Long sad night

[Jimnorris]

Last night at about 8:00pm I was walking by my tank and BOOM! As I turned around water was pouring all over the floor.
Well my custom made 45 gallon refu. split right at the seam all the way thru :( Thank goodness for my 6.5 horsepower wetdry! It is amazing how well saltwater will clean a tile floor.
So now my tank is refu. less. I was able to save all the marco algeas and liverock (so if someone needs some now is the time). It pays to have spare tanks lying around!!!!!
The biggest pain was I had to break up the refu. to get it out from under the stand.
Jim

[AlienAnchovies]

ouch, thats gotta suck

[adamRS80]

I was afraid of something worse, like what happened to Minh. I'm sure it was a bummer but at least you didn't lose anything.

[DeletedAccount]

I am sorry, Jim!

[JimD]

Yeah, whew! I was thinking much worse also, good thing it was the refuge and not the............... Lemme know if ya need anything at all.

[Jimnorris]

The fuge. Split right at the seam were it is glue together. Bill custom made it for me---so I am not sure why it split?
Jim

[OldSalty]

Wow Jim,
Good thing you were home. Will you be able to get another one back under the tank? Dan from Dan's Aquaplex (official member) can probably make you another one. He does exceptional work and can make any design you want. Just contact him on the site. user name is Dan.

Good luck
Kelly

P.S. The frags you gave me are doing great. Thanks again for them :-D

[SaltyJim]

Sorry to hear of your troubles Jim...

If you need any help with anything, or some extra tank storage, let me know. I live pretty much just around the corner from you, and can help most anytime.


Jim

[ratboy]

hmm sounds kinda like my night. I was home sick from work and got a call from Greg (Fuzz) saying there was a problem with my 45 reef at work - lots of water on the floor. It ends up the problem was the venturi hose from my skilter( use for movement only) siphoned ~ 15 gallons of water on my office floor. I was there for ~3 hrs wetdry vacing and steam cleaning the carpet. Good thing my boss was out of town!

I hope there isnt a 3rd out there tank waiting to spill its guts!

[360Reef]

Jim,
I can bring you by an tank on Saturday to use as your fuge, I have a 30 long and a 40 tall that I am not using. Let me know.

-Greg

[matt]

Jim;

I assume you're talkng about the large acrylic tank under your 240, right? I bet it was made out of extruded acrylic. If so, eventually the water pressure got to it. Also, solvent welded seams are NOT as strong as the acrylic, contrary to what alot of people think. You need a cast fuge, cemented with M.C. bond or something better than weldon #4. I'm sure Bill could build another; just be sure to use cast this time.

We all breathed a sigh of relief when we read that you didn't lose your amazing livestock in the main tank! Or, even worse, serious damage to your house.

[reefer]

that's terrible news jim, let me know if there is anything i can do!.... and here i thought i had it bad yesterday with a suicidal squirrel that attacked our transformer to our apt. complex....
8)

[z28pwr]

I think my heart stopped there for a minute until I read it was just the sump.

Glad you didn't loose anything I don't even want to imagine how much time and money it would take to replace what's in your tank.

You got me a little scared now with my acrylic sump. Did yours have a top acrylic brace like the acrylic aquariums ?

[Bigreefer]

Jim,

If you need any help moving anything.... I'm just down the street..

Jason

[Triggerman]

jim,

i told you, you need to take insurance out on that tank. next time it could be worse, please don't make me say it again.

ray

[Jimnorris]

Ray,
Home owners thru Allstate. I am in good hands!
Jim

[Sherri]

Jim - When I saw the name of the thread I gasped. Glad to hear it wasn't your main tank. I think we would all cry along with you. Isn't tile a great thing to have?????

[JesterGrin_1]

And what did Bill have to say about all this?

[GaryP]

Jim,

Knowing how Allstate is, they will cancel your policy the first time you file a claim on that tank.

Gary

[matt]

In defense of Bill, I would say that the majority of sumps and refugiums that I have seen are made from extruded acrylic with solvent welds. This is simply a matter of economics, and lack of understanding in the hobby about the different characteristics of cast vs extruded acrylic. Also, the sad truth is that most hobbiests don't keep using their equipment long enough to force sumps and refugia to withstand the test of time. The ONLY reason I keep harping on cast acrylic is due to the MACO courses that I took that were taught by a true plastics expert and engineer. While I couldn't be absolutely sure that: A)Jim's refugium was extruded, and B) this was the cause of it's failure over time, I can say that this is exactly the scenario that we were presented with in the MACO courses about the problem with using extruded for aquarium products, especially large sump/refugiums. Ironically, on expensive show tanks, cast is used for its optical clarity.

Having said this, I hope that this experience of Jim's will teach the rest of us a lesson about building equipment that must withstand constant water pressure over a long period of time. Sorry it had to happen to you, Jim!

[Instar]

The whole thought of this makes my heart skip beats. That must have been a real rush when you saw that!
The supplier for acrylic down here recommends a sealer on top of the glue seem to prevent the salt water from soaking in and weakening the seam and glue. Makes sense to me as I use a water soak to get the glue off me when gluing frags if I don't use a glove. Jim, I know the fuge is a big deal in a way, but so glad it was just that and not more.

[JesterGrin_1]

Gary you are so right Allstate the what you call the good hands people give you the finger if you file a claim.

[GaryP]

Yea, just ask anyone in Calif. that has ever filed a claim. There was something on 60 minutes about that a while back I think. To be fair it wasn't just Allstate but they were the ones that they tagged as being the worst offender.

Gary

[Henry]

Jim, Sorry to hear about the 'fuge. Hope everything is ok.

Just a heads up on the insurance, the tank is not covered by homeowners insurance or any rider/endorsement(that I'm aware of). But if tank failure would occur, the contents of the house and the house itself would be covered for water damage.

[OrionN]

Jim,
Sorry to hear about your trouble. Busy night for sure, but not quite sad yet, IMO. I am very glad that it was not worse for you.
Minh

[Jimnorris]

No I have not talked to Bill about this. Allstate believe it or not got me into reefs!
Jim :D