I got home this evening to the sound of water... thought a pump had broken in my tank, but as I looked in the lounge... ALAS... there was water dripping from a major crack in my tank! *sob* Yep... my 160litre community tank must have gone bang through the day, and emptied about 120litres all over my lounge carpet, and into the passageway. (I am just hoping that it did not soak through the floor and damage the ceiling to my neighbour below me.) The fish ware hanging in there in their 40 litres of water they had left... I managed to quickly set up my small 40litre and 15 litre tank which has been in storage, and move the fish over into there. But you can only imagine how cramped the fish are when you have 6 fully grown angels trying to move in the small 40litre!!! Fortunately my sister has been able to assist us with slightly bigger 60litre. I am in no position to be able to afford a new tank right now... and have more important expenses to take care of than a new fish tank. (Considering the 16olitre tank was a gift, and not originally bought!) So thankfully, MTS has saved my fish as I had the spare tanks, but poor economy will result in my hobby downsizing for a fair amount of time until I am in a position to afford a big tank again! HUMPH!!!! Sadly the fish will have to stay in the 40litre for a while, as the tank from my sis needs to be re-siliconed as it is flaking off rather badly. Needless to say, the wife and I ran around to our inlaws and parents to get towels and "the clean green machine" and have spent the last 2 hours sucking up water out the carpet. You can only GUESS the smell of aquarium water logged carpets smell like!!! Yes, I did get some pics, but I really don't have the time or patience to load them right now. But I will get them loaded...
sorry dude. Can you not repair the tank. Is it just a crack on one panel. Why not replace the cracked panel. Will not cost you much. All the best
He slayer, I forgot to mention that the tank isn't glass, it's that acrylic stuff... with curved edges on the front. The crack go from the top of the front panel around to the bottom of the left hand side. So if I could repair it I would have. But being acrylic, i'm not going to waste my time. It would probably be cheaper for me to buy a tank from dolphin than to get that one fixed.
Sorry to hear Zoom. Look at the bright side all the fish were safe and sound. Good on you Dolphin. Nice to see follow TASA family members helping each other out. Khalidmanack I think that with the acrylic being curved it would be under pressure and then with adding water it increases the pressure thus the curve being a weak point in the design of the tank. But the tanks are so beautiful.
Sorry to hear about the tank zoom all the best in getting your fish into a bigger tank soon. wish I could help but I am in potch because I have a spare tank that is empty.
If the tank is insured, it might cost you less... Unless your excess is to high... Bummer dude. Hope you come right... Otherwise, I might have a spare 3ft (160l) you might want to borrow? Or buy?
Zoom – some real misfortune you had. But I would like to suggest a short term solution for your problem. Have you seen these large plastic containers, normally use for storing stuff in. You get them in quite a range of different sizes, and the are reasonably priced. I am sure you should be able to get something around 100 liters. You will be able to keep your fish in there for a while. Only down side is that you won’t be able to see them, but it will give them a much bigger area to move around in. Hope it helps.
Excellent suggestion Kuhli -- you get the black ones at makro and builders with a lid once you finished using it for the fish you can store you fish stuff in it
Eish!!! If you were in CT I could have help you out with a 3ft :wondering: good luck with the cleanup
Thanks for the kind words guys. It appears that this tank is a cheap chinese "bent glass" type of set up. Which has proven time and time again to fail. I have started a claim process with my insurance company, and it all boils down to if they can find a "loop hole" in the system, because it isn't really specified, and they don't really insure against "natural causes". But I'm holding thumbs. Dolphin, you have been FABULOUS with your offer. And all you other guys ahve been fantastic. I am going to be hopeully re-using my old tanks stand, which is a nice cabinet. Just need to inspect it for damage, but I believe it is fine. The problem is that the stand is only 800 x 400... so a standard 3 foot (900) will not fit on it. I am in the process of getting quotes on getting a custom tank built. FFW is quoting and dolphin is quoting too.... at the moment I can definately say DOlphin is cheaper. Now it all boils down to whether I get a decent enought Christmas Bonus (which is suppose to be for holiday and christmas shopping- but if it is good enough, I can put in a bit of bob for a tank), and if insurance pay out. It would appear that my carpets will not be damaged, as they are industrial carpets. I just need to give them a very good clean to get the smell out. My book case and sideboard table MIGHT be damaged, but only time will tell if the wood swells at the bottom. But not too much water went that far. My couches are on platic legs, so everything else seems fine. For the time being I will be using a 2foot. Just need to resilicon it and organise filtration for it. (My spare internal filter obviously burnt out with not water in the tank). Trying to find a reasonably priced one at the moment! I don't mind buying one, but I am NOT paying R350 for a small 40-75litre jobby! So yeah guys, the only thing I am really concerned about it my plants.. they are currently in a bucket of water... but they need to be planted out soon! My fish SHOULD be ok in the 2 foot for a while.. as soon as I get that up and running. So far only one fatalaty... by poor Apisto from Dolphin didn't make it through the stress!
i had that happen to me with my first tank 120litre custom it was awful and unfortunately some of the fish died in the time it took to get a new tank it sucks when that heppens and probably has happend to most people on the forum i hope it goes well and that you find a tank soon!!
Yeah, I'm sure it comes with part and parcel of the hobby. Sadly my big angel, pictured below, has not made it. He was the one struggling the most when the tank bust, obviously because there was only 10cm of water, and he was 20cm from top of fin to bottom. I noticed soon after moving him that he wasn't happy On TUesday night,(the night of the bust) after moving all the fish, I wrapped the tank with a towel to darken inside and try de-stress the fish. Then yesterday I didn't have any lights on. I managed to deep clean the entire lounge and passage with the carpet cleaner last night. (My poor neighbours had to endure that noise). I also managed to clean out the old 2 ft. The silicon literally peales off with my fingers. (And my sister and her husband have been using it for the past 18 years!!! ) Tonight I plan on resiliconing the tank, and hopefully by Saturday I can fill it and get the fish moved into a slightly less cramped area. Managed to move the plants into a small 1ft with light and the new filter. The 1ft has the last remaining 15litres of water from the original tank, so hopefully this water will seed the new filter quickly... as the moment the 2ft is set up, I will be moving the fish over. I don't want to keep the fish in the small 38litre unnecessarily as I think the stress of overcrowding is more damaging to them. (Rummy nose has no red nose. Black widows are all very light in colour... i.e no black marks as per when they are happy. And the remaining 5 angels are fighting rather visciously.) Anyway, the new tank is on the cards. As I've said, Dolphin is assisting with getting a quote together on a nice custom for me. It now boils down to where the money is going to come in from. ~!Damn you chinese k@k imports!~ And you wanna know the irony of it all... My wife has been patiently waiting for a laptop for about 3 years now. I don't know why she wants one when we have a perfectly good desktop, but she has a dream of owning her own laptop. A business associate of mine is in the process of upgrading his laptop, and is selling is Sony Vaio for a flipping excellent price. (1 year old laptop, paid R12,000 originally. Now selling at R 4,000!!!) And if you wondering, yes, this is the same associate who "gave" me the original tank. If you recall, THe 160litre (busted) tank was offered to me for R1k, which my boss then agreed to pay for me as a small bonus. And now my boss is the one telling me about this associates Vaio, and knows how much I would like it for my wife!
pity about the angel zoom, hey it always seems to pour down never just drizzle ,,, had gift money put aside and then got dr's bill settle within 7 days = R2500
Bummer about the Angel Zoom, he was a beaut. Jip, it is indeed a pricey hobby! And this year has been a taxing year I don't know of any person who has not been affected in some way or another with this damn recession, and things that were not budgeted for ALWAYS creep up and rear their ugly heads, as Donny says it never seems to be just a drizzle, it pours down hard! Good luck on getting a new tank, I sincerely hope everything comes together for you, a new tank for Christmas for you and a nice laptop for your wife!
