Level Your Tanks & Keep Extra Gear!!!

[RedPhotog]

So the worst case scenario happened to me last night...which, in a way was totally my fault. 

 

I got back into the hobby recently after over a decade of being without a tank. In haste with excitement, I setup my system without leveling the tank. I realized this about 2-3 weeks into the cycle and I never repaired the situation. Total fail. For months my tank sat with the water weight being distributed to the front, making the weight uneven in the water column. 

 

The wife called while I was on the train home yesterday and said the tank had started trickling water onto the floor. When I got home about an hour later, there was only 6 inches of water left in my standard 10 gallon tank. I had to scramble and get my fish, crabs and coral into buckets. It was awful. 

 

If it wasnt for my QT tank that I kept running with cycled water since the day I started my DT, my reef would have died. I had 3 heaters, 3 pumps for 3 buckets with all my livestock and sand and rocks in, until I was able to sort out the mess from the leak and dial the new tank in. 

 

ALWAYS LEVEL YOUR TANK BEFORE ADDING ANYTHING!!! 

 

I brought the DT in the garage and filled it up with water to investigate the issue. The front seams along the 20 inch wide trim got buckled from the weight and caused a leak in the rim. Totally sucked. 

 

ALWAYS HAVE AT LEAST ONE EXTRA HEATER AND PUMP ON HAND. 

 

I don’t know what I would have done without the extra gear and water from my cycled QT. Wouldn’t have had time to get to a pet store for what was needed to keep animals alive. 

 

QT tank is identical to my DT. QT is now DT. Tank is totally level. Rocks and sand are exactly scaped the way the other tank was, and fish are eating and corals are opening. I can’t wait to get home to do a precautionary high volume WC for good measure. 

 

I’ve turned into some tough corners recently. Lost my job. 10 months out of work while my son was born. Family on Medicaid. I have been channeling all of my stress and anxiety into a reef tank to achieve balance and peace. Things would be a lot different now if I didn’t have QT water and extra gear. 

 

Does anyone else have a situation where extra gear and QT’s have saved their reef?