Nathaniel Whiteside
Member
What a Damn shame 
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A 'little' box of chocolates, licorice n allsorts - baby chocco fry
- Thread starter Alastair
- Start date
Alastair
Member
Thats sucks mate, but better safe than sorry, you don't want to wake up to a flooded living room! Big job also to sort out all that soil, maybe fill it up next time and leave it for a couple weeks before adding the soil!!
I know Paulo, I'm truly gutted but also glad. Had the sun not been shining through I might not even have noticed. I was going to fill with nothing else in it but got a little impatient.
I won't be as eager once it comes back and will leave it a week or so flooded to check then drain and start again.
The ducks will have to wait mate
Alastair
Member
Thanks mate.... a blessing in a sense but seriously deflating...i got a nice shot of it tonight before i take it down tomorrow...What a Damn shame
My thoughts too. They weren't there when it came as westy was scraping off the bits of excess silicone and he nor I saw it so it's happened as its had the full force of water against it.
I'm not as down about it now as I know it will be spot on when it comes back....
Cheers Andy. Glad you liked it. I hope it's not too long before its planted up again but will do the two week empty fill first.
Yep your right your scapes do get better each time but you have been blessed with green fingers lol.
Unfortunately I don't think all my lileaopsis will survive in the storage tub which I'm gutted about. Got lots cheap off here but to buy that much elsewhere will be bloody expensive
Nathaniel Whiteside
Member
I blame Westy.
Lileaopsis is pretty tough in my experience. As long as its got some light and a few nutrients I'd expect it be OK floating for a week or two.
Bufo Bill
Member
I should trust my Jedi instincts more. I felt a great disturbance in the force . . . but I just put it down to the guy infront of me on the bus guffing.
Soz from Bill.
Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
Soz from Bill.
Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
Sorry dude.
Ian Holdich
Member
Don't loose faith mate, it's only gonna be a few more weeks and you can get it going again. You'll be able to get the soil out, it's just a pain. There's A LOT of people waiting for this...don't give up.
Alastair
Member
Ha ha ha
he was articulate with that blade. Very neat.
Great thanks tom. Thats a relief then. Was about to look for an alteenative. Ive been lucky too in that the local fish shop can house my big lump of wood in his big tank so i wont needto pull off all the anubias etc.
I should trust my Jedi instincts more. I felt a great disturbance in the force . . . but I just put it down to the guy infront of me on the bus guffing.
Soz from Bill.
Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
Lol tell me if you feel that again lol.
Sorry dude.
Thanks mate. Will just have to hog your journal for the next two weeks George
Alastair
Member
Im holding on mate i really am. Thanks so much matey. I wont give up im just very very deflated and the next 3 weeks will feel like an eternity.
Won't be giving up, those poor fish have been made to stare at their new home since Saturday that would be cruel lol
Bad times!
I foresee good ones to follow soon....
I foresee good ones to follow soon....
jack-rythm
Member
Umm very sorry to see I have had a couple of these problems and I can safely say it's stress/twisting pressure on the overall tank. Maybe the silicone was not left long enough, maybe it hit a bump in transit and budged, maybe it got lifted by the side pane and not the bottom, maybe it twisted from bring carried with water still in the bottom.. I'm assuming the builder did a 48 hour water test.. Really sorry to hear your struggling mate, when it's all set up again drop Me a message and I'll donate u some plants and what ever I have laying around I think the general reasoning is when glass panes suddenly twist or feel stress when being carried, the weight shifts and the tank fast and precisly twists causing the silicone to tear. I bet the silicon is fine on the inner corners right? It's just torn inbetween the glass joints? It would take a long long long time for it to eventually leak, that's if it ever did (depending on the overall size) I know yours is pretty big so u have done the right thing not continuing. I had this happen on a 300mm cube about a year ago and I still use it in my office today. But that's a very small scale. I wouldn't like to advise you keep it. U have done the right thing mate. It will be back in no time!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
I have had a couple of these problems and I can safely say it's stress/twisting pressure on the overall tank. Maybe the silicone was not left long enough, maybe it hit a bump in transit and budged, maybe it got lifted by the side pane and not the bottom, maybe it twisted from bring carried with water still in the bottom.. I'm assuming the builder did a 48 hour water test.. Really sorry to hear your struggling mate, when it's all set up again drop Me a message and I'll donate u some plants and what ever I have laying around I think the general reasoning is when glass panes suddenly twist or feel stress when being carried, the weight shifts and the tank fast and precisly twists causing the silicone to tear. I bet the silicon is fine on the inner corners right? It's just torn inbetween the glass joints? It would take a long long long time for it to eventually leak, that's if it ever did (depending on the overall size) I know yours is pretty big so u have done the right thing not continuing. I had this happen on a 300mm cube about a year ago and I still use it in my office today. But that's a very small scale. I wouldn't like to advise you keep it. U have done the right thing mate. It will be back in no time!Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
My mate had a similar issue to what you are seeing. He got a tiny leak from the top 1/3 of the silicone on the front of his 3 foot tank. Fixed by applying aquatic silicone from the inside, but a year or two later leaked again same edge but higher up.
Whilst talking to a glazier, he went to a glass shop to see if they could take apart and reseal his tank (they could), the guy explained that this type of failure is due to the bottom of the tank being bowed and placing a shearing force on the top edges of the tank corners. In fact his tank had a leak on one of the back edges as well, but he hadn't noticed. His was front left & back right corner.
The tank had been placed on a small solid wood cupboard unit in his lounge and was originally flat and should have been no problem. However over the years a floor board under one of the cupboard front legs had bowed, as well as the cupboard distorting (side wall bowing out) due to the tank weight. This had caused one corner of the cupboard top to be slightly lower (maybe 0.5cm) than the other corners and it was this bowing that had caused his leak.
Spurred on by this, he built a rather over engineered cupboard (out of 2x4's I think) with a completely flat top. He resealed the leaking tank and that was 12 years ago. I am guessing, as I haven't heard any leaky tank horror stories since then, the tank was fixed.
May I suggest, in the nicest sense, you check you have a flat bottom ?
Of course your tank could also have been assembled "bowed" and when you placed the tank correctly you are shearing the silicone.
Whilst talking to a glazier, he went to a glass shop to see if they could take apart and reseal his tank (they could), the guy explained that this type of failure is due to the bottom of the tank being bowed and placing a shearing force on the top edges of the tank corners. In fact his tank had a leak on one of the back edges as well, but he hadn't noticed. His was front left & back right corner.
The tank had been placed on a small solid wood cupboard unit in his lounge and was originally flat and should have been no problem. However over the years a floor board under one of the cupboard front legs had bowed, as well as the cupboard distorting (side wall bowing out) due to the tank weight. This had caused one corner of the cupboard top to be slightly lower (maybe 0.5cm) than the other corners and it was this bowing that had caused his leak.
Spurred on by this, he built a rather over engineered cupboard (out of 2x4's I think) with a completely flat top. He resealed the leaking tank and that was 12 years ago. I am guessing, as I haven't heard any leaky tank horror stories since then, the tank was fixed.
May I suggest, in the nicest sense, you check you have a flat bottom ?
Of course your tank could also have been assembled "bowed" and when you placed the tank correctly you are shearing the silicone.
Alastair
Member
Jack that's really kind of you to offer some plants when I get it back thank you mate.....
Could be the latter mate as the cabinet was levelled perfectly flat on all sides when made and I massively over engineered the cabinet ans frame lok but there is an ever so slight gradient to the floor which gives the 3mil water level difference along the front but not enough to cause this I dont think. Some very useful info though thank you
Thanks Dean, me too. I hope it's just the week it's away but if two then so be it. Better safe than sorry.
This is where I feel like getting back into co2 to get things growing faster once its back but I'm being good and staying low tech.
Ha ha yeah she can do. She wants to paddle in it so might let her.....
Taking it all down tonight and tomorrow for collection Saturday morning
My mate had a similar issue to what you are seeing. He got a tiny leak from the top 1/3 of the silicone on the front of his 3 foot tank. Fixed by applying aquatic silicone from the inside, but a year or two later leaked again same edge but higher up.
Whilst talking to a glazier, he went to a glass shop to see if they could take apart and reseal his tank (they could), the guy explained that this type of failure is due to the bottom of the tank being bowed and placing a shearing force on the top edges of the tank corners. In fact his tank had a leak on one of the back edges as well, but he hadn't noticed. His was front left & back right corner.
The tank had been placed on a small solid wood cupboard unit in his lounge and was originally flat and should have been no problem. However over the years a floor board under one of the cupboard front legs had bowed, as well as the cupboard distorting (side wall bowing out) due to the tank weight. This had caused one corner of the cupboard top to be slightly lower (maybe 0.5cm) than the other corners and it was this bowing that had caused his leak.
Spurred on by this, he built a rather over engineered cupboard (out of 2x4's I think) with a completely flat top. He resealed the leaking tank and that was 12 years ago. I am guessing, as I haven't heard any leaky tank horror stories since then, the tank was fixed.
May I suggest, in the nicest sense, you check you have a flat bottom ?
Of course your tank could also have been assembled "bowed" and when you placed the tank correctly you are shearing the silicone.
Could be the latter mate as the cabinet was levelled perfectly flat on all sides when made and I massively over engineered the cabinet ans frame lok but there is an ever so slight gradient to the floor which gives the 3mil water level difference along the front but not enough to cause this I dont think. Some very useful info though thank you
sorry to see mate, looking forward to following this one, dont let it put you down and just get it sorted ASAP, love the size of the tank and cannot wait to see grown in. hate set backs like this
Dean
Thanks Dean, me too. I hope it's just the week it's away but if two then so be it. Better safe than sorry.
This is where I feel like getting back into co2 to get things growing faster once its back but I'm being good and staying low tech.
Ha ha yeah she can do. She wants to paddle in it so might let her.....
Taking it all down tonight and tomorrow for collection Saturday morning
Alastair
Member
Just an update, tank should be back a week Saturday so will be busy getting it back up and running. However nearly all the substrate was ruined in the stripping process. It ended up a mass of pond soil, Colombo and tmc nutra soil all blended together so looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get 80 litres of fresh tmc soil (cries) and fresh pond soil.
This is what it turned into. Although I might try to use some of this as a base.
Untitled by Mr-T-, on Flickr
I think if I use this capped the tank will be a tub of brown water though..
This is what it turned into. Although I might try to use some of this as a base.
Untitled by Mr-T-, on Flickr
I think if I use this capped the tank will be a tub of brown water though..
Palm Tree
Member
So could you not use the tmc and pond soil mixture as a base layer then just cap with a tub of tmc, I don't think there would be any problem with that.
If you have the gear for CO2 then why not, surely if you used it for the first couple of months just to get the plants going and bulked up a bit then it would be beneficial.
If you have the gear for CO2 then why not, surely if you used it for the first couple of months just to get the plants going and bulked up a bit then it would be beneficial.
