• The breakdown of my 280-gallon reef tank

    For now, the leak was stopped, the tank was braced and it gave me some time to breathe. I was able to contact a few others to discuss my plan, and it permitted me to procrastinate on the actual repair a little longer. I’m comfortable working with acrylic, but haven’t worked with glass and silicone before.

    The plan was to cut out the old silicone and apply new sealant, then let it cure for a day or two. Using a small piece of mirrored acrylic, I inspected the area to determine what had to be mended. However, as I cut out the old silicone, I watched bubbles moving up and down within the seam in the area beneath. I cut down further, but the bubbles traveled south. When I reached down to the base of the temporary dry area and watched the bubbles travel even further below where the water was, it was clear to me that the seam was unsalvageable and the tank would have to be broken down. I could press on the seam with my fingertip and watch the bubbles force their way up and out, but when I released the pressure the bubbles returned in greater volume. Fighting back a wave of panic, I knew there was nothing that could be applied inside or outside the tank to hold it together long-term. The other clamp had to be used, and the only way to do that was to bore a hole through the sheetrock. Moments later, the second clamp was in place, holding the front panel as well.



    New silicone was applied to the area that I’d cut away only as a stop-gap measure; it clearly wouldn’t have the strength to hold the tank’s walls together. Sharing the news within the social networks, offers of assistance quickly came in. We discussed various ideas, and made arrangements to breakdown the tank on Sunday, the 4th of July.

    Some time back, I’d acquired two 200-gallon containers in anticipation of such an eventuality, but I never considered how I would get them inside the house. They were ten inches wider than the largest entry point. Whoops. Fortunately a week before, I’d purchased a 100-gallon Rubbermaid trough from a club member. Another friend offered to loan me a matching trough. I decided I’d plumb these two vats over to the sump in the fishroom to maintain filtration. By Sunday afternoon, we had the vats in the kitchen, and the basic needs ascertained to make a quick trip to Home Depot. I purchased some concrete blocks to elevate one vat higher than the other, and 30’ of SpaFlex tubing. I had a bunch of Uniseals at the ready, recently given to me by another club member – I figured they’d come in handy. How fortuitous all these transactions fell into place at the perfect time. The kitchen table was placed in front of the tank as a makeshift scaffold instead of working off chairs or a ladder. The upper vat was supported with foam, then a concrete block, then a concrete pad, then a sheet of plywood. The foam protected the ceramic tile floor and allowed for any variance of the flooring. The lower vat was placed on a sheet of foam as well.













    We drilled the vats for the new plumbing, and glued the sections leading to the sump. New return plumbing was run from the Dart return pump to the upper vat, which completed a circular loop with the temporary holding vats. This did require that I either remove the door to the fishroom for the SpaFlex tubing, or I’d have to cut a hole in the sheetrock. The latter idea was the better one, so I quickly cut out what was in the way to route the new tubing through the wall into the fishroom.





    Comments 22 Comments
    1. Snakebyt's Avatar
      Snakebyt -
      awesome post documenting the whole ordeal, I really hate to see this tank coming down, but i also look foreward to the new one taking its place, it will be amazing im sure
    1. upster's Avatar
      upster -
      Thanks a bunch, that was a great read. I was amazed that you found the sand bed un-clumped. How long did the entire tear down take?
    1. melev's Avatar
      melev -
      We had it down in a matter of hours. Maybe five, as we didn't have to rush fortunately. There was some prep time with the vats & plumbing, but the tank was empty for all but that last two fish in hiding by 10pm, which is when we went out for dinner.
    1. agsansoo's Avatar
      agsansoo -
      Six years to build ... five hours to take down. Ouch ! Question: How long is the silicone seams suppose to last in an aquarium ? I've heard around 5 years.
    1. Ryan's Avatar
      Ryan -
      Wow Marc, that is some setup to get all that livestock into. I hope I can help with something on your new tank. I know it can't be fun to go through all of that, but at least you have a lot of people to help you through it. Just in the last year or so of being in this hobby I know you've helped me out a bunch with your knowledge and I really appreciate it. Let me know if I can help in any way...even if it is grunt work.
      This is definitely interesting.
    1. jays333's Avatar
      jays333 -
      Marc,Thanks for documenting this in such a calm and systematic manner. There are many opportunities for disaster in our micro worlds, and you have proven they can be dealt with. Looking forward to the updates. My wife's reaction was "This could happen to us?........."
    1. Elchicano's Avatar
      Elchicano -
      Thanks for documenting the whole ordeal..After reading this blog I think just about everyone ran to there tank to checks there seams ..
    1. Wes's Avatar
      Wes -
      great photo breakdown marc, thanks for taking the time to put this together. i like that animated gif you made
    1. melev's Avatar
      melev -
      Jessy made that gif. Have you had any luck with the iPhone video yet, Wes?
    1. Hat39406's Avatar
      Hat39406 -
      Great documentation! I bet it was a great relief when you had everything out of the tank.
    1. NightShade's Avatar
      NightShade -
      It's sad to see everything happen that way but at least you caught the leak before a major failure happened. And can't wait to see what you get going.
    1. mro2you2's Avatar
      mro2you2 -
      Which one is Drewlicious????
      sorry about your tank. I am sad that a tank I envy is gone
    1. Cookiejar's Avatar
      Cookiejar -
      Great job with the pictures and descriptions. you had me rolling on the floor with the description of the 'niagra falls' from the pond liner folding. Moving aquariums and flooded floors go together like peanut butter & jelly.
      Looking forward to seeing how your new tank setup goes. Best of luck with everything!
    1. Ownzordage's Avatar
      Ownzordage -
      Holy cow!! Good job keeping a level head and thinking everything thoroughly through before doing this. I hope most-everything survives.
    1. Rachel's Avatar
      Rachel -
      This is simply heartbreaking. I look forward to hearing about your new tank. I hope all your fish and coral survived the tragedy.
    1. melev's Avatar
      melev -
      So far so good. I just posted a blog with a bunch of pictures of the livestock today.
    1. seapug's Avatar
      seapug -
      unbelievable. what an incredible, epic article. Something tells me that system of troughs and lighting rack is going to end up as a permanent addition somewhere in your house. Has the time come to turn the garage into a coral propagation facility?
    1. melev's Avatar
      melev -
      If the garage wasn't unbearably hot, that would be a possibility. With the new tank, I'd really like to build a nice quarantine system to incorporate in the room, but a friend just suggested I get a coral propagation tank set up to start selling corals to pay some of the supplies I use on a monthly basis. I've never been big on selling corals, as I just wanted them to get bigger. I doubt I sell 10 frags a year.
    1. Chris Witort's Avatar
      Chris Witort -
      Does this make you consider acrylic rather than glass on the next aquarium. The durability is what made me go acrylic. I love the scratch resistance of glass but the idea of inevitable seam failure sealed the deal(so to speak) for me.
    1. mhowe9's Avatar
      mhowe9 -
      Marc, having this system set up for a little over three months now. Is there any thing that you would do differently? or any long term issues that you ran into. I am shortly going to be doing something similar as I upgrade my tank.