drbronx's reef disaster

D

drbronx

Premium Member
So Friday night I pulled into town at about 2:30 am after returning for a brief trip to the Bronx. Upon returning home to my horror, I discovered that about 2/3 of my new 90 gallon tanks contents were on the floor. Thank goodness the tank is in the basement. By some mysterious dint of nature, the back pane of glass cracked causing a major leak. My wife and I set about shopvacking up the water. I then quickly set up Brute containers with saltwater heaters and powerheads and transferred the contents of the tank to them. I got to bed sometime after 5:00 am. My wife and I kept our sense of humor throughout and actually had some good laughs during the process since it was so bizaarr to be doing this at such a time. The next morning, I set up a 30 gallon tank and moved whatever live rock I could fit aas well as the fish and corals. Amazingly, many corals that were out of the water for quite some time survived which offers testimony to the resilience of many coral species. Sadly my new ORA frags (Joe the Coral and Red Planet) as well as other sps which were the highest on the rockwork and therefore spent the most time out of water did not survive.
So now I have everything crammed into a 30 gallon. Somehow so far, everything that survived is looking OK but this obviously cannot be a long termed solution. So now I have to deliberate my final solution. i could run up the white flag and surrender and sell off everything. Or I can start again. I was very happy with the 90 mgallon set up and I was just ready to take and post some photos since it was about one month old and looking pretty sweet.
So...I don't suppose anyone has an extra 90 gallon tank laying around???:)

Any one ever hear of tank glass breaking for no apparent reason? There was no way it could have been struck by an outside force since it was up against the wall. The rockwork inside the tank was undisturbed. There was no evidence of any major scratches or visible imperfections. The crack did not appear to emminate from the drilled bulkhead. Perhaps I piussed off the reef gods. Very strange.
 
Sorry to hear about your misfortunes. 90 Gallon might be hard to find. Ive been looking for awhile with no luck. I hope you find one soon. Heres hoping you stay in the hobby. We have far to many people leaving the hobby for one reason or another.

If theres anything I can do to help let me know. I'd be more then happy to help in whatever way possible.
 
bummer jerry. i would like to see the crack, it would have had to come form the bulk head hole. I suspect that the pressure from the water caused the glass to crack and the hole would have been the only reason for the weakening of the rear panel. I don't know anyone with a 90 RR but if you are staying in, which I do hope you do, I'd call Tim up at ABC and see a price then call around here, but I'm sure Tim will be way cheaper.
 
Thanks for the input and offers folks. Regardless of which way I go, I won't be leaving the hobby. I'd still have my office tank and of course the zoo tank. St. James and Geo who were kind enough to get me the last tank are looking for a replacement. I will have to inspect the broken glass panel more closely. It would only make sense that it originated from the bulkhead hole. It is still surprising since it is pretty thick glass. The whole was drilled fairly near the bottom and therefore a lot of pressure is exerted there. That may be another good reason to go with a Glass Holes or Calfo style overflow since the wholes are drilled near the top of the tank.
 
Wow, that's too bad Jerry. I hope you do stay active in the hobby, either with the office/zoo tank or with a home tank. You were/are such a help to me getting started, and you're a great resource for people of all skill levels.
 
Wow, really bad news... my worst nightmare. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help, or when your ready to replace some of those SPS.
 
man that is just too bad, sorry for your loss hope it all turns out ok for you, i have a 75 gallon thats been in my garage for months now its not drilled or anything but i would let it go for 75 bucks if your interested
 
Thanks for all your concern. Believe it or not, it has helped steer my decision to acquire another 90. I've realized that this hobby is more than just corals and fishes, but about the great community of reefers and the good friends I've made along the way. So I guess I'll just keep on truckin'. So i"ll keep y'all posted as the new tank (to be) develops. And Adam, I probably will take you up on your kind offer at some point.
 
Hey Jerry... Sorry to hear of your disaster. If it helps any I still have 54G corner bowfront you can use for time being. I know Ted (uniquik1) has a 120 he's selling. It used to be Frank's before he sold the house in Vestal.
 
Thanks for the tank offers you guys. Everything is temporarily doing OK in my 30 gallon. Tim at ABC has a very reasonably priced new 90 g tank (non drilled) he can have for me. He will drill it for two 700 gph gl*******s overflows that they carry as well (cheaper than at Gl*******s I might add). So I will head up Sunday. If anyone wants to take a drive, I could use the company. I'll probably head up mid morning pending their store hours.

I actually have a choice of either two 700 gph or a 1500 gph overflow. Two overflows would give me more surface skimming but also more plumbing to do. I am a lazy reefer. Is there any other reason to consider two vs. one overflow?
 
I'd go with 2, more surface skimming as you said and also if one gets clogged the other will still drain some of the water. because it is *'ed out I don't know what overflow you are talking about...lol... But I can help you plumb it again. Wont be able to make it up with you Sun tho I'll still be in Connecticut.
 
Good idea to get two. You know from experience with your 125 and from the zoo tanks that they get clogged. Imagine if we would have only used one on the sea horse tank. Disaster. That is the worst place to save money IMO.

On the bright side it should be easy to get your angel fish out now! You should keep angel(s) in the 30 temporarily so you can see how the PE is on the corals without them. It will be an interesting experiment and a chance to prove me wrong, who doesn't love that?!!
 
Yeah Nate...no way that angel is going back in. I'll have to think of another way to prove Nate wrong but this isn't it:)
 
Its a very beautiful and fat bicolor angel. It never actually eats any corals but everyso often it will nip at a coral. I've only seen it do this with gorgonians. However, Nate's theory with which I reluctantly agree, is then when we are not looking, they are nipping at corals, thereby disuading polyp extension (PE). I have always had angels in my tank and i have never had good PE. Therefore, I am hoping that by eliminating the angel from my display, I get good PE. if not, Nate will owe me an angel:) But then, i will still be left to ponder why i don't get good PE. I've always been envious of Nate's PE. I guess that's what they call "PE envy":):)
 
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