S.O.S. tank leak :(

Elim

New member
Ok well I don't know why but after about 4 years my 30gal oceanic has decided to spring a leak I think at the base. I've taken most of my corals out but after about removing half the water the leak stopped so I have some time. I'm so disappointed as I was just looking into upgrading.

Anyways i'll probably be getting rid of some of my stuff that are small and I was growing out and trying to find homes for the little sps i had. If anyone has any recommendations or stories to share i'd appreciate it. I guess i'm just gonna empty it and try and silicone the base of the tank and start over until I get a larger tank.

My main question is since i'm removing the sand thats not reusable right? I always here not to disturb the sand since it holds alot of gases beneath.

Anyways stay tuned.

Jason
 
You can go to Home Depo and get a couple of the large rubermaid tubs to use as a temp. tank. I wouldn't reuse the sand...just move over the coral and rock. This should get you by for a while.
 
yep almost everythings out in rubbermaids. Have to talk with the wife and see what she'd like to do. I'm leaning toward getting rid of it all now and waiting til I can afford a larger tank.

Thanks for the tips though David.

Jason
 
Well I guess its time to shut it down. Everythings in bins but I really don't feel like trying to fix the leak really fast. This was draining enough.

So i'm looking to get rid of most of this stuff as soon as possible. Not sure how to maintain stuff in rubbermaids without a skimmer lighting etc. I've had my clowns probably 3 years hosting in Robs(jusreefins) pink tipped frogspawn. It has about 20 heads on it. If someones in need of 2 great clowns and a frogspawn how about 40 bucks? I'm not sure of prices so i'm just going to spam what i have and if you have some interests i'll make you a great deal.

Red and blue rics
green shrooms
3 head green tipped frogspawn (part of the ones totalchaos got from davide)
green base with orange polyp digi (someone in Mars)
lots and lots of purple digi (frag swap and some from joetattoo)
green digi (frag swap)
blue centered zoos
green zoos (mars raffle from yourreef)
red zoos (first coral i bought from someone local)
a couple milli's I couldnt get to color up. (joetatoo/jusreefin)
candy cane coral 8 heads (aqua life)
red brain (not sure where i picked this up from.)
purple cap about 4-5" around (from tfp)
orange cap (tfp)
green cap (tfp)

Thats about it. There's some other loose items i'll probably just throw in to someone or give away.

thanks,

Jason
 
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I have re-used sand. I just took down my 37g with a 5-6" sandbed. I scooped off the top layer to save any critters and put them in a tank or with good filtration/flow and no fish or corals, just LR. Then, I rinsed the remaining sand in hot fresh water and stored it in a rubbermaid until I need it. It was smelly, like the ocean but not full of nasty gas, even after being in place for 2 yrs. I'll rinse it with clean SW when I get my new tank.
 
Well being in panic mode (even though it seemed like a slow leak) I just emptied all the sand out into a bucket so I could get the tank out of the house and to stop it from dripping on the carpet. I should have been prepared at least in terms of what to do but you know how that goes. Panic, sadness and anger sets in and next thing you know i'm emptying stuff out as fast as I can. Thanks MandM. If anyone wants to try and rinse this stuff I have a 5 gallon bucket full :)

I had just received a quote from John on a larger tank. This might move up my schedule. I'll just have to start from scratch instead of moving my 30 to the 75/83.

Jason
 
I'll try. I wanted to take a pix before I took it apart but couldn't find the camera :( I've asked my wife and daughter but noone knows where it is right now. ONce i find it i'll try and post but they'll only now be in the bins.

Jason
 
no big deal, I'm interested in some of the sps and want to get a general idea of what they look like before I buy them.
 
Understandable....I found the camera but the batteries are dead. Gonna charge'em for 1/2 hr or so and post some pix in my gallery for everyone.
 
Jason,

I have a 40G acrylic tank you can borrow if needed. It's not reef ready. Not the nicest looking tank - but you should be able to keep your stuff in it. Let me know if you want to borrow it. If you need help - feel free to let me know.

Minh
 
I wouldn't stress too much over the skimmer, just try to keep the feeding down to a minimum and possibly escalate the water changes a little and you should be fine. The bigger problem will be temperature... it is alot harder to maintain temp in a rubbermaid than in a tank.
 
Hey Jordan pm sent back.

Thanks Minh. After my daughter started crying I decided to keep what I could (clowns) in a 5.5 I had for a sump project I never got around to. I also decided to try and seal up the leak in my 30. Thanks for offering the 40.

So Saturday (after 48hrs) i'm going to see if it leaks after my repair job, get some new sand and see if i can get it settled back in. Other then that i'm not sure what else to do so we'll see what happens.

/me shrugs.

Jason
 
I think that will work for a while. Just a reminder though..the small tanks like that can have big swings in salinity due to evaporation....I went though pretty much the same deal a month ago when I was QTing my monties.
 
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