Hey all, the name is Chris. I am fairly new to SW, but not to fishkeeping. I am a huge cichlid fan, specifically Tanganyikans.

I've had tanks all my life, but recently aquired my first SW setup (75G DT w/ 35G sump). The wife and I bought a house and the previous owner left behind his SW setup. The last time I dealt with any SW was when my grandparents had a 90G, but that was years ago, so even that experience is fuzzy. So, I decided to take the opportunity to delve into the SW world for myself, rather than convert it to FW. After all, I still have room for other tanks.

Upon moving in, the setup was a bare bones display tank and sump setup with only two damsels. The previous owner said the system has been running for around 10 or 11 years and has gone through a number of phases. Aggressive, reef, etc. The current phase is something that came about with him loosing interest and wanting hearty fish, I assume (ugh...damsels). The front tank glass was pretty well covered with algae, there was all sorts of salt creep, and everything generally needed attention.

Even though you certainly can't argue with the long-term success of the setup, I had bigger and better plans so I started my revitalization. I've been busy for the last few months doing a number of things, including:
- General maintenance to get things back in shape
- Got rid of the damsels (hooray!)
- Re-arranged the live rock into a new configuration
- Added a refugium
- Added to Koralia 3's to replace the weak, single powerhead that was in there
- Completely tore apart the light fixture to clean and remove salt creep while also replacing the (2) 10k PC, (2) Actinic PC, and the non-working moonlights
- Purchased a Reefkeeper Lite, which the tank is now running on
- Seeded the already quite prolific pod population (in preparation for a Green Mandarin)
- Plus a ton more little things, etc

Over the last 2.5 to 3 weeks I have been slowly building my stocklist, which currently includes:
- Blue leg hermits
- Cerith snails
- Emerald Crab
- Coral Banded Shrimp
- Green Mandarin
- Pair of False Perc Clowns
- I also have a small Acan frag and a small GSP frag that I'm trying out since I don't know how they will fare under my PCs, acan seems to be doing well at this point.

Now comes the kicker, last night I was doing my nightly surveying/admiring of the setup and inhabitants...when I noticed what appears to be a leak. My heart sunk, especially after all the hard work and dedication I have put into this revitalization. I haven't done anything that would have caused a crack, but it appears to be a slow, but fairly persistant leak originating somewhere near the bottom. I checked everything out this morning and saw a new 'fresh drips' which I dried up and will be checking for anything new this evening. To add to the fun, this is an in-wall setup. From the front you can see a small area where water has begun to collect between the paint and drywall.

Needless to say, I've now put a halt on acquiring new inhabitants so I can observe this 'situation'. Unfortunately, I fear that it might be as bad as it appears. Sigh.

On an upbeat note, I busted out the 'ole measuring tape to see how big of a tank I could fit in that space if I am forced to break this one down, redo the wall, and aquire a new tank. There is definately room for a 5' tank, and very possibly a 6'. If I want to find anything positive about this, at the very least, I guess it gives me a reason to upgrade if my thoughts are confirmed.

So now that you have some background on me, I look forward to getting to know more people involved in the hobby from this area. I might be able to attend the upcoming meeting, I haven't figured that out yet. I know it'd be great to meet you all, though.

(Disclaimer: Sorry I wrote a damn book here...haha!)

.Chris

Welcome to TRAC!

Hope you can attend the meeting!

Welcome!! 

Sounds like you made all the right moves in fixing up that neglected tank.  Great job!

I sprung a leak once on a tank, its a pain,  Never really knew for sure what caused it.  The tank was still level, the stand had not shifted or torqued in any way but it just started leaking.

In the current economy there are some very good deals to be had on good used tanks and I have heard but never checked out that some makers are cutting prices too

Bigger is almost always better when it comes to tanks so not all is lost in the leak event. 

the other option of course is to fix your leaking tank. 

If its glass: cut away as much silicone as you can and then run a nice bead up the gap and then wait a couple days refill and put back and your done. 

Leaking acrylic worries me too much to give advice but I am sure there are other brave souls that could share repair tips for that material if that is what you have.

We have a nice club here and a meeting coming up next weekend at the ed center (details on the home page) plus free pizza.  Hope to see you there!!

Briney Dave

Thanks for the welcome guys!

I have done a lot of research and I'm glad to see all my work finally yielding results, so this leak is a real blow below the belt. I'll update this thread tonight after I survey the days 'happenings'.

It is a glass tank and I have no doubt that I could get it fixed up, but I am also a firm believer in 'moving up' when given the opportunity. No matter how truly aggravating the source for the opportunity may be. So, I can assure you that if this tank is coming down I will upgrade. I have been looking around today for deals on 180s (72x24x24). I really like that footprint. So if you have any leads, let me know!

Problem is, I will have to setup another tank to house my current livestock and rocks if this teardown has to happen. So I would also need to track down a decently priced tank for that (at least a 55G, I would assume). Ugh, so much to figure out.

Here's to hoping the leak magically disappears...

at least you could convert the 55 into a dandy sump and refu when you are done!!

Hello and welcome. Sounds like you know alot more about what your doing than I did at the start.

a 55 you say? hmm I know a cool guy that has a 52 that might make for a nice temp housing.  http://www.traccentral.org/Default.aspx?tabid=53&ptid=427&threadid=4745&forumtype=posts 

Pipe said :

Hello and welcome. Sounds like you know alot more about what your doing than I did at the start.

a 55 you say? hmm I know a cool guy that has a 52 that might make for a nice temp housing.  http://www.traccentral.org/Default.aspx?tabid=53&ptid=427&threadid=4745&forumtype=posts 

Oh, I will have to keep that in mind. So is that still a standard 4' tank, it just has the front corners 'cut' off? Also, where is the crack in the glass?

UPDATE:

Well, I came home from work earlier to puddles on the floor.

Upon drying them up with a towel I notices the one right at the base of the stand came back with a swiftness. So I started checking out that side of the tank and sure enough there is a 'tunnel' right through the corner silicone that is about 1/32" in diameter. A small stream of water was actually shooting out, hitting the wall, and running down the stand. I can assume that this hole escalated from a small drip to an actual stream over the past few days, based on the amount of water and drips around the stand that I have been encountering.

I got out the putty (activated by kneading, can't think of the name) used for setting frags and placed that over the hole. It appears to have stopped the leak for now, but we will see what happens. I just hope this is the only leak and I can keep it sustained. Fingers crossed.

So that means I will be doing the upgrade. I am just really hoping that my temp fix will last until I can get ahold of a decent 4' tank to get everyone into for now. So the search begins! I am after a 4' tank (55,75,90) with a nice stand. That way after the SW fiasco is done, I can put it to good use elsewhere in the house. Or I may just give up on that idea and sang the first 4' tank I can come across and not worry about uses it down the road.

One thing I do know is that I am now headed out to dinner with my wife...and I will be consuming some stiff drinks. Yes...that will make it all better. Haha.

More updates later.

I am now headed out to dinner with my wife...and I will be consuming some stiff drinks

now that is a plan LOL

Welcome Chris!!

And I for one love the novel-as-post-- and I don;t mean just when I write 'em either.  I like reading them too. I look forward to more of them from you.  Judging by the SN I'm thinking you'll be fun to read.

I think that rocks that the tank was there when you moved in!  Is that part of why you bought the place?  I know for many of us it would be a deciding factor.

That's a bummer about the leak. There are a couple threads going at the moment with tanks for sale so hopefully you can find one to hold your inhabitants over until you get the new one.

I just have freshwater tanks myself: two tropicals and a local native-species.