diverseyboats Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 About 2:30AM, my wife woke me up because she thought is was raining and we left a window open. Turns out, the noise was water dripping from my desk and stretching about 10 feet on the wood floor, eventually through the floor and causing damage to the ceiling below! When I got to the tank, the front wall had a hairline crack that spidered in a few directions and water was at about half with the very top of my BTA starting to get exposed! Good thing my ATO is smart and shutoff after a few minutes otherwise I'd have an entire half-tank of death in RO/DI water. The timing was crazy because I finally put my earlier tank - a Nuvo 8 - on eBay a few days ago.. Had to stop that sale and set it back up. Oh yeah, of course I just did a water change on the 18 yesterday so I had no salt water prepared! It's now about 3AM and I'm carefully pulling my rockscape apart where I expoxied it together trying to get in-between the various corals since the relatively large arch structure would in no way fit in the smaller 8. I'm also rushing because I had no water prepared and my RO/DI unit takes about 40 minutes for a gallon (let alone mix and heat) and the clock was ticking! Amazingly, with sand and rock, I had enough to just barely fill up the tank and rear chambers enough to get the thing going. The tank is basically opaque due to the transfer of sand so I can't even take a good inventory of what I'm looking at! So, this morning... Amazingly, my params are all basically in-check... salinity is a bit down due to the initial ATO dump. I'll be ready to do a water change at noon. Now the questions... I'm in about my 5th year doing this and this is my first tank failure. 1) Seeing as I'm at about 40% volume with say 25% the sand and down a few pounds of rock, what should I expect in terms of water quality? Will this thing cycle again? 2) I'm not sure what tank I want to replace this with. I really like the curved front rimless AIOs... I work at home and keep this on my desk. A little weary of getting another CADlights, the JBJ 30 is too big for my desk and I don't like the hood of the Biocube (No way I'm going to give up my brand new AiPrime). Any suggestions on a tank? 3) When I get the new tank, should I start it up like new? i.e. build the dry rock scape, sand, throw in a small rock from the 8 to seed, let it cycle for a few weeks and then transition the animals? The timeline of this does not make me happy! 4) I'm tired. I've attached a before and after pic for your enjoyment. Any thoughts or opinions on any of the above would be welcomed!! Thanks. Link to comment
seabass Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Sorry 'bout that. That really stinks. Seeing as I'm at about 40% volume with say 25% the sand and down a few pounds of rock, what should I expect in terms of water quality? Will this thing cycle again? I'm concerned a little about disturbing the sand bed. Sometimes that releases a lot of organics and causes an ammonia spike. I probably would have stuck the sand in another bucket to clean and re-cure separately. Transferring just the rock and livestock usually doesn't result in an ammonia spike. When I get the new tank, should I start it up like new? i.e. build the dry rock scape, sand, throw in a small rock from the 8 to seed, let it cycle for a few weeks and then transition the animals? The timeline of this does not make me happy! When adding new dry rock, I like to prep it separately. I use Dr.Tim's One and Only bacteria to seed it, and Dr.Tim's Ammonia to keep the ammonia level around 2ppm for a couple of weeks. Then I let ammonia become undetectable before using it in a display tank with livestock or other live rock. Link to comment
pntbll687 Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Just need to keep an eye on parameters since the sand bed was disturbed. Have some water ready for a water change just in case you get a spike. Replace it with a marineland 25g frameless cube. I have two of them and have zero problems. Coming up on three years with the first one and currently cycling the 2nd. Link to comment
diverseyboats Posted August 25, 2015 Author Share Posted August 25, 2015 Did you drill your marineland? I've drilled before so I don't have an objection to that, but curious about your setup.... Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Wow, everyone's greatest fear! It's a good thing you were able to wake up and catch it before you lost everything. Get some rest today! Link to comment
pntbll687 Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Did you drill your marineland? I've drilled before so I don't have an objection to that, but curious about your setup.... I did not drill the two cubes I have. I use a canister filter on each. The original has a marineland c160 and the new one has a marineland c220. My wife works for a pet distribution company and she can get great prices on stuff, and marineland is a big supplier for them. I don't have plans for drilling the tanks anytime soon, I may go the overflow box route if I feel the need for a sump at some point. Currently live on a college campus (the wife has a 2nd job there) and the canisters are a bet against any overflow during a power outage and not being there (if it were drilled and sumped and something went wrong). Link to comment
diverseyboats Posted August 25, 2015 Author Share Posted August 25, 2015 Floors are "not that ruined", but a few of the planks wicked up water and are slightly bowed... They should dry out eventually. I've come to find out that there was an "early run" of 18G CAD tanks with 4MM glass and all the later ones that are currently shipping are made of 6MM. Needless to say, I have one from the "early run". I'm awaiting a call back from them expecting that they'll send me a new 6MM one no questions asked. If they're smart, they'll throw in a skimmer or reactor for my troubles. I guess we'll see...... Link to comment
Eckozulu Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Just say no to curved glass..... IM fusion 10 for desktop IMO. Link to comment
Matteo Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 Or the IM20. Sorry about the leak. We've all had middle of the night tank fails. No fun. Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 Wow, worst case nightmare and sorry to see this Link to comment
LynkUK Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 Just say no to curved glass..... IM fusion 10 for desktop IMO. Its not the curved glass thats the problem. Its the crappy glass they use to do it with. Link to comment
bpounds1991 Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 Get your money back and buy a custom acrylic, started buying them 2 years ago and I'll never look back. Advanced Acrylics IMO. Link to comment
Neebles Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 Floors are "not that ruined", but a few of the planks wicked up water and are slightly bowed... They should dry out eventually. I've come to find out that there was an "early run" of 18G CAD tanks with 4MM glass and all the later ones that are currently shipping are made of 6MM. Needless to say, I have one from the "early run". I'm awaiting a call back from them expecting that they'll send me a new 6MM one no questions asked. If they're smart, they'll throw in a skimmer or reactor for my troubles. I guess we'll see...... Since this is cad you will be lucky to get a return call period. ..a new tank and ANYTHING extra for your troubles I can almost guarantee won't happen. They have a nice way of making anything that happens to their tanks or equipment be your fault. I had a bad tank, reactor and skimmer do you think they did anything about it or offered replacements/compensation. Nope. I wish you the best with this fight. Link to comment
diverseyboats Posted August 28, 2015 Author Share Posted August 28, 2015 That what I woulda thought as well... But believe it or not they stepped up. They are sending me a new one with thicker glass. Evidently, mine was some kind of pre-production model with 4mm glass... They now use 6. I'm a little hesitant about investing time and effort into another CAD, but they are the only maker of 18ish gallon curved rimless tanks which is what I want... I'll post when I get it. Thanks for everyone's input!! Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 That what I woulda thought as well... But believe it or not they stepped up. They are sending me a new one with thicker glass. Evidently, mine was some kind of pre-production model with 4mm glass... They now use 6. I'm a little hesitant about investing time and effort into another CAD, but they are the only maker of 18ish gallon curved rimless tanks which is what I want... I'll post when I get it. Thanks for everyone's input!! The 18g Mini-II (Bowfront) uses •5mm. low iron Ultra Clear glass (single panel custom curved). Is that what you're getting? Link to comment
jimmy_c Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 I feel your pain. Had a JBJ 45 that split right down the curve in the glass, ThanksGiving night a year ago. Heard an wicked pop and water started spewing out of the crack corner where the glass is bent. I think it was my fault as I stored a 5gal jug of water in the cabinet which caused the base the tank was sitting on to warp causing an unstable platform for the tank. LFS replaced it no question asked. They stated they had not seen any failure with these JBJ's. Link to comment
Eckozulu Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 Its not the curved glass thats the problem. Its the crappy glass they use to do it with. Cads cracks, IM cracks, JBJ cracks. Anyone else offering curved glass mass produced? Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 Cads cracks, IM cracks, JBJ cracks. Anyone else offering curved glass mass produced? Well his JBJ cracked after having a severely distorted stand, so any tank would crack with that. JBJ uses really thick glass, 8mm I believe Link to comment
Eckozulu Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 Well his JBJ cracked after having a severely distorted stand, so any tank would crack with that. JBJ uses really thick glass, 8mm I believe After my nuvo24 cracked (not on the pedestal, but sitting on neoprene and granite), I searched a lot of different tanks with curved glass. Yes JBJ uses 8mm, but they crack. IM (Ex-JBJ guys) use 8mm on their micro30/38 and the newer nuvo24, all have examples of cracking. Who knows what size cad uses(conflicting reports), also have reports of cracking, like the OP. Basically out of all the spontaneous cracked tanks in the nano world, ALOT of them are curved glass. This makes me sad, because I really do like them. I just don't trust them and neither does my hard wood floors. Link to comment
braaap Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 After my nuvo24 cracked (not on the pedestal, but sitting on neoprene and granite), I searched a lot of different tanks with curved glass. Yes JBJ uses 8mm, but they crack. IM (Ex-JBJ guys) use 8mm on their micro30/38 and the newer nuvo24, all have examples of cracking. Who knows what size cad uses(conflicting reports), also have reports of cracking, like the OP. Basically out of all the spontaneous cracked tanks in the nano world, ALOT of them are curved glass. This makes me sad, because I really do like them. I just don't trust them and neither does my hard wood floors. If you buy a tank with curved glass you are taking a risk. If you buy a tank with curved glass from CAD or IM you are just stupid. Link to comment
Eckozulu Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 If you buy a tank with curved glass you are taking a risk. If you buy a tank with curved glass from CAD or IM you are just stupid. Harsh bro.... But I can't disagree. Fool me once, GFY, fool me twice, I'll just GFM. At least IM stopped trying. Link to comment
braaap Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 Harsh bro.... But I can't disagree. Fool me once, GFY, fool me twice, I'll just GFM. At least IM stopped trying. You hear nothing but horror stories about both brands. I had a CAD tank and it started to leak out the rear chambers after 5 or 6 weeks. Tossed it in the trash after getting the "We will call you back" line for 2 weeks. Link to comment
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