Waterbox Reef Leaking

benwilsonx · Jul 17, 2023

tstor said:
Strange, almost looks like something burrowed that hole

I know, I had the same thought but it seemed a little crazy. Bizarre that it's almost symmetrical between the L/R sides, too!

benwilsonx · Jul 18, 2023

Somewhat unrelated (and probably silly) question... I've had water in the sump unmoving and unheated while the display has been drained over the past few days. When I start things up again, is there any need to drain and replace the sump water, or can I keep it? I can't decide if there's any risk (say, an ammonia spike) from any tiny organisms that have been sitting/decaying in there since the weekend?

Lothar · Jul 21, 2023

Where’s Brandon?

benwilsonx · Jul 21, 2023

Everyone's back in the tank! It was a lot of work, but so far so good. There's been a nice side benefit of reducing some algae and green cyano that had been stubborn for a bit.

I appreciate all the help and advice!

code4 · Aug 4, 2023

I am so glad it all turned out well. Was looking up Waterbox tanks when I found your thread. I hope all is still well.

Shelley

benwilsonx · Aug 4, 2023

code4 said:
I am so glad it all turned out well. Was looking up Waterbox tanks when I found your thread. I hope all is still well.

Shelley

Thanks! I somehow managed to avoid any losses.

As far as the Waterbox goes, it looks like something chewed a small hole in the seal - I didn't see any signs of a manufacturing defect.

code4 · Aug 10, 2023

That is fantastic!

jmarina · Aug 10, 2023

benwilsonx said:
Everyone's back in the tank! It was a lot of work, but so far so good. There's been a nice side benefit of reducing some algae and green cyano that had been stubborn for a bit.

I appreciate all the help and advice!

Looking good!

code4 · Sep 29, 2023

Stunning!

BigMikeFlipz · Oct 20, 2024

@benwilsonx
Curious how this Tank is doing now, any updates?

PharmrJohn · Oct 20, 2024

I'm happy. J was in the same boat with a seam failure in my 75g about 15 years ago. Nothing I tried worked. So I uograded to a 90g. Oh darn!!!! But that tank transfer took 3 days, a stand modification and LOTS of stress.

benwilsonx · Oct 22, 2024

BigMikeFlipz said:
@benwilsonx
Curious how this Tank is doing now, any updates?

Resealing the tank worked great. However – a few months later (November), I had another leak, this time in the front corner. Emptied everything again, and found another small hole bored into the seam. Apparently I have some sort of silicone-chewing worm that came with my live rock.

Re-sealed everything once more, and put everyone back after a few days… but, since I’d like to sleep at night I ended up swapping it out for an acrylic tank. I figure this worm shouldn’t be able to bore through the fused acrylic.

I had to re-home my urchins (that also came with the live rock), but otherwise everything’s back to normal.

benwilsonx · Oct 22, 2024

Here’s a photo of the second leak site – crummy photo, but you can see the track that was bored. From other threads, certain Eunicid worms have been suspected in similar incidents.

I’m pretty sure I found some Eunice-type worms in the bottom of the shipping bags of my live rock. I got rid of the ones I found (didn’t want to risk raising a baby Bobbit!), but I’m sure there were/are others still in the rock. This is one of the creepy guys I found in 2021... maybe his bros were responsible.

FishLvR · Oct 24, 2024

benwilsonx said:

Ok so I stumbled upon this thread. Surprised to see it was current. So this photo is EXACTLY what the back of my tank looks like. Except mine spreads about six inches now. I am working on getting SCA to make good on it. I brought it up when I first bought it and was blown off, and I am trying again now that it's worse. It didn't leak but it will. You are the first person I have found that has a similar tank issue. My tank weighs a ton so I am unsure how successful I will be at resealing it if I need to. Mine was less a worm or urchin with a taste for silicone, more an error in building where the outer silicone did not get applied over the seam allowing the glass panel edges and inner silicone to be exposed.

benwilsonx · Nov 3, 2024

Ugh, sorry you're having similar issues. At least my leak was just from a crazy worm/invertebrate, I didn't have any manufacturing issues. The Waterbox is still in perfect shape after being resealed - I just can't use it since I don't have any way to remove the silicone-munchers from my rock.