Tank is leaking!

BRS
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OK, so at least some of the stress is dying down. 2nd day in a row with no sleep! All I could think at night is drip drip drip! Got all the livestock in a holding tank along with same water and transferred another 3og of the water to a brute can in the garage and all the rock into another brute with some tank water in it as well. So I have about 60g of water stored which I will test to see if Im going to use all of it or just some. I'm sure I got some nasty crap stirred up when I was getting near the bottom. With the new tank coming tomorrow and new sump I got to make about 200g of water up, oh yeah.
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
MichaelClark55 said:
OK, so at least some of the stress is dying down. 2nd day in a row with no sleep! All I could think at night is drip drip drip! Got all the livestock in a holding tank along with same water and transferred another 3og of the water to a brute can in the garage and all the rock into another brute with some tank water in it as well. So I have about 60g of water stored which I will test to see if Im going to use all of it or just some. I'm sure I got some nasty crap stirred up when I was getting near the bottom. With the new tank coming tomorrow and new sump I got to make about 200g of water up, oh yeah.
Click to expand...

Michael...get some sleep man. You need to be focused for tomorrow. :)
 
JDtimk said:
Ah. That makes sense.
IMO I actually think the better height for a 5' tall person to view the tank would be top of the tank at around 5'6", that way she is looking directly into the tank rather than at the top of the tank. Unless she is not concerned with viewing height and has other reasons she wants the tank top at 5'. I know my wife would not care about best viewing height, but would care if it didn't somehow work with the layout of the room or something.
The top of my 120 is at about 5'8" and I am 6' tall. I have to bend down for the best view of the tank, especially when i need to get up close to see coral. It just wasn't practical to put the tank up much higher due to needing room above the tank for lights and maintenance. I have plenty of room underneath for equipment and maintenance.
Click to expand...
It's funny you mentioned that about the height, we had this conversation on the way into work this morning. I explained to her that when you look at painting on the wall, the center is supposed to be at eye level. She understands now and we agreed on setting the top of the tank at 5'-6"-5'-8". I'll have to use a ladder to feed coral but that's no biggie.
 
Tidal Gardens
JDtimk said:
Ah. That makes sense.
IMO I actually think the better height for a 5' tall person to view the tank would be top of the tank at around 5'6", that way she is looking directly into the tank rather than at the top of the tank. Unless she is not concerned with viewing height and has other reasons she wants the tank top at 5'. I know my wife would not care about best viewing height, but would care if it didn't somehow work with the layout of the room or something.
The top of my 120 is at about 5'8" and i am 6' tall. I have to bend down for the best view of the tank, especially when i need to get up close to see coral. It just wasn't practical to put the tank up much higher due to needing room above the tank for lights and maintenance. I have plenty of room underneath for equipment and maintenance.
Click to expand...
How much space did you allow between the top of sump and bottom of trim at bottom of DT tank for working space? I have 18" right now in the latest design and it puts top of the 125 at 6'. What do you think?
 
MichaelClark55 said:
How much space did you allow between the top of sump and bottom of trim at bottom of DT tank for working space? I have 18" right now in the latest design and it puts top of the 125 at 6'. What do you think?
Click to expand...
You need to allow enough clearance for removing and cleaning pumps, skimmers and any other sump equipment. I have to Tetris my 8" skimmer out of the sump for cleaning :(
 
AS
Stinks, I have had similar terrible experiences like this. Makes you want to throw in the towel..or a good excuse to upgrade, ha!
 
Definitely a bummer!
While I have only skimmed over most of the responses, I’ll have to say my old tank breached on one of the seams. Huge mess and flooded part of the basement.

I went to Walmart and bought 30g plastic bins for about $12 each, relocated everything to the garage floor, and used powerheads and air bubblers to keep oxygenating the water. The bins were in the garage for about 3+ weeks while we cleaned up the mess and ordered a new tank. I used no heater and no chiller in the garage (Summer in the Northeast) and water temps ranged from 74-86F. I suspended lights over the top of the bins using egg crate to suspend the light fixtures and alternated the lights on cheap timers between the bins every few days (corals can last days without lights just like long storms with clouds).

Corals (soft, LPS, SPS), fish, and major inverts like shrimp all did well, however I did loose a few minor inverts like snails/hermits. Don’t spend a lot on high end plastic bins as cheap ones worked well. Bungy cords were used to keep them from expanding on the long sides due to water pressure in the plastic bins.

To make things worse, we were on vacation during this mess, but fortunately we had some friends watching our home who quickly took action to keep the leak in check and save the water to pump back into the leaking display from the refugium.

Bottom line:
1) DON’T GIVE UP!
2) Use water detectors.
3) Have someone monitoring your tank roughly once per day or every other day while you are gone.
 
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AllSignsPointToFish said:
You need to allow enough clearance for removing and cleaning pumps, skimmers and any other sump equipment. I have to Tetris my 8" skimmer out of the sump for cleaning :(
Click to expand...

We came up with an awesome idea tonight. We have an 8' wide x 3' high opening between the LR & DR. I am going to design the stand so that the tank can be viewed from both sides. Stay tuned. I will update in my build thread. Looking into some 40g tub tanks tomorrow for sump area. They are short and deep. I may be able to fit 2 of them in the sump area.
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
MURedhawk said:
Definitely a bummer!
While I have only skimmed over most of the responses, I’ll have to say my old tank breached on one of the seams. Huge mess and flooded part of the basement.

I went to Walmart and bought 30g plastic bins for about $12 each, relocated everything to the garage floor, and used powerheads and air bubblers to keep oxygenating the water. The bins were in the garage for about 3+ weeks while we cleaned up the mess and ordered a new tank. I used no heater and no chiller in the garage (Summer in the Northeast) and water temps ranged from 74-86F. I suspended lights over the top of the bins using egg crate to suspend the light fixtures and alternated the lights on cheap timers between the bins every few days (corals can last days without lights just like long storms with clouds).

Corals (soft, LPS, SPS), fish, and major inverts like shrimp all did well, however I did loose a few minor inverts like snails/hermits. Don’t spend a lot on high end plastic bins as cheap ones worked well. Bungy cords were used to keep them from expanding on the long sides due to water pressure in the plastic bins.

To make things worse, we were on vacation during this mess, but fortunately we had some friends watching our home who quickly took action to keep the leak in check and save the water to pump back into the leaking display from the refugium.

Bottom line:
1) DON’T GIVE UP!
2) Use water detectors.
3) Have someone monitoring your tank roughly once per day or every other day while you are gone.
Click to expand...
Thanks, it does make you feel like giving up. Thankfully I have a great wife that knows how much I love this hobby and she's the one that brought up the idea to upgrade. I got all the livestock transferred today in a temp tank and it seems to be ok. Picking up new tank tomorrow. Over the stress in 2 days and now on to more exciting times.
 
MichaelClark55 said:
We came up with an awesome idea tonight. We have an 8' wide x 3' high opening between the LR & DR. I am going to design the stand so that the tank can be viewed from both sides. Stay tuned. I will update in my build thread. Looking into some 40g tub tanks tomorrow for sump area. They are short and deep. I may be able to fit 2 of them in the sump area.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a really good idea!
 
BRS
MichaelClark55 said:
How much space did you allow between the top of sump and bottom of trim at bottom of DT tank for working space? I have 18" right now in the latest design and it puts top of the 125 at 6'. What do you think?
Click to expand...
That sounds like it would be plenty of space. I have 16" from the top of my 75gal sump to the bottom of the DT stand inside the cabinet. I think the 75 gal is 21" tall? so floor to ceiling in the cabinet approximately 37 -38".
 
One night I lost my balance and steadied myself by reaching out to the tank. Within a week there was salt water on the carpet. I traced the water leak back to the upper front side. Drained about 8 ", cleaned the area, squeezed in clear silicone sealer and all is well. That was two years ago.
R & P Tech
 
Deltec
RalphTech said:
One night I lost my balance and steadied myself by reaching out to the tank. Within a week there was salt water on the carpet. I traced the water leak back to the upper front side. Drained about 8 ", cleaned the area, squeezed in clear silicone sealer and all is well. That was two years ago.
R & P Tech
Click to expand...
That's crazy lucky or mad skills or alittle of both. I was glad to get rid of the bowfront anyways so it's going to work out. So far livestock is hanging in there in the temp tank can be built.
 
BRS

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

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  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

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  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
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