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??? New Tank Setup - New build disaster! - Help

seeks

Founder/Admin
Staff member
Joined
Feb 15, 2021
Messages
113
I will start with this! When something is too good to be true, we'll it usually is! Last year, the wife and I got back into the hobby! With a good-sized family, we thought it would be educational for the kids, a great thing to rally everyone behind and for us to grow something out, not to mention my love for the hobby. That being said, we bought a used system to see if we could manage with our insanely busy life style. Well, a year or so goes by and we are full swing into things so time to start looking for a new tank and dam, here comes a decent deal for a suspected brand new alleged Miracles tank that has never seen water. So I adventure over to the seller’s house and the tank is in perfect shape, not a scratch on the glasses and looks brand new. Decent deal, new tank, silicone looks good, bam let's do it!

I purchase the tank and subsequently start the long slow process to get the new tank going. I build my own custom sump, start acquiring all the hardware needed to do this setup, etc and most important, take my time at getting ready to transfer my tank location to the next!

Several months go by, taking my time, doing little by little until finally, it's time for tear down of the old tank. I setup a housing system for all the inhabitants and move them over!

The tank teardown is complete, the area cleared and the old stuff moved out!

Now, the wife and I pick up speed on the setup as we want to get everything out of the housing tank, as many can tell you, not the greatest for your inhabitants!

We build the stand, run the plumbing to a fish room (utility room) and get the tank and plumbing setup! This ia probably the most important thing. Do not rush, once it is time for water. In the past I would have, but this time, because of my experience, I insisted, let's test the plumbing etc for 48 hours, to make sure, not a drip in the plumbing and that everything runs perfect, before moving stuff over. What a great plan that is!

It's time, we fill the tank with fresh water and we are excited, wow, its finally happening and we are loving the setup! Day 1, found two leaks, one at a union, yep pinched the gasket and one at an frp connection... two easy fixes! We stop, get other stuff ready, buy more salt, substrate etc.... Next day I fix both plumbing issues and start running the system again, noticing that there is a few airports, in the silicone. Typically this means the silicone is pooched, I do some reading, some say ok, some say NO, so I keep testing, sure enough my tank starts leaking! I look at the top seams and bam, the silicone is coming apart! Yes this tank that was purchased allegedly in 2018 and never seen a drop of water is coming apart. It is leaking from the top and bottom seams now!!!! I yell at my wife to stop what she is doing and help! We now goto in emergency mode of draining this tank and stop the water going on our floor before the entire thing goes pop! We clean up the mess and look at each other and say the best thing possible! Wow we are lucky! If we did not take our time and do the proper testing, etc, we could have lost everything, not just our time! Because we tested, started slow, we saved a complete failure, so now we need to find someone to completely re-silicone the entire tank! The glass is still good, so anyone with recommendations, we need to get this done ASAP!

I thought I would share!
 
Last edited:

Luigi

Moderator
Joined
Feb 19, 2021
Messages
337
Holy crap !!!!!! Sorry to hear that
My tank is a miracles from BA'$
Good thing that you took your time
whats the next step buy a new one or re silicone the old ?
 

Cliff

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Staff member
Joined
Feb 19, 2021
Messages
156
Oh wow so sorry to hear this :(
is there anything I can do to help?
 

Rookie

Active member
Joined
Feb 20, 2021
Messages
136
That's crazy. I'm assuming you're going to re silicone? I did that once on a large hex tank, think it was 80 gallon. It turned out well even though I wasn't great at it. It's a slow tedious project, but may be worth it since you have the other tank running
 

seeks

Founder/Admin
Staff member
Joined
Feb 15, 2021
Messages
113
Well it wasn't cheap, and they saying goes, you get what you pay for. I purchased what I thought was a new tank from Miracles from a person that never used it. Good price and the glass was perfect...the silicone looked good, etc... good deal...nope, it leaked at almost every seam. Sometimes that happens. The person I purchased from, could not find the invoice and either could Miracles, but they tried and were very helpful, given there is no record of this tank. Miracles also recommend a guy that several others in the industry recommend; Carl Hayden. Carl says no problem, I can fix your tank and I give a lifetime warranty that the tank will not leak and if it does, he will be back to fix it.

So I weighed my options, buy a new tank, $1700+ (180 or close), buy another used tank (found several) 500+, or have Carl fix it using his Euro seam method. After looking at some amazing tanks, etc, the wife and I decided that not to buy another used tank, and this 6ft x 2ft, by 12" tank is exactly what we wanted and the glass is perfect. Buying a new tank will take time as no one has what we want in stock and we are housing our livestock and corals in a housing system, not the greatest, so time sensitive.

The call went iut to Carl after everyone's recommendations. Two weeks later and Carl is here and installed a Euro Seam on my tank! Wow, it has installed my confidence in the tank. It is not perfect like a new tank, but it looks good and looks solid with a lifetime guarantee! Pricey yes, but you get what you paid for and in one week, the tank will tested.20220416_201746.jpg20220416_201751.jpg
20220416_201755.jpg20220416_201800.jpg

Basically, he cleans the seams, puts a glass insert with silicone to the seam. 8 hours, most of the time was prep!

Let me know what you think!
 

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Cliff

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Feb 19, 2021
Messages
156
Wow that’s great news! I always wondered why this is not standard on a new tank
 

seeks

Founder/Admin
Staff member
Joined
Feb 15, 2021
Messages
113
I was looking it and thought the same, especially tanks over 90G. It is a tank and looks good!
 

Rookie

Active member
Joined
Feb 20, 2021
Messages
136
Could always be worse right? Could have been weeks after the move, at least you caught it early. Tank looks great
 
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