Waterbox Reef Leaking

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benwilsonx

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Strange, almost looks like something burrowed that hole
I know, I had the same thought but it seemed a little crazy. Bizarre that it's almost symmetrical between the L/R sides, too!
 
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benwilsonx

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Somewhat unrelated (and probably silly) question... I've had water in the sump unmoving and unheated while the display has been drained over the past few days. When I start things up again, is there any need to drain and replace the sump water, or can I keep it? I can't decide if there's any risk (say, an ammonia spike) from any tiny organisms that have been sitting/decaying in there since the weekend?

20230718_174207.jpg
 

code4

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I am so glad it all turned out well. Was looking up Waterbox tanks when I found your thread. I hope all is still well.

Shelley
 
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benwilsonx

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I am so glad it all turned out well. Was looking up Waterbox tanks when I found your thread. I hope all is still well.

Shelley
Thanks! I somehow managed to avoid any losses.

As far as the Waterbox goes, it looks like something chewed a small hole in the seal - I didn't see any signs of a manufacturing defect.
 

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Everyone's back in the tank! It was a lot of work, but so far so good. There's been a nice side benefit of reducing some algae and green cyano that had been stubborn for a bit.

I appreciate all the help and advice!
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Looking good!
 

PharmrJohn

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I'm happy. J was in the same boat with a seam failure in my 75g about 15 years ago. Nothing I tried worked. So I uograded to a 90g. Oh darn!!!! But that tank transfer took 3 days, a stand modification and LOTS of stress.
 
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benwilsonx

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Curious how this Tank is doing now, any updates?
Resealing the tank worked great. However – a few months later (November), I had another leak, this time in the front corner. Emptied everything again, and found another small hole bored into the seam. Apparently I have some sort of silicone-chewing worm that came with my live rock.

Re-sealed everything once more, and put everyone back after a few days… but, since I’d like to sleep at night I ended up swapping it out for an acrylic tank. I figure this worm shouldn’t be able to bore through the fused acrylic.

I had to re-home my urchins (that also came with the live rock), but otherwise everything’s back to normal.
 
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benwilsonx

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Here’s a photo of the second leak site – crummy photo, but you can see the track that was bored. From other threads, certain Eunicid worms have been suspected in similar incidents.

20231113_153327.jpg


I’m pretty sure I found some Eunice-type worms in the bottom of the shipping bags of my live rock. I got rid of the ones I found (didn’t want to risk raising a baby Bobbit!), but I’m sure there were/are others still in the rock. This is one of the creepy guys I found in 2021... maybe his bros were responsible.

20210525_234137.jpg
 

Devisissy

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Ok so I stumbled upon this thread. Surprised to see it was current. So this photo is EXACTLY what the back of my tank looks like. Except mine spreads about six inches now. I am working on getting SCA to make good on it. I brought it up when I first bought it and was blown off, and I am trying again now that it's worse. It didn't leak but it will. You are the first person I have found that has a similar tank issue. My tank weighs a ton so I am unsure how successful I will be at resealing it if I need to. Mine was less a worm or urchin with a taste for silicone, more an error in building where the outer silicone did not get applied over the seam allowing the glass panel edges and inner silicone to be exposed.
 
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