[Saraja87]

Anyone ever have their tank leak?

Anyone ever have their tank leak at 3am?

Anyone ever have their tank leak at 3am while they weren't home?


My chiller intake fitting decided to leak last night and poured 100 gallons all over the hard wood floors and unfinished furniture.

Any ideas on how to make the chiller intake leak proof? It's made from pvc piping. I used plumbers tape on all the threaded fittings but apparently thats not enough.

 

[JenThePlantGeek]

*e-hugs*

That SUCKS sooo much!

There are PVC join compounds that will glue and bond the seams together, but I'm guessing you don't want it to be permanent, do you?

 

[ralph50]

While in the shower at night I heard a crack.

I ran out just in time to see the entire contents of my 55 gallon reef spill onto the floor.

When the saltwater hit the powerstrip and outlet it tripped the breakers.

I stood in the dark naked, surrounded by water and broken glass.

I could feel the fish and glass around my feet.

My father rushed in to see what had happened as the water poured from the 2nd floor balcony onto his car parked below.


All he could say was" Damn I haven't seen you naked in about 15 years."

This was 16 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday.

We somehow managed to save everything by putting it into a neighbors tank.

 

[ralph50]

Clear nylon reinforced hose with stainless steel worm clamps will give you more flexibility and not make the joints permanent.

The problem with PVC is that if you bump it or move you may get leaks from misallignments, brittle pipes, or "iffy" connections.

 

[turbosaurus]

OH NO.
Been there.
That's a sick feeling when you walk in on it.
You'd think with all the time we spend staring into our tanks it should happen when we're looking right at it!

I hope your angels had enough water to keep them alive during the disaster.

 

[epicfish]

Clear nylon reinforced hose with stainless steel worm clamps will give you more flexibility and not make the joints permanent.

The problem with PVC is that if you bump it or move you may get leaks from misallignments, brittle pipes, or "iffy" connections.

+1 for the reinforced hose and SS clamps.

 

[JenThePlantGeek]

Just had a thought...

... how did you know it was 3 am when the tank broke if you weren't home?

 

[bgoodwins]

Her little brother sleeps in front of the aquarium?

 

[nvrmor2paradise]

Alas, the reason I now have a 65 instead of the custom 95 that I wanted. This is what was left of my 20g soak tank (contents removed). This also happened in the middle of the night but in the same room I was sleeping in. Didn't notice till I heard the "squish" of the carpet as I walked past in the morning...

 

[jinx©]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Hopefully you didnt have any losses.

Ive been there myself though. Seam popped on an landlord unapproved 75gal in a 2nd story apartment. We didnt hear anything until a downstairs neighbor pounded on the door to wake us up asking if we let the bathtub overflow or something...lol

[Edit] How many people are looking over at their tanks right now?...lol

 

[Saraja87]

haha yeah I'm getting the feeling that this is pretty common. I was asleep at my school-home when i got a frantic call from my mom saying i had better get my ass over there because my sister's room had 3 inches of water in it >< Not the kind of call you want to wake up to!

Thank god she noticed it though, if my door had been closed the entire tank would have drained. My mom decided to leave it open for some reason last night, which we never do. Freaky mom intuition?

Anyway, she really saved my ass on this one. I had her take the tubes out of the tank so it stopped the siphon and I haven't found a casualty yet. Everyone was pretty ticked off at the temperature drop from the loss of insulation and the cramped quarters, but they perked right up once they realized they might be able to swindle some food out of us for their trouble.

Needless to say, we used up every towel in the house and then i rubbed down all the floors with wood oil. Hopefully that will prevent any nasty water spots.

And in a weird twist of freaky irony....

www.woot.com

I just ordered a set of those

Edit: The set up now is plastic PVC pieces with plumbers tape wrapped around the threaded ends, standard aquarium hose and those little plastic locking clips. I'm not sure where the leak is coming from exactly, but would the reinforced tubing and steel clips take care of it if the leak is at the tube to pipe connection?

Is there anything to fix it if its leaking from the threaded joints? Those i wouldn't mind being permanently put together as long as i can remove the tubes for cleaning.

 

[ralph50]

Is there anything to fix it if its leaking from the threaded joints? Those i wouldn't mind being permanently put together as long as i can remove the tubes for cleaning.

I would get rid of it.

Go to the plumbing section at Homedepot and avoid another catastrophe.

 

[Saraja87]

Well I checked the chiller and found the leak It's inside the actual chiller after the water has been cooled. This was of course after I tightened all the fittings and replaced the plastic clips with steel ones.

Now I'm out of my element, I have NO idea how the chiller works inside or how to begin looking for the leak. When I turn it on, it pours cold water out the back Does this sound unfixable? I sure don't have enough cash to buy another chiller.

 

[tropicalfish]

Can you open up the chiller?

 

[Saraja87]

it has a screen that I took off to see inside it. It's in a 5 sided box essentially, but I don't know how to get the actual chilling equipment out of the box.

 

[tazcrash69]

While there is some great info here, you might also check around som of the reef forums with the name of the chiller.
HTH
Sorry about the leak.