top center brace splitting

[Garbonzo]

We have a euro 80 and heard a pop yesterday. I believe it to be the center brace failing abruptly. I am in doubt there is an easy fix, but I am open to suggestions. For the time being we are lucky it didn't totally fail, and for the time being I braced it very gently with an Irwin clamp. I had to reposition it once, and had a sinking feeling when I heard the tank THUNK going back maybe a 1/32". I now a deep blue RR90 on order coming Thursday, but was wondering if anyone had any thoughts.

 

[dantimdad]

The only thing I could suggest, since you have a tank on the way, is to put more clamps on with pieces of wood to spread the load. Get buckets ready just in case.

Normally, I would tell you how to fix it but, in this case, we can wait on that until it's empty.

 

[Hitman]

I had that happen on my 55. I used gorilla super glue gel just like I use for coral frags and 2 years later it’s still up and running. No more issues other then it looks like poop as it’s in the front of the tank.

 

[Zos4me]

i had that happen on a 3 gal my nem is in. I just got a small piece of flat aluminum stock and some West systems 610 epoxy. glued it and clamped it and let it set. its not pretty but might hold .that epoxy is tough stuff

 

[Zos4me]

30 gallon

 

[cracker]

Garbonzo has a bigger tank (more pressure ) & another tank coming soon. He needs to think about a hassle free swapping tanks instead of the tank coming apart. I'd just keep it clamped until then .

 

[Garbonzo]

It's always when you just get it the way you like it;Inpain

 

[Garbonzo]

I had that happen on my 55. I used gorilla super glue gel just like I use for coral frags and 2 years later it’s still up and running. No more issues other then it looks like poop as it’s in the front of the tank.

I don't think gluing it would let me sleep at night even though that thought did cross my mind. If it was a shorter tank and less gallonage, I don't think I would worry so much, but 640lbs of water pressing out makes me leery.

 

[Erica-Renee]

I don't think gluing it would let me sleep at night even though that thought did cross my mind. If it was a shorter tank and less gallonage, I don't think I would worry so much, but 640lbs of water pressing out makes me leery.

Not to mention its split because the plastic is brittle and prob compromised because of the light . I think the clamp is the Right thing to do at this point . I also think everyone even when you do not have a issue should be prepared to handle a tank leak or crack...
Good Luck with this and The new tank when it comes. Its a pain switching I am still in the process of getting Our new tank the way we want it

 

[Garbonzo]

Not to mention its split because the plastic is brittle and prob compromised because of the light . I think the clamp is the Right thing to do at this point . I also think everyone even when you do not have a issue should be prepared to handle a tank leak or crack...
Good Luck with this and The new tank when it comes. Its a pain switching I am still in the process of getting Our new tank the way we want it

What the real kicker is that I didn't even think about, is now I have to upgrade my rodi unit to make water in a timely manner to do this in a day. DOH!!!!;Blackeye

 

[Erica-Renee]

What the real kicker is that I didn't even think about, is now I have to upgrade my rodi unit to make water in a timely manner to do this in a day. DOH!!!!;Blackeye

Yeah..
We decided to rebuild closet layout in the basement to match better with the tank support walls. New Stand and canopy .. its a Giant work in progress.. My old tank has been turned into a 150 gallon sump...

 

[cracker]

@Garbonzo , Hows the tank today ? New tank comes on Thursday?
The tank looks bare bottom so no sand hassle which is good . You got a barrel for new water & one for old ? What Ya thin folks? 50/50 new& old water to return to the new tank.
Tubs for rock ,coral & fishes ? Need enough water to keep every thing & body wet etc.
Good Luck !

 

[Erica-Renee]

@Garbonzo , Hows the tank today ? New tank comes on Thursday?
The tank looks bare bottom so no sand hassle which is good . You got a barrel for new water & one for old ? What Ya thin folks? 50/50 new& old water to return to the new tank.
Tubs for rock ,coral & fishes ? Need enough water to keep every thing & body wet etc.
Good Luck !

I would use as much new water as i could . When we changed out our tank i made water for 3 days and Did a 300 gallon water change on the whole system. I usually do 50 gallons every other week.. Reuse any old media such as filter material and so on KEPT Wet in the sump. The water is Just water the Bacteria and so on live mostly on Surfaces...

 

[Garbonzo]

I would use as much new water as i could . When we changed out our tank i made water for 3 days and Did a 300 gallon water change on the whole system. I usually do 50 gallons every other week.. Reuse any old media such as filter material and so on KEPT Wet in the sump. The water is Just water the Bacteria and so on live mostly on Surfaces...

That's the plan. Filling a 55 and a 46 with new water on the floor by the tank for all LR and corals. Going to use the entire 80gal volume of tank to clean sand with siphon before removing to a 5gal with a bubbler. I just ordered a 200 gpd rodi unit to arrive tomorrow to make all water tuesday night and wednesday. Have a 35gal and 55gal hefty cans for salt mixing and have two hydor 1500gph powerheads to mix salt quickly. I figured I can pull the 2 QD10s off the tank to run water movement in the 55 and 46 while new tank is going in and have 5 heaters to keep everything at temp. Going to try to get everything done in one quick shot so corals might be out of whole system less than a day. Only hang up is waiting for PVC glue to cure for two hours.

Because we needed to upgrade the RODI unit and live in a townhouse where it freezes outside, I burned a little bit of time yesterday making a new cart to wheel the bigger in and out until we renovate the basement to make a dedicated fish maintenance room I moved the board to mount the unit to down 3.5 inches from top and 5 inches toward center to keep it as balanced as possible.

RO unit

 

[Garbonzo]

@Garbonzo , Hows the tank today ? New tank comes on Thursday?
The tank looks bare bottom so no sand hassle which is good . You got a barrel for new water & one for old ? What Ya thin folks? 50/50 new& old water to return to the new tank.
Tubs for rock ,coral & fishes ? Need enough water to keep every thing & body wet etc.
Good Luck !

Tank is holding. (fingers crossed) set with tubs and new water. I decided to go with new water wince a lot of my rock work is high in the tank, and I don't want to let it drain in the air. I'm going to transfer it while it's still dripping to hopefully keep as much sponge life as possible. The tank isn't bare bottom, but I think I only have 60 LBs of sand. I'm ditching that and putting in 3 new bags of LS. Sucks as I'll probably lose the majority of my cerinths and nassarious. I've been making water since 8am LOL!!! But I'm in the home stretch now.

 

[cracker]

Cool ! let us know

 

[davocean]

Maybe go through sand w/ a collander or something for snails, kitty scooper or something.
Good luck on swap!

 

[Garbonzo]

Maybe go through sand w/ a collander or something for snails, kitty scooper or something.
Good luck on swap!

Good idea!

 

[Garbonzo]

New tank is up and running like a champ! Woop woop!!!

 

[leepink23]

Same thing happened here yesterday, only solution is a new tank? This is a 150 gallon and I haven’t ordered another tank. I have a spare 55 but it’s just a basic tank not reef ready, I have a lot of Coral and rock, what should be my first steps?