HI All. This might be long winded but will try and keep it as short as possible.
I've had my Elos 160XL for 8 years or so. About 2 or 3 weeks ago at around midnight I heard a weird noise coming from down stair. I thought it was the surround sound from the TV downstairs. I muted my TV in the room and the sound would go away. Did this about 3 times. The 4th time I just opened my door and heard what sounded like running water. I ran down stairs and to my HUGE DISBELIEF their was a stream of water coming from about 1/3 of the way down from a seam. And what looked to be a ton of water on my hard wood floors. The next few seconds are comical now that I replay them in my head. I ran up the stairs about 3 steps then turn around and run down the same 3. Then turn around and do the same thing. In my head I was deciding if I should wake up my wife, as she gets up for work at 5 am or go to the garage and move the cars out to get to my trash cans and water changing equipment. I did go and wake up my wife. Asked her for some help as the tank was leaking. Then ran back downstairs and found a empty 5 gal bucket that I used to catch the stream of water from the leaky seam. At this time I pull the electric plug to the whole tank. Move my car out of the garage and start locating my empty trash cans, 55 gal drum and my mag 9 and 20 feet of hose I use for water changes.
It took me a good 30 to 45 minutes to get the water level down below the leak. I had to dump a good 100 gal of water then I moved most of my base live rock to the 55 gal drum and added some water. At this time my fear shifted to what if my front panel falls off completely. I remembered that I had bought a set of 2 straps from Harbor freight. Go get it from the garage and it does not fit. It was short a good 5". The 2nd strap I was using to hold up some equipment in the garage. Go remove that one and strap down the tank.
The plan I formed was to remove all my fish and coral and place it in 5 gal buckets but then I thought that would stress the fish even more. So I decided to leave a good 6" of water in the tank and leave the fish and coral in their. I added a air stone and lowered my MP40 for water circulation.
It was a tough night but it was just work.
I thought having to replace, repair and dry the floor, baseboard and carpet was going to be the hardest thing, but having to get rid of my 15+ fish that we have had for many years was the hardest thing. The look on my wife when we decided to sell the fish was the hardest to see.
I e-mailed Gregg from SCMAS for some help from the club and to look for fish sitters or someone to buy the fish. The offering of help we received was tremendous. From people offering to fish sit to offering of back up tanks or 500gal bins to hold me over until I found another tank. But like I mentioned earlier we decided to sell the fish. I did find 1 member that took them all.
I did e-mail Elos America to see what they suggested I do with the tank. If it could be repaired by them or someone local or any advise they could offer. This was on a Sat night. The weekend passed. Then the full week and no response whatsoever. I did give them 2 whole weeks and nothing. I figured since they are over seas that should be more than enough time. So I sent another email pointing out my previous email and the fact that I had not heard from them. Finally someone responded saying they where sorry and they had never received my previous email. Stating that without seeing the tank their was not much he could say to me. That in a case like this most likely it would need a front window removal and repair. No mention of cost but they did ask how old the tank was and who I purchased it from.
I respond with the info. I bought it from Jessie when he was the Elos rep and it was 8 to 10 years ago. With the Elos tank, stand, sump, controller.... the works and all Elos and what are my options.
The 3rd response was very confusing. They say the cost of repair is not important if I do it by a local repair shop. On the other hand it would be minimum $700 so ship it to SC each way and then the repairs. They can of course do the repair. That I should "check the aquarium support because if this problem happens after 10 years, most certainly, the furniture had to move and create a deport which probably caused the leak in the long term"
I asked for more info and clarification but have not heard back from them.
I will update with what they respond and when they respond.
For now I will add a for sale thread for my remaining coral and the 11 anemenies I have.
Here are a few pictures of what the tank looks like now.
Thanks
Jose
I've had my Elos 160XL for 8 years or so. About 2 or 3 weeks ago at around midnight I heard a weird noise coming from down stair. I thought it was the surround sound from the TV downstairs. I muted my TV in the room and the sound would go away. Did this about 3 times. The 4th time I just opened my door and heard what sounded like running water. I ran down stairs and to my HUGE DISBELIEF their was a stream of water coming from about 1/3 of the way down from a seam. And what looked to be a ton of water on my hard wood floors. The next few seconds are comical now that I replay them in my head. I ran up the stairs about 3 steps then turn around and run down the same 3. Then turn around and do the same thing. In my head I was deciding if I should wake up my wife, as she gets up for work at 5 am or go to the garage and move the cars out to get to my trash cans and water changing equipment. I did go and wake up my wife. Asked her for some help as the tank was leaking. Then ran back downstairs and found a empty 5 gal bucket that I used to catch the stream of water from the leaky seam. At this time I pull the electric plug to the whole tank. Move my car out of the garage and start locating my empty trash cans, 55 gal drum and my mag 9 and 20 feet of hose I use for water changes.
It took me a good 30 to 45 minutes to get the water level down below the leak. I had to dump a good 100 gal of water then I moved most of my base live rock to the 55 gal drum and added some water. At this time my fear shifted to what if my front panel falls off completely. I remembered that I had bought a set of 2 straps from Harbor freight. Go get it from the garage and it does not fit. It was short a good 5". The 2nd strap I was using to hold up some equipment in the garage. Go remove that one and strap down the tank.
The plan I formed was to remove all my fish and coral and place it in 5 gal buckets but then I thought that would stress the fish even more. So I decided to leave a good 6" of water in the tank and leave the fish and coral in their. I added a air stone and lowered my MP40 for water circulation.
It was a tough night but it was just work.
I thought having to replace, repair and dry the floor, baseboard and carpet was going to be the hardest thing, but having to get rid of my 15+ fish that we have had for many years was the hardest thing. The look on my wife when we decided to sell the fish was the hardest to see.
I e-mailed Gregg from SCMAS for some help from the club and to look for fish sitters or someone to buy the fish. The offering of help we received was tremendous. From people offering to fish sit to offering of back up tanks or 500gal bins to hold me over until I found another tank. But like I mentioned earlier we decided to sell the fish. I did find 1 member that took them all.
I did e-mail Elos America to see what they suggested I do with the tank. If it could be repaired by them or someone local or any advise they could offer. This was on a Sat night. The weekend passed. Then the full week and no response whatsoever. I did give them 2 whole weeks and nothing. I figured since they are over seas that should be more than enough time. So I sent another email pointing out my previous email and the fact that I had not heard from them. Finally someone responded saying they where sorry and they had never received my previous email. Stating that without seeing the tank their was not much he could say to me. That in a case like this most likely it would need a front window removal and repair. No mention of cost but they did ask how old the tank was and who I purchased it from.
I respond with the info. I bought it from Jessie when he was the Elos rep and it was 8 to 10 years ago. With the Elos tank, stand, sump, controller.... the works and all Elos and what are my options.
The 3rd response was very confusing. They say the cost of repair is not important if I do it by a local repair shop. On the other hand it would be minimum $700 so ship it to SC each way and then the repairs. They can of course do the repair. That I should "check the aquarium support because if this problem happens after 10 years, most certainly, the furniture had to move and create a deport which probably caused the leak in the long term"
I asked for more info and clarification but have not heard back from them.
I will update with what they respond and when they respond.
For now I will add a for sale thread for my remaining coral and the 11 anemenies I have.
Here are a few pictures of what the tank looks like now.
Thanks
Jose
