my biggest mistake ever...

[Sab_Fan]

yeah, i was going to go with driftwood, but then i read and was told that it stains the water yellowish. so, i opted against it. is there a way to prevent that? (i was just going to scavange some wood, soak it, etc etc. i'm not that keen on spending a fortune buying wood from a store)

I use Purigen in all my tanks; put it in one of the filters, it removes the tannins, keeps water crystal clear . . . carbon can also be effective, but Purigen has the advantage of being re-usable

good luck whatever you decide to do next

 

[thezombiesarecoming]

What are you doing with the fish while the tank is being repaired?

all the fish are currently back in the 55 gallon from whence they came. i was in the process of upgrading all the tanks: 55 gal to the 93, 29 gal to the 55, and 20 gal to the 29. guess it'll have to wait a while now.

I dont think u can repair a tank like that. sounds like it would be the bottom glass that's cracked..

So sorry to hear that... I would say that def use aquarium silicon to glue the rocks in place if u do want to stack rocks.. Otherwise.. stick with driftwood.. its better..

actually, it was the front pane that broke. everything else is looking good. all the water poured out the front. as i was watching it happen, i was hoping i was dreaming... i'll attach a pic to show the damage. and when we get it back, we're definitely taking precautions in regards to the rocks. if i stack them again, they're definitely getting glued together.

Put some egg-crating under your substrate.. might have prevented this. Every big-box store carries it in their lighting department. Helps cushion the blow.

how does the egg crating work? does it just cushion the blow if the rock landed on the bottom of the tank, so basically protects the bottom glass from breaking?

 

[knifegill]

Silicone your rocks together into permanent stable shapes. Then they can't ever fall.

 

[tcarswell]

Sucks!!! Sorry to hear

 

[gomezladdams]

Oh sorry for the mishap!
As you learned the hard way stacking rocks needs to be done carefully.

 

[knuckles04]

wow, that's painful

 

[12 Volt Man]

 

[fishbum]

Silicone your rocks together into permanent stable shapes. Then they can't ever fall.

Especially with slate.Man,that's hard to look at.

 

[Cichlidarowana]

Wow. so sorry this happened to you. But I love that you (and your bf) decided to go forward, fix the tank, and keep growing in the hobby. Others have left the hobby after one big mishap like this. You are a true MFKer

 

[carriej]

I should really listen to this. I have my african tank filled with lots of base rock, not siliconed.. Once they get bigger they will probably start pushing it around but it's quite a bit lighter than slate, and I guess it's not that high either. Mostly just one line on the bottom with some smaller rocks on top. And if my African tank busted they got nowheres else to go... My other tanks are full of small fish and waay too small for all my Africans.