Oh @%#!

[TurbineSurgeon]

A couple of days ago, I said this (here):

Odd thing about fluids: they seem an awful lot bigger on the floor than they do in a container.

Well, yesterday afternoon, I set up an old 10 gallon tank that I had laying around. I had previously used it as a quarentine/hospital tank, but had not used it for quite a while.

I rinsed some extra Profile I had left over from the last tank I set up, put in a large rock and a small clay plant pot, filled it with water, and snagged a couple of pieces of Java fern, corkscrew val, and E. tennelis from my 75 gallon. A small Whisper HOB and a hood, and the tank was all set up. I then netted some of the Killer Shrimp from my 58 gallon and tossed them in there. Those little buggers are fast, so I wasn't able to get them all. I planned on growing them big enough to eat (really!) and then putting a pair of rams or kribs in thier place.

The water was a little cloudy from the Profile, but I checked on it a couple of times over the next 5 or 6 hours or so. Each time, the water seemed a bit clearer. Then, just before going to bed, I looked again and it was crystal clear.

Then I noticed a grumbling sound. I followed the sound to the tank, and discovered that the reason the tank was crystal clear was because it was completely empty!

I have no idea what went wrong, but I'm guessing one of the silicone seals had a catastrophic failure. Hey, if a seal can cause a space shuttle to explode, surely it can cause 10 gallons of water to test the laws of gravity. I originally thought the rock might have cracked or broken the bottom (it really is a BIG rock), but nope.

To make matters worse, my wet-dry vac is at my girlfriend's house (her plumbing defied the laws of gravity a few weeks ago and flowed up into her bathroom and closet), and she's out of town for the weekend.

Oh well, I guess I'm off to rent a carpet machine....

 

[Orion]

Ouch TS. That really sucks all the way around. Sorry to hear about this.

I just setup a 5.5 yesterday, oddly enough almost useing the same method you described. However so far its still a bit cloudy, and the water is still where it should be. ( knock on wood)

I have a bad habit of grabing an extra empty tank and trowing it togeather quickly when I need one. Now this makes me think twice before doing so.

Bad juju.

 

[jclif1995]

that bites

 

[aquatic-store]

Sorry to hear that. Lost a ton of discus to a cracked tank one time

 

[Lotus]

Sorry to hear about that... had a couple of (near) disasters. Once with a 10g we bought and set up. A couple of hours later, it had a crack in it, had to be broken down and sealed... luckily it's still working. Another disaster, when we set up the puffer tank, cycled it, added fish... then it started leaking. Everything had to come out. Worse, the puffer had to go in one of the other tanks, and gave some kind of parasite to other fish, killing quite a few of them after he was back in his home (he died of it too)

I think some of those 10g tanks are pretty badly made, with poor siliconing, if it's any consolation.

 

[fishdude07]

sorry to hear it man. i had a leak problem with my first 10 gallon a while ago and didnt know what to do so i sealed it with tape if any of you remember me saying something about that. the tape actually held very well but i didnt wanna take anymore chances with the tape so i siliconed the crack and now its good as new

 

[angel51431]

Hmm, I suppose its cause 10 gals are the most common tank - they're made so much that they skimp on the effort that goes into making it a "quality" tank. Then again, I found my 10 gal tank outside - someone threw it out because it had a large crack on the bottom. So I took it in, sealed it, and its never given me a problem in the 9 years or so that I've had it. So sometimes they can be "survivors" too, i guess

Man, but that's terrible though, Turbine . And on carpet too? my mini-liquid disaster is nothing compared to this - here

Did you rescue the shrimp in time?

 

[TurbineSurgeon]

Yeah, the shrimp are in a bucket with the rock, plant pot, filter, and plants right now. I'll go to Wally World after I finish doing laundry and pick up another 10 gallon. It's kind of weird, that tank had been used several times over the years I had it and never even hinted of a problem until last night.

I asked a neighbor to trade vehicles for a while (his pickup for my Porsche) so I could go and get a carpet cleaning machine to extract as much water as possible. Instead, he went up to his business and brought me a wet/dry vac to borrow. What a guy!!

 

[fishdude07]

LOL i bet it wasnt too hard to convince him to trade vehicles with you if you have a porsche. or did he just take the truck to his business?

 

[TurbineSurgeon]

Yeah, he used his truck. It has WAY more cargo space!

 

[Nutfarm]

Between 10 gal 'hardwood floods' and 150 gal carpet floods... I feel your pain!