Crack in my sump.....
 

Noticed I have a crack in my sump. It's located in my ato reservoir, but is only separated by glass inside from the rest of the sump. I can feel it on the outside of the tank, not the inside. The crack is on the backside of the tank and starts on the bottom. The sump is on foam, not sure how this happened, there's nothing there for anything to hit it. It's not leaking so not sure if I should be worried? I'm going to mark it to see if it continues to move.

I can not get this sump out of my stand, without completely emptying the tank so any advice is welcome to prevent a disaster.

Can you take a phone pic? Any crack is serious.

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/...ps36743ab9.jpg

I've marked the end of the crack to see if it's actively moving.

Weird. If the ato reservoir is empty I'd be inclined to bond a pane of glass on the inside of the crack. Definitely monitor it though. Wow, that's a tough call. Maybe Dave or someone has a better solution.

If it moves, glass on the inside won't matter...it's empty right now, manually topping up. Will check in the am, add water and see what happens.

The baffles are glass right?

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They are.

I would drain your ato and cut that piece out and put in a new one....then you would know its good and not break and dump water all over your floor

The ato is just separated from the sump by an internal baffle. The back glass is one solid piece and I wouldn't be able to cut it out.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/att...0&d=1327595066

There's a pic of the sump on page 3 of my 180 gl build thread, but attached a pic I drew when setting up.

Bump

has the crack moved at all? Is there room to stop drill it.They do that on car windshields but I don't know if that will work here.

I thought about that too, but not sure if 1) it would affect the tank integrity and 2) if it has to be done on the outside, not sure if it can be reached.

It hasn't moved overnight, will fill the ato and see if that affects it. It holds approx 8 gls of water.

that is what we would call a run!if left it will keep expanding!

best is to cut a smaller piece of glass and silicone over it to preventing for expanding

Do you any bits around dave that I could come grab from you this week?

I agree with a couple suggestions
Short of replacing the back pane, you'll need to drill the crack at it's end to stop it travelling
Then silicone a square of glass over the inside of the hole

Whatever you do, looks like you're pulling your sump out ( again ) :sad:

Im going to try Dave's suggestion without drilling the crack, unless someone here knows how to. As the crack is on the outside, assume the silicone glass will go on the outside as well? I can't pull the sump out, everything will need to be done where it is. If the sump has to be removed, I'll shut the tank down altogether.

Maybe Dave means the added piece would help to stop the glass from bowing out and allowing the crack to spread more easily ?

Otherwise I see no benefit to it without drilling

Maybe he could explain it a bit more ?

If he doesn't explain here, I'll call the shop tomorrow and see what can be done.

I just felt it again and it starts right in the corner at the bottom. What the heck would cause this? When my skimmer crapped out, I was able to deal with it without moving the sump. It hasn't moved in a year and a half. And there's nothing behind the sump except wires.

Just perplexed....

If I were you I will replace it and add extra foam underneath. This way I can get a good sleep.

So how is it going?

I don't have any experience with stop drilling glass, but that just seems like asking for more trouble to me, especially if you have to do it in situ. How would you cool the bit? Trying to stop drill could easily make matters worse? The run might really take off?

Hate to say it, but that run looks nasty & I would not trust it.

I'm going to see Dave at concept tomorrow. Will try the silicone glass route and see if that will work.

We've been talking and if the sump has to be replaced, I've convinced Jason to move the sump to the basement. The bedroom under the tank is now empty so it's a straight drop. This was what I wanted right from the beginning, will make things soooo much easier.

I hope the silicone route will work, at least buy me some time To figure this out. Will need new plumbing and a pump, plus the sump, may as well finish the bathroom in the basement While we are at it. This might not turn out as bad as I thought :lol:

Basement sump rooms rock. If I can help it, I'll never have in stand equipment again.:mrgreen:

Ya but I can hear it now, 2 fish rooms.....I gotta admit, I'm a little excited about this!!

Nope, only 1 fish room. Other than food and test kits/dosing bottles all your gear is in the fish room. You can keep it organized, clean and easier to maintain. Why you could easily have 55 gal each of rodi and fresh saltwater on hand at all times...and shelves. And good lighting :)

Well I'm going to chat with Dave about a new sump while I'm there. I like mine, its simple, so may just redo it without the ato reservoir, keep it separate.

Will be nice to not have a constantly disorganized fish room of clutter, close in the stand.

But with school starting and Xmas around the corner, may be a slow process. But at least it's better than shutting down!

Well we have siliconed in the new piece of glass and I let it sit for 24 hours, even though I used a product that can be applied directly in the water. I filled my ATO this morning approx. 1/2 and this will hopefully be the fix! Problem now is the second piece of glass is acting like a mirror and I can't see through it with the water, so I'll have to the let the ATO run low every once in a while to monitor.

Thank you for all the help and suggestions. I'm still going to look into a new sump for the basement eventually, but if this works, then will keep things as is.

i would have scored the crack so it would move. If any score it to continue to crack toward the bottom if that makes sense./

Will look into that, its still possible to do, thanks. Its frustrating as I am not sure how long the crack was there, but since finding it, it hasn't moved at all.

Seems like alot of work for something that should just be replace. Especially if you live in Calgary and can go to Concepts for a new sump

It may not have moved YET but the crack will move as is the nature of glass.

I'd just start thinking of the features you want in your "dream sump" and get that off to Dave/Denny ASAP.

More work and moola to redo the sump and plumbing :lol: I will work with Denny and Dave as soon as they are settled with their build out! That said, it was Dave who said the fix we did should work and the crack shouldn't spread, he provided a nice thick piece of glass to use....

I just realized I didn't give a shout out to Dave for his help, THANKS DAVE!!!

So far everything seems to be good with the fix. But....last night my skimmer went beserk! It was overflowing and gurggling.....I unplugged it, but is this caused by the new silicone? It had been fine all day, got home was still normal, then went to check the tank around 7 pm and it was nuts.....the ato was down approx 3 gl.

I'm guessing the skimmer is just going to have to run its course for a bit? I didn't turn it back on yet.