My tank broke!!!

[jscarlata]

Oh man nothing like a fish emergency on a holiday! Woke up to my wife screaming up the stairs, she burst into my room and said my tank leaked. First though was an overflow of some sort, then she days it's half full! Holy $hit, I get up as quick as i can, I had back surgery 10 days ago, and go down to the basement. Sure enough the tank is 80%empty. On closer look the back wall has a crack from the upper left corner to the lower right and it's dripping out slowly. I have no salt water made and only a 10g tank standing by. I filled the 10g, moved all the corals and all the fish over while my RO is filling my 20g rubbermaid pail. I don't even think petco has 46g bowfronts and i doubt pets warehouse is open today. What are the odds I can keep things alive till tomorrow using these containers?
I'm so bummed, I'm not even physically able to maneuver a new tank around, and even worse I heard the magic words from the mrs and I can't do much about it...."you have to get a new tank".... To me a "new" tank = a bigger tank, not the same size!!!!! Argh!!!! This blows!!!! Anyone near garden city have a 65-90g tank and stand they want to get rid of?

Btw how long will live rock last out of the water?

 

[BYU]

I have a 30 gallon tank you could have
someone gave it too me i never used it, it was fresh water
its old and used but if you want it you could have it as a temp solution
im in albertson 15 min away
pm me if you want

 

[NYreefNoob]

go to walmart or hd and get some rubbermade containers and sorry to hear if ya was closer id bring some over

 

[jscarlata]

Thanks guys
I'm making some water now using esv, just wondering what to do w the live Rock that is still in the tank, mostly drying out. Thinking it should go in a separate bucket(s) than the fish in case it's dying off. I have a few pieces in my 10g with the animals.
Oh man this sucks

 

[dubcity03]

go to walmart or hd and get some rubbermade containers and sorry to hear if ya was closer id bring some over

1+

 

[NYreefNoob]

on a side note this is why i keep around 40g of spare ro water, ive had situations and always help to have alot of extra ro water laying around. the rock needs to be kept wet or you will go through another cycle when u put it back into new tank

 

[NL146]

Sorry to hear about your predicament. After a couple of hours you will have die-offs on the drying rock so imo you should keep it separate from the fish to avoid problems with ammonia and nitrates. Just don't overdo it with your back.

 

[bizzarro]

Petco may carry a 46G, I've seen many non standard rectangular and they would be open today. If anything have the $1/gallon for rectangular tanks.

Definitley keep the LR seperate in a tank or rubbermaid and try to have some filtration or circulation to prevent some die off. Even transporting it, half exposed to the air for 1 hr had a stench.

 

[jscarlata]

Man this blows
I usually have my 20g runbbermaid with salt water, i just used the last o it last night , planned to make a new batch today. I keep a sep container with fresh but it too was near empty

I got the rubbermaid full to 15g, mixed the water and tested it 1.025. Just transferred the rock to it, now filling 15g bucket with RO.

Did a 2g water change from the 10 too before puttin the rock into the rubbermaid.


To make this even more of a nightmare my wife is sick, and I have. 4 yr old boy w ADHD so I can't keep him under control, let her rest and try to save everything.

Talk about worlds crashing down, I must have done something to deserve this.

So my next question is whAt stresses could cause the back wall of glass to crack at an angle, top left to lower right. Pretty darn sure everything was level left to right and front to back

 

[lfsmarineguy]

What kind of stand is it on and is it even?

 

[jscarlata]

Update
Everything seems ok, all the fish are alive, breathing hiding and swimming. Most of the corals look ok, technically still night for them. All love rock is in a big bucket with a mag 5 running. I have abt 10-12g of fresh saltwater mixed in another bucket.
Did 2 1g water changes on the 10g.

Ammonia tests at btw 0-.25 using API test.
All the sand is in the main tank still under water with maybe an inch of water over it.

Now I need to figure out what to do, do I get a new 46bow, or try to find another 36" long tank and stand that's larger capacity. Without a lot of work in my shop I can't easily fit anything else. Funny thing is I've been thinking about planning my upgrade, but that wasn't going to be a reality for a few years. In order to fit a big tank I have an 8ft workbench from the 1960's that needs to be dismantled and removed. I can't physically do that work for at least 4-5 months, I had lumbar spinal fusion on the 23rd!

So, as for the 10g tank, there is at Least 10lbs of rock in there, will that be enough bio or should I go get a power filter? When i tested the water w the live rock it too tested @ 0-.25 Amm.

What level of ammonia becomes toxic?

Lfsmarineguy- it's on an aga/aqueon bow front stand, a solid wood stand.

 

[JonnyJ]

I would add a hang on filter and have it run with just a filter pad or floss. It will help oxygenate the water.


You don't want any ammonia present. Continue doing water changes til the ammonia is not present. ammonia is the killer.

Monitor the water closely and if you cant do water changes you can run some amquel to lower the ammonia.

I recently broke down my system and have everything in a 10 gallon with a heater, powerhead and a hang on filter. I do a 2 gallon change a week.


When doing water changes I drain out two gallons then replace by syphoning two fresh gallons out of a small air tube so there isn't much of a swing.

I have been doing this for a few weeks now and everything is fine.

The more established rock you can fit the better. Jet make sure you leave room for flow and fish.

Keep feedings to a minimum and syphon out any left over food.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Sometimes the wood stands swell over time from either repeated spills or moisture in the room. I've seen a few tanks that seemed to pop out of nowhere and when we got there and removed everything you could see that some of the stand had swelled and created pressure on one side. It doesn't happen very often but it can.

 

[jscarlata]

A friend has an old 150 & stand he hasn't used in many years. I'm assuming it would need to be re-siliconed, but I don't really know. If a tank is used, then stored dry for years, does the silicone go bad?

If I did that, my only short term expenses would be sand, some rock, and a tank to use as a sump. I've got enough pumps to run a 150 well, and I have a Bermuda bp3s skimmer which is plenty strong for 150g. I would need more light at some point but not a necessity right now.

Just need to figure out if the seals are still good. If it's not good, where could I take it to get re-sealed?

Tks for the advice above, I do have a small powerhead with air going for flow and oxygen. I have a fluval internal filter, I'll go get some pads for it, I can run plain pads, they may have something with ammo chips too need to see, don't think pets whouse is open today.

Hoping they can survive with a little ammonia for a few hours. Trying not to let this ruin the kids day so we took them to the town pool for a bit.

Jared you may be onto something, I've had a. Lot o skimmer overflows since I started it running. The challenge to the location was that there are floor drains in the basement, a good thing and a bad thing. The floor drain is right by the tank, good, but the floor slopes toward the drain, so I had to build up a small platform to level the floor under the tank. It was solid but after all the spills, who knows, maybe it shifted. Guess I'll find out soon enough.

 

[reefman]

i would not trust a tank if it needs to be re-seal. the risk r not worth it. as u can see how much trouble a leak tank is (150 would be even more disastrous). get a new tank n the piece of mind is well worth it.

 

[jscarlata]

I get you, but does an old tank need to be resealed?

 

[nate82]

I get you, but does an old tank need to be resealed?

Not uniformly, only if its wearing down. Youd have to inspect it and decide for yourself

 

[jscarlata]

Update
All fish inverts and corals seem to be doing great, they're cramped but fine, everyone is eating, although they're very hungry bec I'm only feeding a pinch or two of flakes. The only coral that looks bad are the duncans, they seem to be very droopy and uninflated. Tonight i was stunned to see polyp extension on my 3 sps frags; one is a marshall Island bottlebrush and even in the main tank it had no PE, but today they were coming out. Been changing a gallon or so a day, ammonia is about zeroed. Rocks are in a big brute with a mag5 running, minimal ammonia. Started working on the sand today, still have some work to do. My fuge, part of the sump, was still full, so I looked in it today. The cheato is dying but i saw lots of pods an mysis swimming around; and in the main tank there were pods all over the lower 2" of glass.
I'm stunned and thrilled that nothing was lost. Still working on a tank though....