HELP! Sump sprang a leak last night....

[jrgilles]

Really, I'd happily take it up there to get this done right so it doesn't leak again. Could take the morning off of work or something to bring it in. I'm going to try calling you again to see if I can connect

 

[eww]

The shop number is 425-258-4662. The address is 2812 Rucker Ave in Everett. It's right around the corner from the Comcast Arena if you know where that is. There should be someone there by 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning.

 

[jrgilles]

alright, I bought a 27 gallon heavy duty plastic container from lowes for 15 bucks. I have my live rock, heaters, protein skimmer, return pump and kalk drip going in the make shift sump, and my actual broken sump tank in the back of my car.

Tank is a bit bubbly, but I think it should be happy now. I'll take my tank to everett tomorrow to check out a cost for repair.

If anyone knows a good glass shop in seattle that could handle resealing the side panel of this glass sump so it doesn't leak, let me know. If not I'll call and head up to Goldfinch Brothers in everett tomorrow early AM.

Hey Eric, any recommendations on who I should talk to in the shop about this? Or just talk to anyone? Are they going to have any idea what a sump is?

 

[eww]

Ask for Scott. Tell him I told you to call. Just tell them it's a fish tank. Don't go all technical calling it a sump. if you have ANY trouble call me and I will get it arranged for you. You have both my numbers so if I don't answer one try the other number.

 

[jrgilles]

awesome, really appreciate it.

Tank is looking good now with the rubbermaid sump. Its totally full of live rock, and I'm not seeing bubbles in the display anymore.

I guess 3 lbs live rock/gallon takes care of the whole bubble issue. hah

Seems to be doing the job, just not near as sexy as the sump I build myself

 

[jrgilles]

Thanks for the advise this morning guys, appreciate it. Was a bad thing to wake up to, but not near as bad as it could have been. Only lost a couple gallons of water. If it had been longer, it could have been disasterous.

Anyway, pressure is off now with the makshift sump installed and all my equipment running. Everything looks back to normal. Just wanted to say thanks to all the people with their fast replies and especially to eric (eww) for talking to me on the phone and giving me contact info for a glass shop.

cheers

 

[eww]

Did you get in touch with anyone at the shop yet this morning?

 

[citycoral.com]

look into orca glue
here is a link to the video
p.s. have not used it but souds like it works
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGglivw3Its
http://premiumaquatics.com/store/me...de=PA&Product_Code=PL-AM-UG450&Category_Code=

 

[jrgilles]

I decided not to call and just drove up there this morning. They took the tank. Said it should be under an hour labor at a bit less than $70 an hour. That is until they saw the baffles, bubble wall, etc. Then they said it might be more.

They wouldn't guarantee the work (which is fine) and made me go buy the silicone so they weren't responsible for any ill effects. And now it is in there shop.

The guy who was going to do the work wasn't there, but they said they would be in touch. Hope they can get it fixed. Honestly happy to pay them a hundred or whatever to get it back operational without me having to rebuild it all in a new tank, or rebuild the current tank. We'll see what happens.

I think if I didn't drop your name, they would have sent me home, but since I knew you, they kept the tank.

 

[jrgilles]

Hmm, that stuff looks pretty cool. Great for fixing small leaks. I'll have to check it out if this happens again.

In the case of this issue, I think the entire side of the sump was about to fall off, lol. I'm lucky I caught it when I did

 

[eww]

I decided not to call and just drove up there this morning. They took the tank. Said it should be under an hour labor at a bit less than $70 an hour. That is until they saw the baffles, bubble wall, etc. Then they said it might be more.

They wouldn't guarantee the work (which is fine) and made me go buy the silicone so they weren't responsible for any ill effects. And now it is in there shop.

The guy who was going to do the work wasn't there, but they said they would be in touch. Hope they can get it fixed. Honestly happy to pay them a hundred or whatever to get it back operational without me having to rebuild it all in a new tank, or rebuild the current tank. We'll see what happens.

I think if I didn't drop your name, they would have sent me home, but since I knew you, they kept the tank.

I'm glad they took it. Did they say when it would be done? I will call them in the morning and check up on it for you and ask Elliott to do a good job and to quit whining about the baffles . I don't know why they would create issues anyway since they are doing the work on the end piece of glass, not the back or the front. I am kind of surprised they made you go but the silicone though. Did you just get more of the GE Silicone I from Lowes? I will call you and let you know what they say after I talk to them in the morning.

 

[jrgilles]

Didn't ask them about a turn around time. They looked like they were on top of things and not going to let it sit around for ever, so I just assumed it would be done when it was done. Didn't want to rush them, especially since my make shift sump is working fine for the short run.

Its leaking from the left front and back corners, so I really hope it is only the side coming off and not something with the bottom also. Thats how it looked to me....

I think they would have gone to the aquarium store and bought some aquarium grade silicone if I insisted, but then I would have been charged the hourly rate for the drive to and from the store for special silicone. Maybe they didn't think you could use just plain old silicone I.

Thats what I used previously to put my baffles in, and seems great to me. So I just got that instead of aquarium silicone. I think they also maybe didn't want to take responsibility for getting some bad stuff and wiping out the tank.

The guy (elliot?) Who was going to do the work wasn't there yesterday morning. Maybe too early, or he took the day off.
If you end up talking to them, shoot me an update

 

[jrgilles]

Well, they checked it out and said they don't want to mess with the tank. I'll go pick it up later this week.

Now I need to decide if I want to try to fix it or fork out money and get a new tank.

I'm worried that if it started leaking at one point, it might leak elsewhere later.

So, I'm thinking either I bust out all the baffles (which could damage the tank? They are put in with weldon 40), and rebuild the whole thing, which would include taking off the side panel and the bottom, cleaning and rebuilding it. Or, if I should just order a new 50 breeder, and then put the baffles in that.

Kind of sucks to spend the $159 + tax for a new tank, but at least I wouldn't have to worry about it leaking again.

Has anyone done a tank rebuild before?

I guess I'm leaning towards getting a new tank from AGA so I know it will be good, but would love to hear your opinions on disecting and reassembling what I have...

sucky

 

[eww]

Man Rob that really blows. I'm sorry they couldn't take care of it for you. I guess I can understand thei reasoning though. It still sucks though. I wish this 65gal breeder would fit for you. It's not perfect but it would be a great sump tank. I am planning on I being a dedicated frag tank in the garage eventually but if you need it we could work something out. It's 36 x 18 x 24 tall. You might have to change all you plumbing though to accomodate the extra 5 or 6" of height. But hey I it worked it would be even more volume in you system. I will give Elliot a call tomorrow morning and just check in with him to see if they are sure they can't do something.

Eric

 

[jrgilles]

Started a thread on how to repair it. We'll see what comes of it.

I guess I've accepted the fact that I need to remove all the baffles, either to fully repair it or transfer them to a new 50 breeder.

So I guess if you talk to him, you can let him know that he can knock them out. Would make it much simplier.

Since I'm planning on removing them though, I'm curious how hard it would be to fix it myself. Seems like it would be a lot simplier to fix if the tank was empty, then I'll just reattach them, since they are cut to size already, shouldn't be too bad.

I'm trying to figure out if a good repair on this just takes removing and reapplying the internal silicone, or if I would have to take the top trim, bottom trim, and side panels off in order to redo the junction between the pieces of glass.

If it is just the internal silicone I need to fix, I doesn't seem that hard. We'll see what info the new thread brings to the table.

Was originally hoping to fix it without removing baffles, but I think I was dreaming when I thought I could do a decent fix without taking them out.

 

[jrgilles]

Ended up removing the baffles, and this guy up in south everett resealed it for 30 bucks.

Got the baffles glued back in yesterday, and reinstalled today. All is back operational except my ATO and slowly dripping union under my overflow.

Glad to have a real sump back instead of the rubbermaid container I was using.