Murphy, You S.O.B.

[CAreefer]

Well, I tempted fate and lost. Came home from dinner tonight and found a 1/2" of water in the living room and garage. After investigation, my worst fears were realized. The rear vertical seam behind the overflow had split on my 225 gallon tank.

Splish Splash.

Now I need some advice. What do I do with my live rock, fish and corals while I wait (6-12 weeks) for a replacement tank? The frag tank is still functional and incorporates the skimmer, heaters, and chiller. Currently the tank is down about 4". Once the water level was dropped below the overflow teeth, the leak stopped (more or less). I braced the split seam in both directions against the wall so it shouldn't open further. All I have in the tank is flow. No heat, chiller, skimmer or CaRx. I figure I can exchange water with the frag system daily, maybe 50 gallons or so to keep params and nutrients in check. The tank is in the house so temps, if I minimize MH lighting shouldn't be uncontrollable. I'm thinking a large Rubbermaid stock tank, but I would need to set it up at the same height as the frag tank to utilize the skimmer etc.

Someone say humbling?

Marshal

[CAreefer]

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Well, I have made repairs. We shall see if they last until the replacement arrives. I have no intention of running the overflow with the standpipe in it. Why tempt fate (again) with another leak. IMO, I've managed to reinforce the corner that came apart, and currently have no leaks. Here are some pics to show what I had, and what I've done.

The seam that split
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x255/CAReefer/Reef%20tank/Open.jpg

Scraped the paint, cleaned inside and out with denatured alcohol, filled the gap with DAP aquarium sealant and used 2"x1/8" aluminum angle to gusset the corner.
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x255/CAReefer/Reef%20tank/Repaired.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x255/CAReefer/Reef%20tank/Repaired2.jpg

Ratchet straps to pull the aluminum tight to the tank, but as you can see, there is too much deflection in the glass for it to pull down flush. I didn't put much tension on the straps or bar clamps. Just enough to start squeezing the silicone a bit.
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x255/CAReefer/Reef%20tank/Trussed-up.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x255/CAReefer/Reef%20tank/Trussed-up2.jpg

Did someone say skimmate? For some reason my skimmer has kicked into overdrive. Maybe because I'm only running 200 gph or so through the sump into the display right now?
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x255/CAReefer/Reef%20tank/Skimmate.jpg

48 hours for the silicone to cure, so I'll leave the straps and clamps on until Monday. Then we'll see what happens. But then again I may just leave them on the 8-12 weeks.

Marshal

[SDguy]

OMG I'm so sorry...that sucks! I guess it's a good thing that it was the overflow seam?

[pledosophy]

The aluminum is in the tank?

[HBtank]

Is that the only corner without euro bracing? I am not all that familiar with those types of tanks but the pictures show it at the edges of the overflow, but not at the corner..

Man, just another nightmare to add to my list. Glad you were able to stop it from being a total loss...

I feel the need to go put together an emergency bracing kit for my tank now.. lol. Got me all worried.

What do you think was the cause?

[chaffey]

weird, overflow box join hold less water and I don't think there is that much pressure compared to other joins. It also re-enforced by the box on each panel.

[CAreefer]

Thanks guys.

Aluminum is outside tank.

Tank was custom built in late '04 by a well known manufacturer in SoCal. Upon delivery I questioned the fact that the eurobracing stopped at the overflow, they assured me it would be fine, and if not any issues would be immediately rectified. Within 6 months the back 6' pane of glass looked like a piece of spaghetti. Had 3/16" deflection from the end of the bracing to the corner. Went through my dealer to get a replacement tank with proper bracing, their only solution to me was to return the tank (at my expense) and they would replace the rear glass (not fix the design flaw) and return it (at my expense) in 6-8 weeks. Not acceptable to me. I went so far as to offer to buy a new tank at their cost, and they could have mine back to fix and resell, they say no go. As you can see, this has been a long standing battle that has had a predictable ending.

Here is pretty bad pic from Jan '05. You can just see in the boxed area where the bracing ends, the bend in the glass back towards the corner.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x255/CAReefer/Reef%20tank/Tankback2.jpg

Marshal

[aquarius77]

Thats a beautiful tank and its obvious you care about it very much. I understand your frustration. I know nothing about design of tanks and euro brace but i see your point and its pretty obvious you had good reason for concern.

[Hop]

Man I couldn't sleep with that! I would go grab a couple 100 gallon rubbermaid troughs and get everything moved... I would be having a major anxiety attack!

[Bebo77]

That sucks... glad to see you caught it early... i would hate to see something happen to that tank...

[Mr31415]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10289097#post10289097 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chaffey
weird, overflow box join hold less water and I don't think there is that much pressure compared to other joins. It also re-enforced by the box on each panel.

Pressure is a function of water depth - not water volume. Thus the overflow box would have almost the same pressure than the rest of the tank (since the overflow is usually little underneath the main water level)