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melev

The reason for the leak

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by
melev
, 03-28-2012 at 02:58 PM (10609 Views)
I'm not a tank builder so I don't about stress tolerances, but I did find why the water was coming out of the small hole in the seam. Here's the hole.



The inside of the end of the tank with the external overflow is covered with a black acrylic panel which is really just for looks like a facade. The glass box should hold the water. However, somehow the end has given way.





The water getting behind the black overflow doesn't really matter, but the splitting of the vertical seam in these pictures is what allowed water to leak out of the tank.







In this picture below you can see how panel has stretched away from the glass end panel.





Now that water has flowed down within the silicone seam, I don't believe it will hold if mended. If water can channel down and find a gap, it won't tighten up later magically.

And here's an area where the silicone has turned white, which usually means it doesn't have the strong adherence we rely upon.



At least I know where the water came from, exactly.

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  1. newoldandy's Avatar
    Marc, I have been following your builds and hated seeing this post. Must be a terrible feeling but am impressed with the way you seem to be handling it. Keep us updated.
  2. melev's Avatar
    I hope to have some good news to share soon.
  3. canyousee's Avatar
    Went from Mr lucky to water squirting out of your tank,this hobby sure has some real highs and lows. Like every one has said just gut sick over your new tank already leaking just so hard to believe,good luck.
  4. melev's Avatar
    Keep in mind that luck is all in your point of view. Was I lucky to catch it after 1 gallon had spilled? Was I lucky the entire seam didn't let go? Was I lucky I was at home when it happened? Was I lucky all my livestock is alive?

  5. matt_longview's Avatar
    Would the white seam have showed up prior to the fail? Perhaps visually inspecting seams should be added to my maintenance...

    This is the first I had heard that all of your livestock is alive. That's great news!
  6. agsansoo's Avatar
    Lucky you weren't at MAX when this happened !

    I know I brought this up when you were planning this tank ... How about a new acrylic tank (if Marineland doesn't step up). There's a reason most large tanks are made of acrylic. I know they fail also, but I work in the industrial chemical industry (Dap, Dow Chemical ..etc are our customers). I just can't see all the water pressure behind a bead of silicone. Do you know what brand of silicone was used to build your tank ?
  7. blennyman's Avatar
    agsansoo, the reason big tanks are often made of acrylic is because it is more visually appealing to use clear acrylic instead of green tinted thick glass. The pressure on a bead of silicone is only related to the depth of water behind it. A dam designer doesn't have to know how long the reservoir will be, only the water depth and span of a canyon when calculating the necessary thickness of the dam. It makes sense too: if you went to sea world and they sprung the same sized leak on Shamu's tank a foot below the surface, the water would come out at the same rate - implying the same water pressure. It wouldn't explode out with the force of a bomb or something. The glass is thicker because it holds the sum of the pressure (think integral) and braces that bear the real load are fewer between.

    In short, glass needs to scale with tank volume (sort of), but silicone only has to scale with tank depth - and most tanks are under 2.5 ft. in depth unless you're getting crazy. Silicone robustness probably isn't justification to go to acrylic as your tank gets larger - all other things being equal.
  8. agsansoo's Avatar
    blennyman, I am well aware of the mathematics in stress analysis of static or dynamic loads. My concern has to do with adhesion and micro bubbles in silicone.
  9. Jnarowe's Avatar
    Really does look like the acrylic "wall" expanded and stress the seam. I wonder what grade of acrylic was used.
  10. blazzent's Avatar
    Updates? I know your out here at MAX, I couldn't imagine leaving your tank behind with that kind of trouble.
  11. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    Marc, I can't print what my reaction was to seeing this. I hoped for a second an old blog had been bumped.

    Phil
  12. OneReef's Avatar
    Am I understanding this correctly? The overflow box made the water levels uneven in/near the overflow box, which caused unequal pressure on the seams and caused the leak? Just trying to keep up.....ha
  13. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    OneReef, I think the theory is that the lexan panel in front of the overflow was too wide and put extra pressure on the seams.
  14. maroun.c's Avatar
    OUCH.
    Been of the forums lately and its a shock to read about this.
    To think that my tank design is very similar to yours without that acrylic brace though. So I'm hoping it is the cuase of the issue.
    Hope the manufacturer solves it smoothly and quickly for you so that all goes back to normal soon with no losses...
    Are you connecting the temp setup to the existing sump for filtration and dosing...
    this hobby sure got its ups and downs!!!
    Any plans for the temp tank when all is back in place?
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