What issue would you/have you torn down a tank over?

Have you ever torn down a tank over an issue you couldn't seem to beat?

  • Yes! I have. (Tell us about what issue you faced in the thread.)

    Votes: 225 26.0%
  • No. Thankfully, I haven't.

    Votes: 428 49.4%
  • Nope, but it almost happened. (Share your experience in the thread.)

    Votes: 67 7.7%
  • Not yet, but I'm almost there. (Tell us what you're dealing with.)

    Votes: 74 8.5%
  • If you reef long enough, this will eventually happen to you.

    Votes: 56 6.5%
  • Other

    Votes: 17 2.0%

  • Total voters
    867

Scottayy

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 14, 2021
Messages
173
Reaction score
162
Location
Indiana
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
About 10 years ago I tore down my first ever tank. Due to frustration of learning trial and error and tinkering with equipment and plumbing and the likes.

This go around I made sure to get an all in one. Plumbing and tinkering is not my thing.
 

MrTPlush

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 3, 2021
Messages
78
Reaction score
105
Location
Rib Mountain
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I imagine I will tear mine down someday to go bigger…but more importantly to go to a really nice sump set up. Right now I am HOB and I think I may go HOB sump, but when I want bigger down the road I will get a reef tank.

I don’t regret not doing a fancy set up now…but when I get experience and want to get fancy and really dive into corals or more complicated fish I will want a better (and expensive set up).
 

MorReefs

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 11, 2018
Messages
38
Reaction score
35
Location
Salem, Oregon
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I tore down my first 75 gallon bow front due to a nem explosion. I started with 1 rainbow bubble tip then had 45. They kept splitting and moving around and stinging coral. At the end of the day I had 45 Nems and a huge colony of Xenia…. Less then ideal.
Now I have the rule no nems. They are cool.. in your tank, but not in mine.
 

rusty hannon

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 13, 2019
Messages
658
Reaction score
555
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Yes, had to tear down my nano as it had gotten some apastia and by the time I had gotten so out of hand, and killed off the few frags I had I gave it up and upgraded. Still get apastia now n then but have developed a system that pretty much keeps them gone.
 

Willper

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
120
Reaction score
12
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
It is interesting to find this tank issue now. I tore down my 425L tank a few months ago. Had it for almost 4 years. The last 6 months I was dealing with a haze on my front inside glass. Nothing would clear it. Vinegar, citric acid, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and ceramic buffing paste.

I looked on a few forums for others who had this issue and the most interesting answer was that there were two different sides to a piece of glass and that the manufacturer had put the outside to the inside of the tank. Others thought you could use a buffing wheel and a specific grit to get the haze out.

I contacted the manufacturer about this and they said that they had never heard of this happening to the glass on their product. We messaged back and forth and I was offered a discount for a new tank but I was kind of empty over the whole situation. I was left with the statement that the tank only had a 2 year warranty.

So, the tank and stand are parked on the side of my house waiting for whatever happens....

Thanks for reading,

Bill
 

casey012293

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 20, 2021
Messages
86
Reaction score
65
Location
Williston
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
If I ever nuked my tank to the point that all fish and coral died, I would take everything down and out of the house for a good long evaluation of whether I want to put that kind of money into it again. I probably would, but my current plan if that were to happen is to start over as a clown and anemone only tank.
 

casey012293

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 20, 2021
Messages
86
Reaction score
65
Location
Williston
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I had a beautiful acrylic 150 Tall Peninsula tank that I tore down because it was too tall for my arms. This made it extremely difficult to maintain and also gave me really bad kink in my neck whenever I had to work on it. This lead to the tank having hygiene issues. If coral got knocked over, I would leave it there and it would get covered in sand. It was a really bad downward spiral.

So…I donated the entire system to a really tall middle school teacher. He had just gone through a fire in his classroom that killed everything in his tank. Then after he cleaned out the his tank, he was moving it on a dolly and it slide off and broke. He was really really grateful to take my tank and all the fish and stuff in it!

After that I bought a used rimless starfire 100 gallon peninsula tank that was on 20” tall. It was a dream to work on and was truly beautiful. Until one morning a couple of years later, I noticed little water pockets developing in the silicone seams. That was terrifying. So I bought a long bar clamp to hold the tank together until I could figure out what to do.

I took the tank down and put all the live stock in a 125 gallon rubbermaid horse trough and bought a new 150 gallon peninsula tank.

Here is a picture of my new tank.

8F5F2F85-E8B8-4F0F-86DD-123AE5849FC5.jpeg
Wow! I love the racetrack end. Who makes this and is it glass or acrylic?
 

tony'stank

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 21, 2012
Messages
283
Reaction score
316
Location
Michigan
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I’ve had a saltwater reef tank for 32 years. Sadly I will probably have to have it torn drown soon. I have cancer and am having real difficulty with basic maintainemcee. I have been unable to find help for the tank
 

NoahLikesFish

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 16, 2020
Messages
3,481
Reaction score
1,877
Location
Indiana
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
i will only tear down my tank once it becomes a burden andit gets to be a chore. IF that happens, i will have no remorse taking the tank outside & smashing it with a sledgehammer. i own my tank, my tank dosent own me
 

Timfish

Crusty Old Salt
View Badges
Joined
Jul 22, 2012
Messages
3,738
Reaction score
4,928
Location
Austin, TX
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
No. I have had clients that chose not to rebuild after a power failure crashed the system but I don't see that as a fundamental problem with the reef ecosystem that would stop it from being restored.
 

MBruun

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 22, 2020
Messages
148
Reaction score
140
Location
Denmark
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Restarted my current RS-750 completely two years ago.
4 years ago I upgraded a 130G to my new RS-750 :)
After around one year troubles started. My corals slowely dying and new corals only survived for like a monht or so. All kind of corals, but the fish was happy and healthy, and corraline algeas disapeared from the rockwork, but not from the backwall and powerheads.
Several months trying this and that, and ICP test was just fine, I found that if I turned of the circulation pump in the saltwater mixing container, a thin layer like grey oil covered the water. I tested by making two mix, the other in a different kind of container, and it show no brown film. The upgrade required a larger container for mixing saltwater for water changes, and the new container was this kind of cheap soft black plastic container made by reused plastic - bad choice.
I used the oppotunity to start all over with custom build ceramic rockwork - I'm super happy :) having lots of healthy sps corals
 

John Hathaway

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 1, 2019
Messages
18
Reaction score
6
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
1st tank was heart breaking… velvet. Second was annoying Aptasia, vermatids…. They drove me mad. I’m now setting up a brand new tank.. dry rock, sand and a long cycle ahead.. nothing goes into the tank without QT… macro algae, snails, fish, corals…. Nothing
 

Mgex

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 22, 2019
Messages
169
Reaction score
78
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
rusting on my 150 gallon angle iron stand I've broken down this tank once before when it had a massive leak through the return line it's an old style tank with return coming straight through the bottom of it couldnt find the leak so I just sealed it completely I face 2 options leave it up and running till the tank stand fails or pull it down and reseal the stand with something if I find a rubbermaid stock tub to transfer everyone to
 

Radman73

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 10, 2016
Messages
1,514
Reaction score
1,714
Location
Winter Garden, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Vermetids, the small ones. Bain of my post move existence lol! The only reason I'd tear everything down is I have a remote fuge and I have no doubt those things are all in the plumbing. Everything would need to be replaced. I have seen bumblebee snails seem to eat them, but I have far too few snails for the infestation I have.
 

Yasmar01

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
Messages
89
Reaction score
42
Location
Washington, CT
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Broke down my 210 in 2009 due to winning the triple threat award. An infestation of Bryopsis, Aiptasia, and the ever present GHA.
 

Karen

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
145
Reaction score
29
Location
Mountlake Terrace, WA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The power went out. Over and over. I decided no more until 1) I could find a place to live with a reliable power grid and/or 2) I could get a generator. I just got my tank up and the first couple fish in this month. It has been about 7 years.
 

Simsung

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 20, 2020
Messages
114
Reaction score
101
Location
London
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I am very close to tearing it down and replacing all the liverock.
The reason? Nearly impossible to manage strain of caulerpa. Tiny leaves with an ivy like stem that attaches itself even to the glass. This thing has dominated every space in my aquarium and is actually suffocating coral.
IMPOSSIBLE TO REMOVE.

I've taken everything out of the tank 3 times and tried to remove every single bit of it. It always comes back


Last resort is a lipstick tang. If it fails, I will be done fighting and take everything down.
 

Alex Cataldo

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 25, 2020
Messages
311
Reaction score
143
Location
Verona, Wisconsin
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I had to take down my old Biocube 32 because the sand hadn’t been cleaned in years, and released god knows what into the water after a power head fell off the glass. Since then, I’ve gone BB in most of my tanks with lots of flow. The solution? Clean your sand!
 

agame2021

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 4, 2021
Messages
316
Reaction score
231
Location
Mesa
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Yes I have. But mostly because I had to move so I guess it all worked out. I was living far away from a LFS and couldn’t get anything in that could help me in time. Had Dino’s and the other red algae freaking decimate my tank and then I had a bacteria bloom… it got so bad that I couldn’t keep it in line and ended up getting rid of my fish and also breaking down the tank. I moved about 3 weeks later so it all worked out. I let the rocks dry out and sit for 3 months rises the crap out of the sand and restarted the tank right after the rocks were done.
As of rn there is some of the red algae again in my tank and I am going to use chemiclean in two weeks to hopefully eradicate it.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 69 52.7%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 68 51.9%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 34 26.0%
  • None.

    Votes: 29 22.1%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 6.9%
Back
Top