Complete disaster/ down but not out

Saltlife757

Saltlife757

New member
Hey everyone,

I need serious help/advice. I had my 6 month old 150 gallon aquarium spring a major leak over night causing every bit of water to flood the floor and killed all of my live stock except for CUC.

First thing first, I was able to avoid all home damages aside from a couple side floor boards warping. The rugs dried out, water was able to be shop vac, and all the furniture was raised up.

I was able to find out that the leak WAS NOT from any plumbing or sump tank problem. After cleaning all of my sand and rock out the tank, I poured water back into the tank to find out where the water came out from. It turns out that part of the silicon seal did not hold up.

Is this a known problem with Marineland Aquariums???? I got the tank BRAND NEW and has been up and running since August 1st.

Please share your knowledge and experiences. I really want to stay in the hobby. I just need help about what to do.
 
contact marineland immediately. The tank should have warranty so long as you didnt modify the tank at all (ie: holes drilled, etc...).
 
Mr.Tan said:
contact marineland immediately. The tank should have warranty so long as you didnt modify the tank at all (ie: holes drilled, etc...).
Click to expand...

I made no modifications on the tank. I can send the tank back and get a new one, which will probably take forever. I was also considering re siliconing the entire bottom of the tank.
 
93 Cube.

About to set it up.

Did a leak test, no leaks....but did see this in the silicon:

IMAG0782%201.jpg
 
swiftvision said:
93 Cube.

About to set it up.

Did a leak test, no leaks....but did see this in the silicon:

IMAG0782%201.jpg
Click to expand...

Yeah, everything I'm hearing comes down to weight of the water. mine was perfect for 6 months and passed the leak test fine. But after a while the weight might come into play. I would honestly put your own layer of silicone around the bottom edges. Make sure it's fish safe too. It can't hurt after all. I'm also looking into getting SENEYE. that measures water level and will send an alert to your phone if the water level gets below a certain depth.

Good luck on your tank and keep us posted!
 
Very sorry to hear about the loss of your livestock. Glad you didn't have too much property damage. Unfortunately, larger Marineland tanks (over 90 gallons) have some history of center brace failures and seam failures. I'll see if I can find the link but one member documented his entire process with Marineland after his tank leaked. Good luck.
 
Do not add another layer of silicone. If the tank leaked, the all the pieces of glass need to be taken apart and put back together again with all new silicone. Contact marine land. I also had a tank completely fail
From a back Seam. I know exactly what you are going through. Is the stand that you have a marine land stand? If not, getting the warranty coveted by them will be difficult but not impossible.
 
Very sorry for your livestock losses and glad the damage was minimal.
That is one of the dangers we face with larger tanks.
I hope you can get them to replace your tank.
 
Martini5788 said:
Do not add another layer of silicone. If the tank leaked, the all the pieces of glass need to be taken apart and put back together again with all new silicone. Contact marine land. I also had a tank completely fail
From a back Seam. I know exactly what you are going through. Is the stand that you have a marine land stand? If not, getting the warranty coveted by them will be difficult but not impossible.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. And yes it's all the original stand and everything. My 150 gallon is the deep dimension, it's only 4 feet long and the bottom is one sheet of thick glass. So I won't have any problems as far as the brace. I was able to get the old silicon out and completely redo that section. I'm handy when it comes to that sort of stuff. I really think it will hold because unlike the original tank that has very minimal silicone and no glue (marineland is known for using only silicone), I was able to add both layers. I've already done my leak test and everything was tight with no leaks.
 
You should try to get them to pay for the livestock that their defect killed. You could threaten to take them to small claims court since they had a warranty on the tank at the time and you should be able to take pictures and prove it was their fault the tank leaked.
 
Unfortunately, I have had similar bad luck with Marineland on my 220g build this summer. During the initial water testing, this silicone separation showed up as soon as the tank was full. I drained and replaced tank (Marineland did warranty the tank, but I chose something else as a replacement).

Swiftvision, I would replace yours for sure, those bubbles mean the silicone is separating and will leak.

-Adam
 

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What are some good aquarium manufacturers. Glass cages beefs up this center brace significantly. I'm going to be buying a 180 and would rather spend more and have peace of mind.
 
I feel I should share my story to show this isn't a new problem with them. I had an older Perfecto (marineland) 90 gallon tank that I had set up as an freshwater cichlid display. I bought it new in 2001 and by 2007 the center brace was cracked on the front pulling away from the top brace. The silicone also had those voids pictured above in it. I didn't trust it anymore and sold it as a repair project for pretty cheap to someone on my old freshwater forum. I never knew this was a recurring problem on their tanks. Scary to think it could have been going on all these years.
 
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