Woke up to a leak today :(

[adamt]

Well as the title says I woke up this morning and noticed the little rug in front of my tank was all wet. I figured the skimmer had overflowed or that my cats knocked something over, and cleaned up the mess and prepared to go to work. As I was cleaning behind the tan I noticed a slight drip from the bottom seam of my deep blue professional 65g. Upon closer inspection I realized the whole bottom brace had shifted. Called up the lfs i got the tank from and since it is only about a month old they said they can replace for free. Thankfully i still have the 45 gal sitting around so i moved everything in there (with the help of matt and reefnoob, ty soooo much guys) and only suffered a few casualties. As I was making the switch the leak got progressively worse to the point that water was streaming out on all sides of the bottom brace.

Now I have never heard of a tank leaking after a month and a half, Ive heard of them going during the leak test or after ten to fifteen years. Needless to say I am pissed off. In 15 years Ive never had this problem with an aga tank, and I was told by my lfs this tank was better.

Do I have any recourse with deep blue (aka royal pet supply). They are replacing the tank, but I also damaged a wavemaker, lost a day of work, now have to replace at least 40 lbs of sand, and some of my corals and 1 fish are not gonna make it. I would hope that they would atleast replace the wavemaker and the live sand. We put a LOT of trust in aquarium manufacturers and I feel like in return they should stand by there products. I understand if i knock the tank over or use and innapropriate stand or drop a rock in it and it breaks that its my fault, but none of that happened. I have an aga stand, the system has been running for a while, there were no rocks leaning against any side of the tank.... basically nothing i did caused this tank to leak.

And the worst part is that its really scared me to the point that Im not sure Im comfortable having an aquarium any more.

Im really bummed out and would love some feed back
-Adam

 

[albano]

hopefully, they don't try to blame it on a 'wavemaker'!

 

[guarda]

That really sucks Adam. Had 10 gallons on the floor a while back. Thanks for reminding me to get a wet/dry vac.

 

[adamt]

I dont think so, It was just a powerstrip with alternating 20 second timers for powerheads... its not like a surge tank or a wave box. I actually just spoke to someone from royal (not pleased to be talking to me since i dont own a store but w/e) and they said they would replace the sand but i have to do it through my lfs, whos less than thrilled about doing it.

Another disturbing part of this, Deep blue has no public face. Their website has no contact info and theres really no way to consult someone about their products if there is a problem.

I also really would like to thank reefnoob and matt for helping me out. Im sure they had better stuff to do today (maybe not but still lol) and it was incredibly cool of them to come help me out. I was literally frozen when this happened and if Rick hadnt come over and snapped me out of it things would have been WAY worse...so from the the absolute bottom of my heart thank you guys. I hope I never have to, but i am more than willing to return the favor someday should the need arise.

Adam

 

[ming]

When a tank gives a warranty, its usually a warranty for the tank itself and not its contents or equipments. Although I don't know how a whole bottom brace moves.

 

[adamt]

When a tank gives a warranty, its usually a warranty for the tank itself and not its contents or equipments. Although I don't know how a whole bottom brace moves.

I understand that companies dont normally replace everything that their product may have damaged if it was defective, but the bottom line is I took the tank despite the fact that I had asked for an aga aquarium because i was told by my lfs that it was a higher quality product. I really dont care where the compensation for the damage comes from, but when a company makes a product that is intended for a certain use, and there is damage caused as a result of a defect I dont feel like i should have to pay to fix the problem. If a car company built a car that was defective and as a result that car damaged other property Im pretty sure that the manufacturer is responsible for that loss. Idk Im just venting cus im pissed but i dont think I should have to lay out money to fix a situation that was not caused by me a month after a purchase, but who knows I could be completely wrong.

I dont really get it either but there was about a 1/16" gap between the tank and the brace that wasnt there when I bought the tank.

 

[batt600]

What kind of wave maker is it if it a redsea theres a fuse in side the box it probably blow.

 

[adamt]

its a natural wave. I opened it up and dried it out... it seems to be working now. I spoke with the guy at the lfs and told him im not really interested in trying another deep blue tank. I asked him to please get me an aga tank and ill pay if theres any diff. in price. I dont know if i broke some sort of rule of ettiquite but he wasnt happy about doing it. I spoke to royal and i know theyll credit him the cost of the tank, and i said id make up for the price diff (although i dont feel like i should have to cus when he quoted me a price I had asked for aga) so I dont really see what the problem is, but who knows maybe im expecting too much, even if the tank was only a month old and i missed a day of work, broke a red planet frag, and messed up my floor due to the defective tank that he suggested

 

[NYreefNoob]

adam np anytime, everything doing ok now ?

 

[adamt]

yeah the temp set up looks awesome actually lol, the water is crystal clear and its kinda cool having so much open water above the corals. def. gonna set up the new tank in a similiar fashion.

Rick do you think im being unreasonable asking al to get me an aga tank and paying any diff. in price instead of getting another deep blue?

 

[NYreefNoob]

doubt he will do it, manufacturers wont give u a upgrade because of a failed product. id definatley water test new one first. not that it matters cause took a month for this one to go. also lay a lavel across the top of the stand make sure there is no bowing or warpage to the stand where tank sits

 

[adamt]

im not looking for an upgrade, when i got the tank he told me it was nicer than the aga. I just want a refund so I can buy an aga tank from him. I spoke with royal and they said theyd refund the money. i originally told him i wanted an aga tank, and he told me I was getting a better tank with the deep blue. If the aga tank costs more, I dont mind paying the difference, I just dont trust the deep blue tank. I cant risk this happening again, my fiance is already pissed and if it happened again id prolly have to break it down for good.

 

[Red Terror]

Sorry about your tank, I hope everything gets resolved!

 

[jadakiss]

wow crazy happy everything turned well

 

[mqur1963]

well i started my hobby last year with 92 gal then jan /2010 switch to 150 gal tank every thing was fine untill 4 month ago i got a call at work at 3
;30 am by my 12 years old son dad fish tank is leaking it was perfecto .
the time i made it to home from work 35 min. drive 90% water was gone in to my basement and lots of coral were dryed most of them died i bouht tank second hand it was told to me tank was 2years old i had tank for 2 month before it start to leak and let it go in 10 min. one thing i learn never buy use tank by brand new tank so i bought brand new 150 gal tank.

 

[johnsonlee42]

Hey Adam, sorry to hear about the leak - it sounds like the most harrowing thing to wake up to. It happened to me a few weeks ago and the same thing went through my mind - is this hobby worth it enough to have to deal with the anguish of something like this just occuring randomly?? The worst part of it is that there's a lot out of your control, and all you can do is deal with as it comes.