coal for Christmas- potential seam failure

[sfin52]

tank can only go into the same spot it currently sits so would need a temp tank to hold everything while the transfer happens, I know it's doable and not the worst thing in the world but fair bit of work. Now that some of the anger has subsided I'm at least considering it.

A stock take is a great for thus kind of job

 

[sfin52]

it’s a Rubbermaid tub..

I really hope your able to stay in the hobby

I remember this all too well. You did a heck of a job keeping everything going and alive.

 

[killer2001]

I'd be looking at getting a new tank. You may even want to drain some of the volume out of the tank to relieve the pressure to buy you some more time until you can make the transfer.

 

[jabberwock]

Perhaps downsize and sell off some livestock to minimize cost? I had a surprise catastrophic tank failure a few years ago and I quit for a while. Just got back in this September. Sure left a bad taste in my mouth. I get it. I would start preparing now.

I was freaking out when my wife was in the living room yelling, "Tank leaking! Tank leaking bad! Very bad!" It was a small system and overall not completely terrible, and thank fully we were home when it happened. Just brought tears to my eyes thinking about it...

Do what your gut tells you.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Is this usually how these things begin to fail? I have a RS reefer 170 (4 years now) but don’t see any sort of thing.

 

[Jeeperz]

Is this usually how these things begin to fail? I have a RS reefer 170 (4 years now) but don’t see any sort of thing.

Probably won't on the 170. I've got a 170 a little over 4 years ago, used, and it's solid. Just wish the return nozzle was lower compared to water level as it splashes pretty bad. My 350 is 5 years old and also ok but I don't really trust it as the front glass has a bow in it when filled

 

[nycfishy]

waiting to see how red sea support respond but in mean time might get some pricing for replacement tanks of same dimensions.

 

[nycfishy]

My 425xl.. it took awhile, but Red Sea replaced mine


@Dolelo96 was tank still under warranty? any recommendations for dealing with red sea for replacement?

 

[nycfishy]

full tank shot with problem area marked w/ glass marker.

 

[brandon429]

this is the exact trick to moving the stuff over correctly to a new tank

don't buy bottle bac, we're not scared of losing bacteria we move confidently and tell the man no to his safety bacteria we're not trained click baits lol

your sandbed isn't so wrecked with waste that moving it unrinsed would kill the setup...you need to rinse it because moving over any waste whatsoever doesn't benefit the new tank and is likely to spurn small amounts of gha or cyano/dinos in an otherwise very balanced system

though rinsing that sand for about 5 straight hours in sections, in tap water, until 100000000% cloudless then the final rinse per section is saltwater to evacuate the tap and prepare for use seems bad for the system, it's not. its the safest, best thing you can do for that investment. your sandbed bacteria are not positioned to help much in the tank, they sit on the bottom, not in a 3d contact plane with water, they sit on the bottom among muck sucking up 02 competing against fish. those bacteria complex around mud portions and make dense acid-producing colonies in bulk, that's the clouding that results if you stick a stick into that tank right now and stir it up

rinsed in sections, for hours, correctly, that never happens and the grains are 100% cleaned of waste, we don't care if bacteria remain on them or not for this crucial step. rinse until you think its clean, then rinse 3 hours more anyway. that clean, not 99.7% clean, 100000000% clean this is your skip cycle guarantee step...not transferring waste.


next up is rocks, just move them over nothing special

there is no reason you can't drain off 80% of that water and reuse it in the new tank, saving $$ go buy some brutes at home depot to use potentially.

match temp and salinity, don't go matching nine other params just those two, move the fish over. cover them when in holding/they'll jump out as you prep new tank

*ramp your lights up like its new, over ten days do not run full power on the new setup/bleach risk. the new tank will skip cycle just fine with these exact steps.

 

[brandon429]

all you are doing is moving over everything same day to a new tank, with dimmed ramp up lights ready, and absolutely cloudless sand I mean OCD level cloudless, there's no reason to import one iota of clouding into the new tank.

if you get new sand, same rules. there's no sand you wouldnt rinse exactly as stated, because all sand we buy clouds if not rinsed.

clarity of water in the presence of fish bioload is a major biomarker of a cycled tank. uncycled tanks get cloudy, fast, then crash...clouding is a harbinger of death in reefing.


folks that refuse to pre rinse sand because they fear bacterial loss incorrectly, are masking their tank transfer safety by purposefully clouding with silty dust


if something went wrong with their live rock bacteria (we never rinsed live rocks in tap water above, that was only sand) the clouding in the new tank is what would signal it...we move over rinsed sand no matter what because we can then pin the cloud on bad rock bac if it happens, then take preemptive save action.

corals will open fine under muted blue lighting in a cloudless new tank and you feed them well in the new tank and everything will skip cycle fine. I can then add this thread to page 51 of the official tank transfer thread.

you can only fail a tank transfer by not rinsing the sand perfectly so we can expect a cloudless new setup. it wouldnt matter if you didnt move sand, or put in all new sand (rinsed) we don't need sandbed bacteria, it's wasteful loading your tank tolerates vs gets a benefit from. it carries the potential to crash your tank and feed massive invasions for some folks, so clean start is how we equalize everyone, no matter their presentation variables. I don't have to ask fifty questions about the current state of the sandbed for anyone since we're all just resetting that variable; everyone's sand is rinsed to perfection regardless of what peers recommend or the bag directions say lol.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

So rinsing the sand with tap water won’t kill off the bacteria or allow other nasties (chlorine and Chloramine) to attach to the sand?

 

[brandon429]

The sand rinse thread is nine years running of this type of rinse, I’d have to vote that it’s wise across the spectrum

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

We absolutely rinse all new sand, because we don’t want masked clouding caused by silt to obscure concerned clouding involved with loss of bacteria. Perfect rinsing is the only way to run a fifty page work thread, not rinsing invites total wipeout at times vs pure results.


sandbed bacteria are of no benefit, they’re an oxygen tax and a waste acid tax that is tolerated. being free of the aggregates that make up reef plaque is liberating and boosting to reef tanks, honestly that outcome is available in pic scrolls we don’t even have to read the details

 

[nycfishy]

Redsea replied today and asked for some more pictures under white light. Their initial assessment is that the area of concern is just the seam protector. Which is what @homer1475 has also suggested. With white lights on there is a faint line visible below the damaged area, think this is actually the bottom glass and everything above that in "in the tank" so as homer1475 suggested this isn't structural. I'm still worried that the damaged area will spread so have remarked it with glass marker and will keep track. Lets see what red sea say after the get the new pictures.

 

[Cell]

I think you will find most of those whose RS tanks failed in this manner were told the exact same thing. "Non structural. Nothing to worry about." This assurance did not save their floors. But maybe RS is right this time...

 

[nycfishy]

I think you will find most of those whose RS tanks failed in this manner were told the exact same thing. "Non structural. Nothing to worry about." This assurance did not save their floors. But maybe RS is right this time...

Yea I tend to agree failure here is inevitable but not imminent. I dont see what ever caused this to start just stopping but I'll keep a close eye on it and hope for the best while I do some research on replacement options.

 

[nycfishy]

update -March 204.
issue has gotten much worse, the seam is now compromised into the area of the bottom glass panel and spread much wider across as well. I sent updated pics to red sea and their advice was to empty the tank immediately. Been out of warranty for a few year but they did offer me a $900 credit towards new tank at MSRP (w/ free shipping). took them up on offer and hoping new tank arrives and I can get the in-place transfer done before the seam gives out.

Plan is to reuse ~50% of the old water, all the same rock and marine pur blocks, ordered new caribsea wet sand and will reuse a scoop or two of the old sand. Any other advice on a successful transfer?

 

[nycfishy]

Yea I tend to agree failure here is inevitable but not imminent. I dont see what ever caused this to start just stopping but I'll keep a close eye on it and hope for the best while I do some research on replacement options.

it is indeed inevitable! was slow progression at first but now I'm a few millimeters away from disaster.

 

[brandon429]

lets run a skip cycle tank transfer where you move all your stuff into a new tank.

 

[FUNGI]

it is indeed inevitable! was slow progression at first but now I'm a few millimeters away from disaster.

Are you replacing the whole system? If so, I would like to buy all the Redsea plumbing form you (out and in pipes)....if you go that route......