worst nightmare 250DD blowout
 

As some of you may know last year I set up a new 250 G deep dimension SPS tank at my shop which was my dream tank Ive always wanted a 36" front to back tank.
anyways I had to fly to anaheim sunday morning for work training and one of my guys called me in a panic at 730 monday morning- tank is empty the shop is flooded and fish are flopping around. i guided him through getting them out and into my 50 gal mixing bucket. 5 fish survived, an urchin and a few snails
ALL the SPS died the rocks are pooched. 3 guys spent all day monday cleaning up and I got back wednesday and spent 6 hours cleaning everything.

1) does anyone have a 3 or 4 foot tank not drilled and possibly a hang on filter, with some type of established media I could borrow temporarily?

2) where do I go from here? the tank was purchased late april early may last year. do I go to the store or straight to the manufacture?

Wow, sorry to hear about this! Such a loss of life. :(

1) Sorry can't help you there.

2) What type of stand did you have the tank on? Many manufacturers will only warranty tanks that are on their own stands. The store will deal with the manufacturer for you.

I Built the stand much beefier than the 1x4 stands they sell for insane amounts of money. I have lots of pictures on the stand with level on it and the tank filled with a level on it as well.
thanks I will call the store.

Any picture of the crack/where did it crack?

Yeah that doesn't matter. If they require the tank to be on their own stand then you're out of luck. Did you hear the story about the 1200-gallon L-shaped tank in Ontario that blew out? ATM built it and they didn't warranty it because it was not on an ATM stand. That was a $105,000 tank.

Good luck! I hope you at least get a replacement tank! That's probably only a tiny fraction of the cost incurred.

If you don't get a warranty tank talk to Dave at Concept Aquariums for a replacement. He's really good with warranty.

I don't know if this helps but I have an empty 20 gallon long I could lend you and a remora aqua c HOB skimmer I'm not using you could borrow. I also have a 14 gallon biocube. I have a few peices of live rock in my sump but not much.

Let me know if you want to borrow any of this to keep a fish or two in until your back up and running. Thought I'd offer as I'm in Maple Ridge too so getting the stuff to you would be easy.

If you need any help with anything I'd be happy to lend a hand, just shoot me a text...

Gord 604-250-2776

Ugh... sorry to hear about this one. That is always in the back of my mind (worst case). Best of luck with moving forward and hope you are able to find your temporary tank soon.

Really sorry to hear this.. I don't have a spare tank but I have have an established 220gal tank I could host some of your livestock for you possibly? Any fish conflicts they could hang out in my sump? Not sure if this is a help? PM me with your cell # if this helps

Sorry to hear about your losses. Would your insurance not cover the damage and equipment losses?

For item 2 go through the store you purchased it from unless they specifically tell you to deal with the manufacturer directly. The tank should be under warranty so getting a replacement shouldn't be an issue. While some manufacturers may required an engineered stand for sizes above X this should be clearly defined in their warranty policy. Even then it's usually a grey area meaning that if you're reasonable you'll get a replacement tank but if you start seeking additional compensation you'll probably be told to pound sand. I've read a few stories online with Marineland DD tanks blowing out and they did cover the tanks, but only the tanks.

For livestock losses you're out of luck, no insurance policy will cover livestock above the $1500 or so mark so unless you're already making a claim for water damage the insurance route is a waste of time.

My insurance policy covers "pets and pet furniture" up to $5,000. I didn't pay extra for this. I inquired in writing and received reply in writing confirming that the fish, corals, and even the live rock are all covered. I was surprised. :lol:

Hi
thanks for all those who PMed me offering to help in any way.
Ive found a tank to borrow, I will be calling the store today and see what they say-yesterday was crazy and I ran out of time.
I should clarify the glass didnt blow out, it blew a seal in the front right corner. when I was scrubbing it and cleaning it with vinegar and then Id hose it out once it got 2" of water in it it just started puking out.

Its in my shop so commercial insurance deductibles are high to start with let alone what it would do to future premium's I wont be making a claim. it didnt do any damage except to the stand cabinet work, and of course the livestock.

I haven't decided as of yet if I will continue in the hobby or not, this has been quite devastating this was hands down the nicest tank ive had since I started.

Im going to grab the borrowed tank make sure everything that survived is OK and ill go from there. I will post some pictures soon

Worth double checking if this is important to you but my understanding of what you're referring to falls under different context. For example, if your tank crashes and you loose all your livestock you're insurance company won't cover it. Same if your dog dies, they won't give you $5K for a new dog. In event of something more catastrophic they're simply limiting their liability to that category to $5K. So if your house burns down you can qualify for a maximum of $5K to cover everything (equipment & livestock) relating to the aquarium and other pets and related accessories. I have something similar in my policy and that's how it was explained to me. Any items over the generic amounts listed in the policy will require separate policies for full coverage but according to my broker there's no separate (home insurance) policy available to cover livestock in the context of an aquarium.

I feel your pain, I was in the same boat a couple years back and I originally set back up but later ended up shutting down. I find it frustrating that no tank manufactures qualify their tanks with proper hydro-testing procedures. The additional cost wouldn't be substantial on larger tanks and it would provide buyers with well received quality assurance that their tanks are free of glass & seam defects.

Yes, that's it. It wouldn't help in OP's case.

You can purchase separate insurance that will cover livestock separately if you'd like. Such as a farmer insuring his cattle, same with a person insuring their fish. When I had the hatchery running I had them insured for I think it was $8,000. That was insurance that I could claim at any time, just needed dead bodies.

well Ive called the store they basically said to deal with the manufacter directly and " sorry about that ok bye"
I cant seem to upload pictures

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/att...1&d=1493590683
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/att...1&d=1493590719

Wow, really? Not sure I'd be spending money there in the future! Was it a box store?

Upload to a photo host like Flickr or Photobucket.

[No, not a box store.]

Man that's sucks.

And is frightening (as I'm about to set up a 300)

I suppose atleast it was in the shop... that is if it created less damage than if it was in your house.

Bummer.

Recycle, reuse, rebuild!

I don't agree with the name of the store in question being edited out.........people should be able to make their decisions to buy expensive tanks from somewhere with some follow up customer service. if every slightly negative thing gets deleted, it makes research difficult.



ANYWAYS

marineland emailed me back and requested some personal info, pic of the build date sticker some pictures of the leaks and the receipt if I still had it.
this was sent off Saturday during the day and by Monday morning I had an email that they were very sorry and are willing to reimburse me for the cost of the tank per the receipt I provided, she said the cheque will be mailed Monday.

This entire thing was quite disheartening for me but Im really happy how Marineland stood behind their product.

Im still not sure what I was going to do now. I had it down to if they replace the tank Id set it back up and if they told me they couldn't help me Id sell everything off.

I guess you're setting it back up then. :) That's awesome that Marineland was s good to deal with! Did they ask about the stand at all?

When my Aqueon tank let go, they dealt with J&L for a replacement.
When I complained about losses, they sent me an LED fixture to house my 'hospital corals' while I was setting up the new tank. Not a lot considering the thousands lost in corals, but better than a kick in the head with a cement boot.

apparently !

they were very easy to deal with. If it had anything to do with the stand or concrete sinking the glass pane would have blown out. a seal that randomly leaks like a sive a year after its up and running is a faulty seal. Im sure if the pane had blown out they probably would have blamed the stand and told me i was SOL

if you have any idea how weight bears down and shear walls work its amazing how "little" you need to hold stationary weight.

either way this is super rare and how they handled the leak Id have no problem buying another tank from them. Im quite lucky it was in a commerical building and not my house where I just redid the flooring 3 months ago!!!

I don't remember reading how it leaked/broke. You said "blowout" so I assumed it was something fast like seals tearing or a crack.

I went to California for business on the sunday I was at the shop early saturday morning and it was fine and I got a call Monday morning it was empty and so humid in the shop it felt like the jungle. they hit my pump switch and they took videos and the water just started puking out the front right corner.

it happened fast enough that there was no time to see it or fix it.

If/when you set up again , PM me & I'll donate some frags to help you out .
I'd hate to imagine that happening . Good luck