Help! emergency!

[vhreddog]

The top of my 150 acrylic just popped loose from the front of the tank while I was cleaning. Grabed a clamp with on hand and held pressure with the other. Neighbor came with more clamps but I don't know what to do to fix it. HELP!!!

[ReeferMike]

drain it, make sure the area is nice and dry, apply weld-on(the thicker one) by squeezing it in between the separation, clamp togeather till its cured. make sure to tape off any area that you dont want to accidentally get glue on!

[ReeferMike]

oh yea and post lots of pics of the damage, repair, and how it turns out!

[vhreddog]

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. right now I'm combining some of my freshwater to open up a couple other tanks to use for salt.

[ReeferMike]

yea, getting a temporary home for everything, draining and cleaning, re-aquascaping and placing everything will probably be harder than the actual fix. i feel for ya man, you got a long night ahead of you.

[jimsflies]

Is it possible to drain it to a certain point, get it dry then use weldon?

[vhreddog]

Jim, thanks for asking. We were wondering the same thing.

[vittleking]

too bad your not closer to Ypsi. If you feel like making a road trip, I have several 55's you can use. They are sitting empty waiting to be sold.

[Sir Patrick]

Good thinking grabing the clamps right away!

[tazzy695]

one way is you can get some storage bins from walmart fairly cheap to hold stuff in during the repair time the rubber maid ones work well and I think go up to 55 or 60 g for under $10

just remember to make sure you have flow in the temp holding tanks to make sure things stay alive

[vhreddog]

Well we got 2 fresh water tanks, a 20 and a 29, striped and hosed out, filled with a combo of saltwater from the 150 and new saltwater from waterchange bucket. The hang on the back filters have been striped of there filterpads (didn't think the fresh water bacteria would live) and hung on for water flow. Tomorrow I'll put some carbon pads in and maybe some phosban pads. Was able to fit almost all the corals into the these 2 with a few going into our frag tank. Wouldn't you know I'd just fraged the heck out of alot the softies and the tanks full up. Drained the 150 down about a third, moved the power heads down and pulled all the fish we could catch. Problem is we have some custom risers too big to remove and they're encrusted with palys and stuff I'd like to save. If I take the water any lower they'll be exposed. We're hoping we can keep it together long enough to get the weldon, and maybe find away to drain it and seal it fast, then refill to the lower level till the curings done. We've got one of the long pipe clamps accross the middle where the worse part of the bow was, with smaller ones used in the cut outs to help hold it. Just praying it holds and I don't wake up to a crash and flood in the night.

If anyone has done this before I'd appreciate any tips on the repair. I looked down on that top edge to see how far the unattached part runs and it looks like about two foot or so right in the middle of the span. How far should we pull it apart to re-glue? Is there anyway to reinforce the whole thing so I don't lay awake nights wondering if it's ok? In over 40 years of fish keeping this is the only tank I've ever had rupture. Never expected it of an acrilic.

Also we're wondering how long the bacteria in our wet dry (part of our sump and fuge) can live without the regular water flow from the overflows. We raised the water and added a power head for movement. Will this keep the pods and stuff going for awhile.:crying:Thanks for any advice and letting me vent. We'll keep you updated.

[jimsflies]

If you can't keep some flow going over that wet/dry, when you turn the system back on, I would try to pump the initial water that to waste to avoid rinsing all the dead bacteria into your system. You're likely to have some sort of cycle regardless. You have the right idea with trying to maintain flow and oxygenated water to as many areas of the system as possible.

[vhreddog]

Chris,
For once, my wife was glad that I left my tools laying around the livingroom!:highfive3: