Disaster Has Struck Our Household!

[yveterinarian]

Curious...is the tank bottom drilled but the bulkheads are not enclosed in sealed overflow towers? If a bulkhead leaks or breaks the most you should be able to lose is the water in the overflow box and the volume in the return section of your sump if the overflows towers are properly sealed.

That is the part I can't figure out either. I have to inspect it this weekend but the water was definitely pouring around the plastic screw fitting for the pipe. I am wondering if it continued because of the overflow venting towards the bottom of the black bulkhead that is present in all the bulkheads to help draw from the bottom as well as the top. If I had simply removed the front piece of the bulkhead, would it have stopped leaking after that? I think it might have but unfortunately it didn't occur to me until afterwards.

 

[AdInfinitum]

That is the part I can't figure out either. I have to inspect it this weekend but the water was definitely pouring around the plastic screw fitting for the pipe. I am wondering if it continued because of the overflow venting towards the bottom of the black bulkhead that is present in all the bulkheads to help draw from the bottom as well as the top. If I had simply removed the front piece of the bulkhead, would it have stopped leaking after that? I think it might have but unfortunately it didn't occur to me until afterwards.

Marineland mega-flow overflows from the sounds of it not acrylic boxes...they're often just sealed to the tank walls with a rubber gasket as well so they may not be perfectly water tight as the plastic would flex under pressure and silicone doesn't stick all that well to the gaskets.

A reminder that when we leak test new tanks always make sure that you can fill the tank to the overflow level but the boxes should stay dry inside.