ugh. woke up to a unhappy surprise this morning. sprung a leak overnight.
so that's the bad news.
the good news is, the main tank, and the sump, and all plumbing are fine.. I lost about 5 gal of water between the external overflow, and the sump return compartment.
good news #2 - I took off all the finish wood panels last night, intending to sand / route / stain them tonight - that saved the wood from getting wet when the overflow popped a seam and leaked.
so the bad news is, the pretty external overflow popped a seam. I looked at it for a good 10 minutes this morning, trying to figure out what caused it, and couldn't. I tested every seam when i put it together, no excess bubbles (some micro, but nothing major), and it held the water test fine when i tested it - and then on the way to work after some frantic cleaning up, i figured out why it popped a seam.
when I built the overflow, i fitted it to a dry tank. i did not take into account, that with an acrylic tank, the display wall (and the back wall) will flex. THAT flex, over a 4' length, was enough to popped the seam on the back end.. surprisingly, NOT the seam where the overflow meets the tank, but the opposite site.
honestly, if i had just been overzealous with the sealant, and left a 1/4" bead on the inside, it would have held fine..
tonight, i'm going to dry it all up, add some additional reinforcing, and then a lot of silicon sealant.
the tank will be fully functional again before the weekend!
so that's the bad news.
the good news is, the main tank, and the sump, and all plumbing are fine.. I lost about 5 gal of water between the external overflow, and the sump return compartment.
good news #2 - I took off all the finish wood panels last night, intending to sand / route / stain them tonight - that saved the wood from getting wet when the overflow popped a seam and leaked.
so the bad news is, the pretty external overflow popped a seam. I looked at it for a good 10 minutes this morning, trying to figure out what caused it, and couldn't. I tested every seam when i put it together, no excess bubbles (some micro, but nothing major), and it held the water test fine when i tested it - and then on the way to work after some frantic cleaning up, i figured out why it popped a seam.
when I built the overflow, i fitted it to a dry tank. i did not take into account, that with an acrylic tank, the display wall (and the back wall) will flex. THAT flex, over a 4' length, was enough to popped the seam on the back end.. surprisingly, NOT the seam where the overflow meets the tank, but the opposite site.
honestly, if i had just been overzealous with the sealant, and left a 1/4" bead on the inside, it would have held fine..
tonight, i'm going to dry it all up, add some additional reinforcing, and then a lot of silicon sealant.
the tank will be fully functional again before the weekend!
