Well, my plans for a big tank took a turn for the worst this weekend. Here's the story:
I got the tank from a post here
(http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35503) about two months ago. The tank was still shrinkwrapped, sitting on the foam and pallet it came on. I brought it home and put it in my basement while I worked on the stand, sump area in my basement, and several hundred pounds of aragocrete.
After talking to several people on reefcentral in the large tanks forum, I decided to build a 1.5"x2" angle frame from hardened steel and then route out the top to all but 3". It appears that this was my fatal mistake.
It finally came down to testing the tank with the pumps and plumbing I had planned. I did it in the basement, just in case I did have any leaks. Good thing I did, too.
I had started by filling it about 90% full. After about an hour of setting up the pump and getting everything where I wanted for testing (I wasn't sure if the overflow could handle the ~5500gph @ 6' of my Sequence pump...), I finally climbed up on the ladder and continued to fill the tank and primped the pump.
After a few seconds, I heard "creak", looked up at my friend in a "uh oh" panic, and then had ~280 gallons of water covering my legs and feet, until I was pushed off the ladder. It was a catostrophic failure - it emptied in about 3 seconds. The water filled my 15'x40' basement to about 2-3" deep.
I started sweeping the water out with a wide broom while my dedicated friend started carrying everything outside. All in all- a bunch of things got wet, and it seeped a little into the adjoining rooms, but we were able to clean the majority of it up within a couple of hours.
After cleaning up, we were able to inspect the tank. It appears it broke along the bottom edge, then cracked all the way up to the top.
I talked back and forth to the manufacturer (
http://www.aquariumsforyou.com/), who naturally claimed no responsibility. I also talked to Andy from MRC, and his assessment was that it was caused from inadequate support along the top, due to my frame. So it appears it was my own doing.
Yes, it was an open design, but apparently, TOO open:
So now I'm left with a stand and a some equipment that would be overkill for my current 75g tank (that would have been replaced). I'm not sure what I'll do at this point, since the majority of my investment is broken in my basement. I was able to laugh at the situation even a minute after it happened, but it still hurts to have this kind of setback.
Full pictures can be found at
http://www.chrishorne.com/gallery/BigTank
The lesson? Test your tanks before doing anything to them.
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