Your critical failures? Anyone?

[loogielv]

I've researched plywood tanks, diy tanks, and everything involved therein, and I've never, ever seen a thread or article where someone underbuilt their tank, and it critically failed. No explosions of glass and water. No maimed loved ones. Nothing more than a leak here and there due to something that was overlooked or accidentally brought on a later date...

So i'm asking you for any stories at all where someone didn't heed the typical "overbuild it!" advice, went with their gut feeling of "it'll be fine" and they payed dearly for it?

The person who went 1/2" for a 10ft tall tank, or the person that used epoxy over cardboard. The person who didn't brace. Anything like that, where it critically failed.

I'm guessing there's not much..and I hope i'm right. But if i'm wrong, I wanna know. Thanks MFKers.

 

[Pharaoh]

Most people probably don't want to talk about when their tank busted and someone/something was damaged in the process. I know I wouldn't, especially if I hurt someone. Interesting to say the least.

 

[nuggets]

you must be dangerous pharoh hurt someone with a tank wow come on bro people will tell you some tricks like screws osb not particle board glue all seems before screwing interlock corners good waterproof non toxic coating spend a little more get the best do research research research and there are alot of post on here on how to build your own just look around post pics of your build to

 

[spiff]

I had to redo a window on my big tank. The way the 4 x 4 window slides along side the 4 x 8, its a blind shot into a 2x2inch gap. I would have liked to put both windows in at once, so there is a solid single piece of silicon all around both windows. But it didn't work that way. I put the big window in one day with the help of friends, and then the small window in a different day. I gooped sealant into the gap and put the window in.

WHat ended up happening was that a big air pocket was trapped in this gap. Its impossible to see, so there was nothing that could be done at the time. Of course at filling time, there was a leak. It wasn't until I took the window out that I found the big air pocket.

So, to fix it, the whole 2x2 gap (a column 4 feet high) was filled solid with silicon when it came time to put the window back in. That way, the window was displacing nothing but silicon when I slid it in, no chance of trapped air.

It was an agonizing month delay.

 

[kickthefool]

I think people are so worried about huge failures that they tend to way overbuild their tanks. I know seeing a professional tank and a diy, just the difference in weight from overbuilding is crazy.

 

[rallysman]

I can't say that anyone making their tank is over doing it. I've seen glass tanks with steel frames that looked almost just like a manufactured tank, but I've never seen a major manufacture make a plywood tank.

 

[loogielv]

you must be dangerous pharoh hurt someone with a tank wow come on bro people will tell you some tricks like screws osb not particle board glue all seems before screwing interlock corners good waterproof non toxic coating spend a little more get the best do research research research and there are alot of post on here on how to build your own just look around post pics of your build to

um...what? i dont really get what you're saying... by "dont really get" i mean. "have no idea at all in any capacity what you might have considered to be your possible point". can you...elaborate i guess?

Most people probably don't want to talk about when their tank busted and someone/something was damaged in the process. I know I wouldn't, especially if I hurt someone. Interesting to say the least.

I would highly doubt that anyone on these boards wouldn't share their failures out of embarrassment. The whole nature of this forum is about helping and sharing. I would bet just about anything that if someone who has had a critical failure reads this thread, they will post. If they dont, i'm sure it's not because of embarassment. I'd hope anyway.

I had to redo a window on my big tank. The way the 4 x 4 window slides along side the 4 x 8, its a blind shot into a 2x2inch gap. I would have liked to put both windows in at once, so there is a solid single piece of silicon all around both windows. But it didn't work that way. I put the big window in one day with the help of friends, and then the small window in a different day. I gooped sealant into the gap and put the window in.

WHat ended up happening was that a big air pocket was trapped in this gap. Its impossible to see, so there was nothing that could be done at the time. Of course at filling time, there was a leak. It wasn't until I took the window out that I found the big air pocket.

So, to fix it, the whole 2x2 gap (a column 4 feet high) was filled solid with silicon when it came time to put the window back in. That way, the window was displacing nothing but silicon when I slid it in, no chance of trapped air.

It was an agonizing month delay.

not really a critical failure, but thats an interesting situation. glad you got it worked out and it wasn't a critical failure where fish ended up all over the floor or anything.

 

[Triton]

I think that anybody with experience building stuff for fish, knows that water is a difficult medium to work with. There are so many hidden variables, thumbrules of experience and misinformation that many people rightly overbuild to account for the unseen.

Luckily, I've only had a few mistakes putting the wrong fish in the same tank or forgetting to cemet a pvc pipe connection and having it seperate under pressure when I started the pump.

As for myself, I'm usually a cautious overbuilder (my wallet usually sets the boundaries )

 

[loogielv]

As for myself, I'm usually a cautious overbuilder (my wallet usually sets the boundaries )

i think that's the case for most, and rightly so. overbuild if you can. why not?

however, i'm just curious what "overbuilding" is now. so many minimums have been set that seem high. certain things should not be done and are ridiculed when they are even considered. I want to find the person that didn't adhere to the minimums and paid the price.

 

[Pharaoh]

Let me retort, I misread what you had originally said, "No explosions, no mamed loved ones." LOL At first, I thought you were wanting those stories. Ooops!

So, in saying that, there could be some definite lessons learned from other's valuable input. You might try looking in the lessons learned forum for a few stories. I would think there would have to be some good ones there.