Sorry Brian, Glad you had some help there. I know more bodies can help especially ones who have reef aquariums. Interesting... how long had it been setup before it started leaking. and was the leak at the bottom of the tank? Was there anything done Fri/Saturday that could have strained the tank? Either way, unless it is they can prove negligence on your part and you haven't modified the tank itself, I think you can get a replacement under warrantee if you bought it new less than a year ago. Not sure at all on that however. Hope everything makes it. I have a 125 sitting in my garage and a 125 RR sitting there too. Let me know if you want some help. Wow! Did you really lose all that hardware with this setup? Were the item failures possibly due to third party sales? Overtime, replacement of moving or electrically hot parts needs to be replaced but certainly it does seem you have had a bad spell of luck, eh? Again good luck to you!

Bad spell of Luck. Pretty much all of his equipment was brand new. Tank is AGA lifetime warranty since he used an AGA stand. I can't blame him if he wnats to give it all up but at the same time he put a lot of work into a really nice system and it would suck to stop now. Let us know if we can help!! Rob

The main thing holding me back is the following... I hadn't set up my auto top off. This meant that only about 5 gallons drained out before I heard the return pump sucking air. The total water on the ground was probably only 10-20 gallons before I had it drained (still a major pain in itself). If I had an ATO running it would have dropped another 20-30 gallons before the pump would have warned me AND the salinity would have dropped so quickly I would have probably lost most of my livestock. I also wonder if it was the stand that caused the failure, I can't see anything wrong with it (other then the now rusting hinges) but it is a thought in my head. I jumped out of bed this morning when I heard a noise and I checked the biocube. I have NEVER had any problems with that tank and now I am second guessing that tank. Grrrr...

On my home tanks I have always used the little alarms that beep really loud when water leaks. I had a tank crack on me one time and with the alarm I was able to save everything and only lost about 10-15g of water on my floor. Not that it would matter if were not home to hear it though :o

Hey Brian sorry to hear about what happened. There's not a whole lot you could've done to prevent what's happened there. I'm glad Josh was able to help you out as I know that kind of thing can be super stressful. I'm glad you were home and able to catch i before things got too bad. Here's one thing I've planned on ordering here within the next month or so. http://www.intwoplaces.com/Water_Alarm_Plus.htm It will call any number when water is detected, also a audible alarm to let you know if you're home.

Only you can decide how you want to proceed from here. Trust me, I have posted many "I quit" threads. I am glad I decided to continue, although I occasionally question that decision (financial burden, loss of livestock, water mishaps). I wish you the best of luck whatever you decide to do.

Either way I will continue with the biocube, I don't have the time right now to fix the 125 even if I wanted to. I don't know about the near future either... I already have big plans for Christmas decorations (con-*test*-('") with a neighbor) and don't even know where I will find time for that. 8)

Brian, thanks for sharing your experience here. Something that we all can learn from. I remember when you went home with the light set from Rob not too long ago! It was sweet and I can easily see how you would want to walk away. And timing is everything. You've certainly got me motivated to put mine in service to check it. I'm not going to use an AGA or Aqua? stand but if it is the tank that fails due to manufacturing, does it matter who made the stand as long as it didn't cause the problem (or is the burden of proof on me that my stand didn't cause the problem?) Sorry for the hijack here but a small caveat about the warrantee I wasn't aware of but hopefully wont have to use. I would try to make the water alarm so it runs off a XFRM so you don't have a dead battery not telling you there's a leak. I bought a battery opperated one from Harbor freight: batteries last 1 month and it sounds more like a cat's meow than an alarm. Easily modified though. Genearlly, it is a simple electrical hobby modification. But that again is just one more thing to plug in. ERRR.. A while back I too had a brief incident with my aquarium pump or something not operating correctly and heard a gushing water noise. For about a week when my wife awoke at night to use the restroom, it was the flushing of the toilet that jolted me awake and running for the tank. So I understand your worries over the Biocube. Let us know if you need any help or more words like DAN's to keep you in the game.

Not all AGA stands are MDF, in fact the basic stand is Pine Wood. And yes no warranty at all unless it's on there stand

Good to know but I never planned on using their stands anyway. I simply found they leave a lot to desire and yes the frames are usually pine and stout enough... but the finishing i.e. panels etc from what I've seen are usually MDF or even a lesser form of particle/fiberboard. Not wise IMHO when around water with a high probability of being splashed. I supposed it could be coated with a water-proofing seal.... hmm? Anyway... end of hijack... ;) :D

They are replacing the tank and the stand. Thanks Rob for all your help. I am thinking about getting new sand so that I don't have to deal with the snowstorms that I had with the old stuff. Here we go again :roll:

Give me a call or email before you get the sand. For all your troubles I will give you the sand at my cost!! Not much but it will help you out.

Brian, did you rinse your sand before you put it in?

Yeah, I've rinse sand and still had stand storms until I found an easy solution: Cut a large black trash bag to fit a little larger than the bottom of your tank. Place the plastic on top of the sand and then dinner plates all around to keep the plastic down. Then add water slowly. After about 2/3 or more you could pull it all out without a minimal sand storm. Good luck.