Disaster Strikes!

[Europhyllia]

woke up to the sounds of over 60 gallons rushing through the house
apparently dragging the aquarium over the tile floor to it's new destination wasn't such a good idea.
Everything seemed fine until around 1:30 when the sound of massive amount of water woke us.
held the crack together and siphoned off as much as we could into alton's 100g tub.
evacuated all but one fish into the 10g QT I had running.
what now? I don't know.
feeling wimpy for taking 4 hours emptying the aquarium this morning as I apparently can also do it in 30 minutes
still in shock.
not sure what next?
keep corals in 100g? buy other tank off craiglist until mine comes in?

[ramsey]

Holy cow! That's terrible and has to be one of my worst nightmares! I'm really sorry to hear that. If you need a home for some of your corals until your tank comes in, your more than welcome to keep them with me. Also, I still have the plug for the stock tank if you need it. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help!

[Europhyllia]

thanks ramsey.
not sure what to do yet.
I can't even pick up a temporary one from craiglist because the truck sprung a gas leak and won't be repaired until Monday.
How long can my fish ride it out in the little 10g?
would the MAAST library 30g give them a better chance?
Can I keep the corals in the stock tank? For how long?
Got to go buy a stock tank so I can return this to alton as soon as the gas leas is fixed.
Leaky weekend... turning into a real money leak!

[ramsey]

What fish do you have? I have a 30g tank that's cycled and only has a couple of turbo snails and some macro in it. I'm gonna set it up as a seahorse tank but ATM, I have nothing in it. I also have a 10g frag tank with a pistol shrimp, a few hermits and snails. You're more than welcome to put you fish in these if you'd like. Also, the offer stands to put your corals in my 175g if need be. I'll PM you my number.

[ramsey]

Also, I would think they'd do fine in that stock tank as long as there's water circulation and light. Also, a hang on filter may not be a bad idea if you can swing it. I know that some coral farmers use them as frag tanks. Also, make sure you don't get a tank with a brass plug. The first one I bought had a brass plug and I returned it for rubber maid. In case you don't know, there's copper in brass.

[Europhyllia]

Thanks! I'll try and catch some sleep and think about my options again in the morning. Right now everything is safe.

[allan]

Karin,

We have a 125 tank in maast that we were going to use for exactly this reason. We had decided to raffle it off at the next thing... but I wonder if you could use that while waiting for the big tank to come in.

[Mike]

This has my vote. Allan, if Karin is interested I am sure the rest of the BOD would agree to this use. I have a truck and we can help deliver it later this afternoon. I will pm Karin and Eve and see if they want to do that.

[bullstedman]

I have a 65 you can barrow till you get a new tank. that just happend to me 3 weeks ago. text me at 512 665 7348:cry_smile:

[Europhyllia]

Thanks for considering this.
I am going to have to look closely at the stand to make sure it is safe to place another tank on it (in case something we did to the stand while we moved it with the tank on it caused the aquarium to burst). I'd hate to do this again...

[Europhyllia]

wow bullstedman that sounds great. 65 should be easier to transport and return. Thanks.
Let me see what we can come up with.
Can't do anything until the truck is fixed...

[txmike]

We have a 125 that needs cleaning, but the wife and I are willing to deliver it to you if you need it. You can always put it on the stand and not fill it all of the way. I can always add some braces to your stand if you are not confident in it. The wife and I were able to move the 125 by ourselves, so we can always get it into your house. We are going to PM you our number in case you want to call.

[Mike]

The MAAST loaner comes with the stand and everything... we have not heard from Eve. We can call her if it is something you want to do...

[Europhyllia]

Mike and Kristy,
thanks so much for the offer. Awesome offer especially with the delivery and much appreciated.
However I think we will pick up a cheap smaller tank from craiglist as soon as we have access to our truck again (or we can look into renting a truck today). After this experience I don't want to chance borrowing a tank. I'd rather not be responsible for it.

It's been a crazy week. Usually we have 3 vehicles available -now we're down to 1. First we had to get one car to the shop (still there) because my husband hit a deer on the way to work. Then the truck developed a gas leak. Then the tank burst overnight. Not superstitious but I don't feel comfortable borrowing anything right now...
Some of the wooden boards in the living room are already curling. There was so much water it actually came through the wall out onto the front porch.
My poor fish. I wonder how many will survive? Erik had his transfer go so smooth and still lost so many fish.
Mine has been such a disaster and probably was way more stressful on my fish and corals. I wonder what will be left when the new tank is ready to accept inhabitants...

[txmike]

We basically paid $40 for the 125. It is not a big deal--it doesn't have a stand though. If something were to happen to it, you could either give us $40 or frags when your new tank is up and running. It really isn't a problem. We still don't know what we are going to do with it--either sell it eventually or make it a huge vivarium--but that is way down the road. I have the 130 to work on and we still have two vivariums and a turtle tank to build. Give me a call and we can discuss--no need stressing out those little fishies and beautiful coral! :)

[txmike]

We also have a 55 that isn't drilled, but no stand. We got that one for free. Let us know.

[kkiel02]

If you need anything let me know

[alton]

Karin I pmed you, sorry about getting back to you so late and your nightmare. Maybe you could use the 100 gallon tub for your temp setup. I don't need it back for a while and I don't need the pump till next weekend so no hurry to get it back.

[Mike]

If it smaller you need and want to pick up in a car, we have a 20g long and metal stand in our garage. I got it free and it is just sitting there. MAAST also has that 30g in the library you could check out. Between those, you should be able to split up the fish and corals and hopefully make it through okay. Good luck- shout if you need anything..

[Europhyllia]

found a 75g on craiglist but they said it's been in the garage for 2 years. do you think that's too risky to get (silicone getting brittle maybe?)

[kkiel02]

I have a 60 gallon(looks like a 55 just taller) that is drilled, a 56 gallon oceanic sump that could be used and a 10 gallon qt. You could use any of these if you want. Also have a cpr hob skimmer and a hob filter or two. If you need any of these let me know.

[tebstan]

found a 75g on craiglist but they said it's been in the garage for 2 years. do you think that's too risky to get (silicone getting brittle maybe?)

Wouldn't risk it if you're in a hurry...
I'm an awful pack rat and stored tanks in the attic, in the garage, in closets... Wouldn't put water in a one of them without resealing.

[ErikH]

If you need the tub, let me know. Sorry about your dilemma, sounds like no fun. :(

[Europhyllia]

well we decided to pick up a new 30g tank to keep. with that many fish a bigger qt will be nice to have long term.
I am also in love with alton's stock tank. I know if we hadn't moved the tank partially full and shook it up it probably would have never burst and of course the move was the reason we had alton's tub in the first place. But last night it was so very perfect to be able to pull that big tub in and drain at least 50 of the 125 gallons into that tub.
As soon as the truck runs again I'll get a new tub at Tractor supply (with plastic fittings - good point ramsey!) and return alton's tub and pump.
Corals, clams and most of the rock will stay in the big tub until the new tank cycles while the fish will have to wing it in the new 30g (with a CPR skimmer and some of the old liverock of course)
Hopefully the new tank will be ready for set up in a couple of weeks.
I'll overnight me some Fritz (http://www.fritzpet.com/turbo-start-900/) and should have the new tank ready for cautious move in 4 weeks from now.

THANK YOU ALL for your generous offers and kind support. This has definitely been a major bummer. Not sure I'd even bother continuing if I didn't already have a tank on order. Right now cats and horses are a lot more fun than fish...

[Mr Cob]

Late to this thread. Sorry to hear about this Karin. Glad you found a solution. As you know, I have lots of spare equipment laying around for the tank build in a couple of months...so if you need anything just let me know.

Ugh! I hate thinking about all the things that can or could go "bad" with our systems. Just glad we have a place like MAAST to all come together.

[ZeroHour]

I have 3 massive HOB's if you still need some filtration, also have a 29 with an overflow box and a 20L sump and stand for 60$ and I could prob deliver if you didnt already get the 30.

The 29 also has an eclipse hood with lights Its safe only been drained a month and a half.

[alton]

Karin keep the tub for a month, I don't need it. In a month or whenever your new tank comes in you can borrow the pump and hose again.

[Europhyllia]

Thanks Alton, truck should get new o-rings this afternoon and will be able to bring everything back on Wednesday. :) Thanks so much

I actually may change my mind again and go with a used temporary tank. I found a nice looking 75g reef ready tank with sump and plumbing (even SQWD) and stand here locally that was still up and running until recently. Worst part is the stand is black and won't go with any of our furniture but it would only be for a couple of month and would take the pressure of getting the new one up and running.
I'll know by tonight if I want to pursue this.

[RayAllen]

Karin I really feel for you. You have been hit by a plague of problems the last few months. Keep your head up! You are a truely dedicated reefer and I know you will bounce back from this. Not sure if there is anything I can do to help but if so let me know.

On a side note its things like this that scare the heck out of me. Id rather have a disease outbreak tank crash versus the tank itself busting open. My 180g I know is at least 10years old probably. Im the 3rd owner. Doesnt have the best silicone, but it is a old Oceanic and they built them to last. Never had a tank split a seam on my ( I just knocked on wood!) Hope to never have the misfortune.

[roscozman]

Sorry to hear about this Karen. We were out of town this weekend and did not read until now. Yes, Eve and I are holding a 135gal for MAAST. It is RR and does have a everything needed for emergency set-up - Stand, sump and pump.

[Europhyllia]

On a side note its things like this that scare the heck out of me. Id rather have a disease outbreak tank crash versus the tank itself busting open. My 180g I know is at least 10years old probably. Im the 3rd owner. Doesnt have the best silicone, but it is a old Oceanic and they built them to last. Never had a tank split a seam on my ( I just knocked on wood!) Hope to never have the misfortune.
I am pretty sure it was our fault. If you looked at the silicone it actually was still perfect, elastic, no curling etc.
I thought we'd drag it a couple of feet across the tile floor. My husband thought it would go faster if he picked up one side off the ground and I pushed on the other side. We had drained the water but left the sand in so there was quite a bit of weight on the bottom.
When he picked it up and I moved it forward I heard a rip sound but couldn't see anything so figuring it must have just pulled a little on the wood stand.
In retrospect the torque on the tank half suspended, being moved with the weight inside of it shifting must have weakened the structural seam in that corner.
Just one of those things where a small mistake leads to major repercussions. It's not one of the most forgiving hobbies.
Had we taken the time to:
a) empty the sand
b) push it across rather than lift on one side and shove on the other
it probably would have turned out just fine. As usual hurrying things really gets you in this hobby.

That being said somebody running the faucet at full blast in the next room now really makes my heart beat faster. I don't think I'll ever look at tanks the same way again. Kind of scared of the 215 coming. lol. Yay for nanos!

We got extra boards and will yank up the floor and replace the damaged ones in a few weeks when the new tank is done. The main thing now will be for all of the fish to survive.
Super crammed to have them all in a 10g. Saltwater is ready and they will either move into that temp 75g tonight or the new 30g QT...

[Kristy]

Karin,
I keep coming back to this thread for updates and every time I do, I notice that I have stopped breathing and am holding my breath for you in anxiety over your fish... I know how you love them so!

*Exhale*... glad to hear there is a plan to put them in more water tonight. Sharing 10g sounds awfully stressful. We upgraded from 100g to 210g a couple of years ago and ended up losing only two fish in the process - a yellow tailed blue damsel and a blue/green chromis, both of which we had talked about finding another home for in the upgrade but had run out of time and energy! They were floating in a bag for temp acclimation and somehow that bag got sucked up and squished in such a way that there was no oxygen for them. So, floating too many bags in the tank at once to reintroduce our fish turned out to be our only real mistake (just did not notice that bag because there were so many floating at once).

Our fish were in one of those 100g livestock tubs like Alton's with only a couple of rocks and a couple of PVC pipes for hiding places, a heater and a powerhead going, and an egg crate thrown over the top for discouraging fish-jumping as well as cat curiosity. The fish did just fine in there for the estimated 36 hours transition. Our corals were all in 30g Rubbermaid tubs with no lighting and just a Koralia I think - might have been a heater too bc Mike is super-compulsive about temp stability.

It was a ton of work and a very long weekend... but it can be done! I honestly think Erik's mistake (Erik, chime in and let me know what you think) is that he got a tad over-confident after it had gone so smoothly and added too much new livestock too quickly after the upgrade, not giving the system enough of a chance to adjust, etc.

Anyway, please learn how to ask for help / accept offered help. ;) Look at all these amazingly generous offers. Next time you need to move a heavy tank, even just across the room, post it up here and you'll have a line of able-bodied men at your door in an hour (my husband probably being one of them!)

[Europhyllia]

picking up 75g today at 6pm

Hang on little fishies!
Urchins cease eating my precious dragon's breath macro RIGHT NOW!

[Mr Cob]

Right on!

Bag up some of that macro if they can't keep their little spines off...!

[Europhyllia]

new tank is now in dining room. I don't 'love' it but I think it will be functional and hopefully I can resell it in a couple of months without too much of a loss.
I love that the front opens up completely and access to the sump is so easy. The reef ready drain is also very nice.
I am waiting for the kids to go to bed before I start acclimating the fish...

[Europhyllia]

first casualties:
coral:
frogspawn and duncan -eaten by the rainbow acan echinata (too close in holding tank after emergency evacuation :(
I love Duncans and this Duncan frag was doing excellent. Same with the Euphyllia - my fraging fundamentals freebies!

fish:
small blue gold escensius blenny - RIP Goldie!