow box, and place a strip of glass, full length, top to bottom, inside the box, and on the exterior of the side and rear of the tank. While I am at it, I might as well reinforce all remaining seams, at least from the outside. I need to repair the top rim as well, just to add a little more strength. Plan in place, I get the glass strips, get a loaner glass cutter, parts to repair the top plastic rim, and I then proceed to perform all the necessary repairs. Done in one day except for the outer strips on the remaining three exterior vertical corner seams. The remaining seams were reinforced over the next two days as they were not as high a priority.
To bring to a conclusion, for now, what could be a very long and involved post, the tank was started back up after days, an immense amount of work, cleaning, equipment repairs, rebuilding components, etc. that would be expected to be associated with a week not running. BTW a sump and associated equipment will go super nasty and toxic after 5 days of no water flow. All in all, I have only lost one coral, a prized green slimer, and my lawnmower blenny. The refugium did not go toxic, fortunately. Lessons learned, place some powerheads and airstones in a sump if left not running for longer than three days. There is a load of life that needs to be maintained in there. Set up leak detectors on BOTH sides of the tank. Set up notifications when your salinity drops a certain level, and plan on replacing your tank or rebuilding the seams after 15 years or so. I am fully aware that the repairs I have made are not a cure. It is a band-aid at worst or surgery prolonging the inevitable at best. I have no idea how long this repair may last. I have no doubt that the repairs will hold for many years but the bottom pane of glass in my tank is the most vulnerable, still. Fortunately, when I re-booted this tank I installed sheets of HDPE on the bottom as I was going bare bottom again. While doing this, a load of silicone was placed at the perimeter of the sheets, ostensively, reinforcing the bottom seam, but not nearly to the effect as the repairs I have just completed and silicone does not stick to silicone, so....
Inside of overflow repair
Outside repair
The rest are self explanitory
Opposite, undamaged reinforcement
I arrive home to a mess. Furniture moved and further investigation revealed a two-thirds length seam failure from the top rim, also cracked at the corner, down at the left rear of the tank. This happens to be where my overflow box is located on my tank. So, I promptly remove the drain stand-pipe and let the overflow box drain out, and turn off the internal circulation pumps that were forcing water over the weirs continuing the draining of water. Fortunately, when LeeMars built these tanks the over-flow box was first created with a glass box silicone glued in and an outer Plexi box with weir teeth glued to that. I have a water-tight tank as it stands. I can finally breathe. My wife has the wet/dry out already and towels everywhere. The area rug lifted, AC on dehumidify mode, and a fan going. No more water is leaking. I reluctantly leave to finish my inspection feeling a little ill but apparently safe for now.
I finally finish my inspection as quickly and as thoroughly as possible, head home, and take a step back to assess the totality of my current predicament, install bar clamps to the tank to help support the compromised seam, and deal with the mess existing in my living room. It is daunting, to say the least. Where I live, there is no retailer that would have a viable tank to replace the one that I have. I do have a brand spanking new RedSea Reefer 350 Delux that I won here on R2R still in its box in my garage. That is a viable option. Logistically, a huge PITA to tear down my existing 125 and set up the 350. Add to that, the 350 is 50 gallons less in tank volume so I would have to sacrifice some corals. I get on the phone to contact a fellow reefer and proposition him for assistance asking him to take a number of my more prized corals to foster and help in the impending tear-down and new build. The tank is stable, it is late, I am frazzled, hungry, and tired being jet-lagged by 7 hours. I shall sleep on this and deal with it Sunday morning.
After a surprisingly decent night's sleep, having only slept 6 hours in the previous 36, I needed a good rest and thankfully got it. With fresh eyes and a clearer mind, I re-evaluate my current situation. I am battling my choices and the only clear choice is a tear-down and new build. I release the clamps just to see what happens. The overflow box has not accumulated any water so the glass portion is holding. It is at this point that I realize I have another option. Fix the tank in situ. How to do this is the next consideration. Simply cleaning out that seam and re-caulking is not going to work. I have a full 11.5 oz tube of black silicone on hand so that's a bonus. It dawns on me that there is a local tank builder here and that he has two-inch strips of glass the same thickness as is installed on my tank that he uses to add euro bracing to his tanks. What if I clear out as much silicone from the seam and all areas surrounding it? Can I possibly install a strip on the inside of the box the full length of the seam and on the outside as well? I discuss with him the feasibility of this solution and he believes it to be possible. So I have a plan. Clear as much silicone from where the seam has failed, remove any surrounding silicone inside and outside the tank, clean the living tar out of everything in the overflow box, and place a strip of glass, full length, top to bottom, inside the box, and on the exterior of the side and rear of the tank. While I am at it, I might as well reinforce all remaining seams, at least from the outside. I need to repair the top rim as well, just to add a little more strength. Plan in place, I get the glass strips, get a loaner glass cutter, parts to repair the top plastic rim, and I then proceed to perform all the necessary repairs. Done in one day except for the outer strips on the remaining three exterior vertical corner seams. The remaining seams were reinforced over the next two days as they were not as high a priority.
To bring to a conclusion, for now, what could be a very long and involved post, the tank was started back up after days, an immense amount of work, cleaning, equipment repairs, rebuilding components, etc. that would be expected to be associated with a week not running. BTW a sump and associated equipment will go super nasty and toxic after 5 days of no water flow. All in all, I have only lost one coral, a prized green slimer, and my lawnmower blenny. The refugium did not go toxic, fortunately. Lessons learned, place some powerheads and airstones in a sump if left not running for longer than three days. There is a load of life that needs to be maintained in there. Set up leak detectors on BOTH sides of the tank. Set up notifications when your salinity drops a certain level, and plan on replacing your tank or rebuilding the seams after 15 years or so. I am fully aware that the repairs I have made are not a cure. It is a band-aid at worst or surgery prolonging the inevitable at best. I have no idea how long this repair may last. I have no doubt that the repairs will hold for many years but the bottom pane of glass in my tank is the most vulnerable, still. Fortunately, when I re-booted this tank I installed sheets of HDPE on the bottom as I was going bare bottom again. While doing this, a load of silicone was placed at the perimeter of the sheets, ostensively, reinforcing the bottom seam, but not nearly to the effect as the repairs I have just completed and silicone does not stick to silicone, so....
Inside of overflow repair
Outside repair
The rest are self explanitory
Opposite, undamaged reinforcement
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My current tank actually shares the volume with yours, it's a Planet 125g crystal-whatevertheheckawhatsit. It's been wonderful thus far.
