Last night at 1:30 in the morning I woke up to a noise. The unmistakable noise of a pump running without water. My system is such that I don't have an overflow so I jumped out of bed and RAN to the living room and half the tank was empty (29 gallon) and the water was all over the floor.

First things first. It turns out that the bottom glass pane broke. Thats where the water was coming from. Don't know how it happen as the tank wasn't moved or anything. It had been happily sitting there for over 2 months now. My wife and I thought it might have been the cerith snails burrowing around under the rock and then it dropped, but we really have no idea how there could be a crack from one side of the tank to the other on the bottom pane.

Nothing was ruined except the tank. Everything is still in perfect running order.

In our half asleep state at 1:30 in the morning we were able to pull out most of our livestock and put it into the quarantine tank (10 gallon that has not been medicated) and get most of the live rock into it (Although one piece was out of the water for an extended amount of time, like 3 hours before it made it into the QT) as well.

Another container with about 8 pounds of the sand from the tank and a little water to keep it moist is sitting next to it. All fish and corals also made it into the QT.

My large CPR aquafuge is still half filled with water. It's not being heated like the QT is right now, but sand is in there along with the live rock rubble. I tossed the chateo that was in the fuge into the QT for a little extra filtration.

Now for the questions. After the tank had finished emptying on my floor we carefully (cause the break was on the bottom) set it outside on the patio. The Live rock that didn't make it is obviously a throw away at this point, but the sand is still moist. Can I use the sand for the replacement tank as long as it stays moist or would I be better off getting a new 20 pound bag of live sand? Keep in mind that their are some corals in the QT waiting to go home.

Also, how best do I handle the "new" water issue? When I say new, I mean there are about 7 gallons of tank water left. The other 18-20 it will take to fill the display tank will all be new. What kind of effect can I expect that to have on my fish and corals? I don't have a way to really let the new 29 gallon tank cycle while the 3 fish, the shrimp and all those coral sit in my QT for a month. Not a realistic option right now. A little help and advice from anyone would be GREATLY appreciated.

If the sand was shallow, it should be fine to reuse. If it was more than a inch or so deep, Ithink I'd feel better using new sand.

The new water in and of itself isn't a problem, as long as the SG, temp, pH, etc match, jst like a waterchange. The best you can do is get he rock, sand and livestock into ther new quarters and keep a VERY close eye on ammonia, nitrite over the next couple of weeks. If they start climbing, you"ll have to combat them with water changes.

Sorry to hear about the tank, that sucks....

i agree with Phurst, on every point.

why would you throw the rock out ?? you can just put it in the QT tank after you get everything into the new 29, and let it cure again, OR you can send it to me. lol

broken tanks suck ... sorry to hear about the problems.

The good folks above gave great advice. Best of luck rebuilding.

Dave

it sounds like you need a new tank...i have a 180g you can buy :)

Thanks everyone. I'm working like mad to get things taken care of. The Sand is semi shallow. I'd say about 1 1/4 inches deep. I'm gonna try to reuse it. Wish me luck.

Gosh, that really was a "nightmare." Glad you were alerted and used quick thinking. Good luck with putting your reef back together.

best of luck!! I have nightmares about that sort of thing :o I would DEFINATLY be keeping that rock!!

Phurst, please tell me why reusing shallow sandbed sand vs not using deep bed sand, in case I ever have a disaster:eek:

Deep sand hosts anaerobic bacteria that will die if exposed to high levels of oxygen, like if you were to scoop the sand out of the tank. Of course dead stuff decomposes, so you'd have a much higher chance of an ammonia spike.

Deep sand hosts anaerobic bacteria that will die if exposed to high levels of oxygen, like if you were to scoop the sand out of the tank. Of course dead stuff decomposes, so you'd have a much higher chance of an ammonia spike.

My sand bed is about an inch and a half so I went for it. I figured that any die off from that sand would be about the same as the die off I would get from getting a bag of live sand.

Replacement tank is up and running. Waiting for things to settle before I add the fish and coral. They are still sitting on the floor in front of the tank in a 10 gallon. Carpet is still a little damp. All I can do is pray no mold starts growing. :cry: Although I don't see us at this apartment for much longer, (gonna buy) so it's the complex's problem. :D

Still a lot of debris from the sand and having all that water poured, but it's clearing up. Temp is about a degree cooler than I'd like. The rock is in there for the most part except for the rock that had corals attached (obviously).

Gosh, that really was a "nightmare." Glad you were alerted and used quick thinking. Good luck with putting your reef back together.

My wife and I actually talked about that. It's a good thing we were home and I am a light sleeper. But I was still half a sleep so as I stood there looking at the tank I actually contemplated whether or not I was awake. I was like, "Am I actually seeing this or is this a nightmare." Once my head cleared up after a few seconds, I knew we had to work fast. The timer that turns on the lights had water all throughout it. It's a good thing it happened at night when the lights were off. :|

I don't think a burrowing snail could cause a rock to fall and crack the bottom of a tank. Are you certain that the tank is level?

firstly nooby, sorry to hear this bud. here's to a speedy recovery!


Guys, im pro using everything again, even if its as deep as the tank itself id still use the sand. technicly i agree with what you guys are saying, but pure oxidization would have the same effect regardless. & Its bactera, you would be supprissed as what can survive & for how long. bactera has been around since creation of life itself, i think billions of them can handle 3 hours of being scooped into a bucket from our sissy 5 inchs of industry standard covering. :huh:

hell - id even use 100% new water if i had to, your animals werrn't born in a bubble remember. we're getting so caught up these days with the cutting edge findings or publications that we're forgetting one very important & fundimental principle, you earn your right to survive in nature, just cause we capturing these animals in a box only means we're not dilluting in the same scale as nature - so in knowing this, factor the cost of higher water changes.

*hops off soap box & realised its actually a beer case*:tongue2:

Ok, I have a question here since it was brought up. Let's say that you are definately concerned about a major spike from reusing the sand. If this were an issue, why could one not take the sand and wash it really well with some SW before placing it in the new tank? Wouldn't the majority of any debrise be removed and it then be like new sand being purchased to an extent? Just curious....... NOT trying to steal your thread Noobeef, just wanted some feedback in case I have a disaster. :love!:

I hear that!!

I think you could rinse it in either SW or fresh and reuse it. If you did this you would of course wash out the bacteria and have to re-establish the sand bed. When I bought my sand from a guy who was tearing down a 180 he scooped sand from top to bottom. Being a newb, I brought it home and dumped in in my tank and never had any problems with the hitchhikers on my rocks. I DID have a sandstorm! It lasted for a week. I never saw a cycle and started adding critters after a month or so. I know more than one person who moved a DSB from one tank to another. If you have to I would be sure to run carbon, keep an eagle eye on my critters, closely monitor parameters and have plenty of SW made up for emergency changes.

Ok, I have a question here since it was brought up. Let's say that you are definately concerned about a major spike from reusing the sand. If this were an issue, why could one not take the sand and wash it really well with some SW before placing it in the new tank? Wouldn't the majority of any debrise be removed and it then be like new sand being purchased to an extent? Just curious....... NOT trying to steal your thread Noobeef, just wanted some feedback in case I have a disaster. :love!:

SD, these guys are talking prominately about bacterial mass in the bed that "scientificly" can sucumb to higher O2 satuation levels.

im saying its 5 inches - get over it! & even if this is the case millions/ trillions (depending on surface areas) can handle the move & if there is any die back to talk of will be consumed anyways.

To answer your question, it would be like boiling your live rocks just to be sure they were clean. So what if you lose 1/4 of the populations & the die off is nutrients, for one you'd add more with a common feeding & 2)having 3/4 functioning natral filtration is better than 0% wouldn't you agree.

If people are worried about spikes, just as a matter of course, up your water changes. Its not rocket science.! We just get diluded from time to time into thinking it is! ;)

I don't think a burrowing snail could cause a rock to fall and crack the bottom of a tank. Are you certain that the tank is level?


Im certain it's level. It's a tank stand, not a cabinet or a counter top. I set a leveler on the stand. Bubble is between the lines. If it's not exactly center it is off by only a millimeter. It's about as level as can be.

That's pretty level. I was just looking for a reason that a spontaneous crack would occur. Earthquake?

That's pretty level. I was just looking for a reason that a spontaneous crack would occur. Earthquake?


Im starting to wonder if the fuge I had hanging on the back was putting more pressure than I thought. I had the 4.5 gallon fuge sitting on a self made stand of sorts and also resting on the tank itself. I'm wondering if the majority of what would amount to be about 45-50 pounds was hanging off the back of the 29 gallon tank and not resting on the stand like I thought. I was certain it was just sort of resting on the back while the bulk of the weight was on the little stand. Nevertheless, I made a new little stand that's about 1/2 inch higher to hold all the weight. There was no earthquake big enough to cause that.

IDK, it seems like if the weight of the fuge was going to cause something to crack it would be a side. I guess it will just have to remain a mystery.

IDK, it seems like if the weight of the fuge was going to cause something to crack it would be a side. I guess it will just have to remain a mystery.
I was thinking that too, but then I kinda stopped and thought about the fact that the fuge's weight is distributed across the whole width of the glass. Since the tank is level and that glass is level wouldn't the pressure be redistributed to the bottom pane. The weight is all on the bottom pane now? I don't know honestly. I'm hoping that's what it is because that would mean I took the preventative measures necessary to fix it. At this point, it's a tank sitting on a level stand with nothing hanging off of it except a small powerhead. The fuge and skimmer are both sitting on the stand I made.

Hmm, I was not so much thinking of pressure down as pressure in, as from a corner of the HOB pressing on the glass. At any rate, I think the stand is a good idea.