Leaky sump

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arowanaman85

arowanaman85

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 8, 2016
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Vandergrift, PA
So discovered my carpet was damp and stand had some odd wet marks
Upon further investigation found bulk head in sump was loose

No idea how long

Flood underneath had soaked through into the basement

Basement floor was wet

Had holes drilled from stand into basement guessing most the water found those hole because floor was wet


Now I'm inspecting...trying to inspect sump

Only 2 sides are viewable

Now debating wether I should tear down sump and inspect further

Checked level on tank

Side are dead nuts
And leans slightly to the rear where the weirs are

Did my almost daily inspection of seams

But thinking I should add the sump seams to my inspection but it'll require a tear down and replumbing

Does anyone else do inspection on sump seams...anyone else have any suggestions
 
Maybe 25-30 gallons I did 100 gallon change over night but not sure how long it was leaking was just a trickle. Do those changes every few days...

Had a 25 gallon crack and pump 100 gallons out and the basement wasnt anywhere close to as wet as it was when that happened...
 
I have had the main bulkhead of my sump get loose over the years as well and discovered it from wet marks in and under the stand. Retightened it and the leak stopped. I was also afraid of a back seam leaking before I pinpointed the leak to the bulkhead as I can hardly check them well enough and there were some water marks following the seam there, but they were just flood marks from a past sump overfill from tank backwash.

My sump dividers, added after the sump tank was made but by the sump constructor, are falling apart and that makes me nervous about the seams as well. But the dividers siliconed at the same time as the outside glass panels of the sump, are fine and so are the seams so far. I think I do check the seams every now and then but not too often. Maybe you can check them using a small mirror when and if you want.

Just tighten the bulkhead and see if everything drys out again fast

Do you have reasons to suspect the seams? Is the tank too old or recently filled?
 
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Kostas G said:
I have had the main bulkhead of my sump get loose over the years as well and discovered it from wet marks in and under the stand. Retightened it and the leak stopped. I was also afraid of a back seam leaking before I pinpointed the leak to the bulkhead as I can hardly check them well enough and there were some water marks following the seam there, but they were just flood marks from a past sump overfill from tank backwash.

My sump dividers, added after the sump tank was made but by the sump constructor, are falling apart and that makes me nervous about the seams as well. But the dividers siliconed at the same time as the outside glass panels of the sump, are fine and so are the seams so far. I think I do check the seams every now and then but not too often. Maybe you can check them using a small mirror when and if you want.

Just tighten the bulkhead and see if everything drys out again fast

Do you have reasons to suspect the seams? Is the tank too old or recently filled?
Click to expand...
Tank setup about a year. It's a 360 gallon tank in my living room just want to keep an eye on seems. Sump was used not sure on age.
 
I think that if the tank and the sump are filled a year now already and you are not seeing any part of the silicon getting unstuck from the glass it's holding, you should be safe at least for some months of not many years unless the load changes dramatically for some reason(having something heavy pushing the glass apart that wasn't there before).

Just imagine, my main tank has 2cm wide seams. At a certain place, the silicon has a 1cm wide and 3-4cm long bubble more or less since it was made. 9years down the road, it's still fine, though I do like to check on it every few months. I am always thinking this might pose a problem at some point but I am not seeing anything I need to tend to yet.

I think that a sump is more likely to fail than a main tank as it endures more stress on the silicone during mantainance. So it's worth keeping an eye after major sump mantainance to make sure nothing important is giving in. Including bulkheads and pump connections/pipe joints
 
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Kostas G said:
I think that if the tank and the sump are filled a year now already and you are not seeing any part of the silicon getting unstuck from the glass it's holding, you should be safe at least for some months of not many years unless the load changes dramatically for some reason(having something heavy pushing the glass apart that wasn't there before).

Just imagine, my main tank has 2cm wide seams. At a certain place, the silicon has a 1cm wide and 3-4cm long bubble more or less since it was made. 9years down the road, it's still fine, though I do like to check on it every few months. I am always thinking this might pose a problem at some point but I am not seeing anything I need to tend to yet.

I think that a sump is more likely to fail than a main tank as it endures more stress on the silicone during mantainance. So it's worth keeping an eye after major sump mantainance to make sure nothing important is giving in. Including bulkheads and pump connections/pipe joints
Click to expand...
It's all acrylic so I inspect for crazing and air/water in seam
Stress fracture
Idk it's all 3/4 on the display.
 
maybe you have better idea then me, does polish like novus put stress on the acrylic?
 
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