Mountains of sawdust (360g plywood, LED, Arduino build)

Just how well can you access the damaged part of the tank? Is there enough room to remove the Euro brace and get some work done around the area? If so I would drain the tank, remove the brace, and then start digging everything out from around the damaged area with a sharp chisel. Keep going till the wood is good and dry, then go a little farther.

After that, clean things up for good tight lines, and epoxy things back as needed, with some extra reinforcement. Apply multiple coats of your standard thickness epoxy with a brush, then finish off with a few layers of thickened and glass reinforced epoxy. Provided your epoxy system offers a waterproof thickened option (I know some thickeners can end up providing a non-water proof material as the water dissolves the material and passes through the pours, so check with the company.) over the area.


Good luck with the project, I do hope you find a way to get it back to a reef tank. As long as you find clearly dry wood and go a little farther, then you shouldn't worry about damage beyond it.
 
Whoa, whoa.. I'm with Luckless.

You have a wood tank! The one thing a wood tank has over others is that they're repairable. You can go as far as Luckless recommends or you can do what a boat guy would. Drain it. Let is dry for a month or two. Possibly put a spot light in the tank pointed at the area in question to keep the material warm to the touch -not hot- as this speeds drying up about 10x. Once it's had enough time to fully and unquestionably dry double up the brace there, build a little coffer dam around it, and fill the whole thing with epoxy.

Or do something else in the same general way. Since you keep your eye on the tank in operation you don't have to worry about a sudden catastrophic disaster down the road. If your repair doesn't actually work you will get some head-notice before a break occurs. Likely you will see some deformation or new cracks appear in the repair 'IF' there is ever going to be a problem.

Philosophically you will have problems with trust initially but as time goes by you will be able to build trust. I know because this is what happens when working on automotive engines. If you do something like rebuild an engine, you know it should be fine, but, you wouldn't feel too sure about jumping in the vehicle and driving off on a 1000 mile trip. First you drive around the block, then around town, then over to the next town, and in a couple of weeks you wouldn't hesitate to take that 1000 miler.
 
Man, that's messed up. Sorry to hear about it. It is the last thing you need right now... I hope you come up with some cool idea how to reuse it. How about putting a smaller tank inside this one and surrounding it with plants on the outside (reef in the jungle)?

Seriously though, isn't there a way to repair it? Luckless' idea sounds good, is that possible in your situation?

Good luck!
 
Wow sorry to hear about your troubles.

I was kind of thinking the same thing as Luckless. That is a similar way my friends and I used to repair transoms on old boats.

When you find a dry spot and start the repair if you mix the first coat of epoxy with no more than 10% acetone it is super runny and will soak into the wood and be sucked in to any dry areas.
 
From his thread in his local forum. I sort of suggest the same thing.

der_wille_zur_macht said:
Pascal has a mag12 he's letting me borrow so I'm all set for equipment for the temporary tank. Thanks everyone for pitching in.

Fishman, I COULD go that route, and might attempt it, but honestly - doing that would be a LOT more work than it sounds. The framing for the drywall above the tank pretty much covers up the brace, so just cutting it out would be impossible without disturbing drywall. Plus, there's the aspect of having nasty smelly epoxy in the house for a few weeks (about how long it would take to recoat the repair). Not really something I want to get involved in. I really think the only way to have a 100% foolproof repair would be to take it out of the house, back to my shop, do the repair there, and then re-do the install, framing, drywall, and so on. And THAT is also a lot of work. :(

I'm really hoping this can be a "make lemons into lemonade" kind of thing, but we'll see.

asianer - my PM box is stuffed full. I owe you something, it's ready to ship - can you email me your shipping address?
Click to expand...
 
I really hope you can turn this around Nate.. don't lose heart quickly on something you've put so much into. In any case I'm looking forward to what you do with it or what you replace it with. Your projects are inspiring.
 
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How exactly is it framed in with the drywall? Can you not make a nice clean cut in the drywall where the tank is, sawzall any studs that are in the way, pull the tank, and then just patch the small section?

(Then again, I actually enjoy mudding, so maybe I'm a little biased on drywall repairs being fun.)
 
Ouch! I feel your pain.

You could lower the overflow box lip/teeth to drop the water level an inch then run a 3/4" glass eurobrace under it. Silicone bonds well to epoxy. I run a thin bead of silicone in all of the seams of plywood tanks, on top of the epoxy as a fail safe. Plywood & epoxy seams are brittle and can crack, while silicone gives. Marine grade mahogany or teak plywood is obscenely expensive, but it does give you peace of mind.
 
XSiVE said:
I really hope you can turn this around Nate.. don't lose heart quickly on something you've put so much into. In any case I'm looking forward to what you do with it or what you replace it with. Your projects are inspiring.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments. No way I'm losing heart, even if this ends up meaning a detour along the way. :) Regardless of whether I "fix" the tank or not, it's eventually going to be used in some sort of interesting manner. In other words, this might not be the reef tank I'd planned on in the long term, but that doesn't mean this whole turn has to end in a negative manner - there are lots of other creative things I can do here. terahz's idea above is actually pretty close to one of the ideas I'm considering in the long term.

Luckless said:
How exactly is it framed in with the drywall? Can you not make a nice clean cut in the drywall where the tank is, sawzall any studs that are in the way, pull the tank, and then just patch the small section?

(Then again, I actually enjoy mudding, so maybe I'm a little biased on drywall repairs being fun.)
Click to expand...

The tank basically sits "inline" with the framing - it's flush with the stand below, and the framing for the "hood" (i.e. the portion of the wall above the tank) is glued directly to the top of the eurobrace. The drywall extends floor-to-ceiling over the stand framing, tank, and hood framing. The framnig/drywall above the tank is not self-supporting, so I'd basically have to rip it all out if I was to remove the tank. Not the end of the world, but not something I'm going to be able to do immediately.

mr.wilson said:
Ouch! I feel your pain.

You could lower the overflow box lip/teeth to drop the water level an inch then run a 3/4" glass eurobrace under it. Silicone bonds well to epoxy. I run a thin bead of silicone in all of the seams of plywood tanks, on top of the epoxy as a fail safe. Plywood & epoxy seams are brittle and can crack, while silicone gives. Marine grade mahogany or teak plywood is obscenely expensive, but it does give you peace of mind.
Click to expand...

Not as possible as it sounds, I'm afraid. The corners all have epoxy fillets, so it would not be possible to get a piece of glass to lay flat against any of the seams inside the tank as a reinforcement.

I don't want this problem to turn anyone off to wood tanks by the way. It really is just a combination of a stupid move on my part (not protecting the brace well enough, then exposing it to water in a way I hadn't designed it for), not a failure of the method overall.
 
Thats tough Dwiz :( Ive been as excited for this tank as when setting up one of my own. If you do decide to go away from an aquarium approach, "Energy's" switch from his reef to a vivarium was my first thought. With the 3 different windows it could be a stunning display and maybe even a little less work in the long run than the reef.
 
Man, I just stumbled upon this thread while searching for something else. I spent a few hours reading through all 30 pages and then read the post that said you were taking down the tank and I was SO sad. Really hope you can get the tank repaired so you can bring it back to life as the reef tank you had originally planned. Good luck!

-Scott
 
I wasn't planning on "coming back" to reef central until I actually had something substantial to post in this thread, but I couldn't resist.

Those of you to whom I have spoken about my plans are sworn to secrecy in the meantime!
 
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