Large Marineland DD tank failures

[davidfrances]

I have two 250 G Marineland DD's that are approaching their one year anniversary. Both sit on factory stands and are on the slab in my finished basement. No problems to date.

[alton]

Sorry to hear about your leak and loss of fish. I would be more interested in finding out why you lost everything moving stuff to a temporary tank setup so quickly? That part makes no sense. I have seen fish members keep 200 gallons of fish, coral, and live rock in 100 gallon Rubbermaid tub for months while resetting up a new tank.

[bigbpro916]

Sad!!

[SPotter]

Originally Posted by bigbpro916

Sad!!

ahhh....the hunt for 50.

[mmaisonneuve]

Silicone failure in the bottom seam....water was coming out in between the glass and the plastic rim....

For the fish it's a Mystery.....early in the morning at 7 AM they were all ok....then when I got back home at 10...they were all dead open mouth......ammonia poisoning due to stress I guess...and the worst is that they were in 3 different holding bin.....and no external filtration....I was getting back home to set that up when I found them.

[anbosu]

Originally Posted by mmaisonneuve

Silicone failure in the bottom seam....water was coming out in between the glass and the plastic rim....

For the fish it's a Mystery.....early in the morning at 7 AM they were all ok....then when I got back home at 10...they were all dead open mouth......ammonia poisoning due to stress I guess...and the worst is that they were in 3 different holding bin.....and no external filtration....I was getting back home to set that up when I found them.

It sounds like you had some sort of contaminant either in the bins or in the air near the holding tanks. Unless the fish were all injured or out of water for a while prior to going into the buckets no other explanation really makes sense. Sorry for your loss, I think that's every reefer's worst nightmare.

[mmaisonneuve]

Local Reefer all came with the same explanation, They were stress they were breading fast, they absorb to much salt they then urinate a lot and poisoned them self....it's the only logical explanation. Some where in my sump, some were in another tank and finally some where in Rubbermaid.

The real question is more how come a bran new tank gave up like that ?

[ca1ore]

Originally Posted by mmaisonneuve

The real question is more how come a bran new tank gave up like that ?

Indeed! Level on a stock stand on a slab floor I'd have said what you experienced was so unlikely as to have been essentially impossible. Clearly not. I believe that tank has a 3/4 inch bottom panel, so that is a huge seam to have split. Must have just been a bad tank.

[mmaisonneuve]

Bad luck man, bad luck…..not even sure where it’s leaking from exactly….it’s the bottom but not sure if it’s a full seam failure or a pinhole…can’t see thank is too big for me to inspect.

The Thing is now that I’m starting to loose faire in Perfecto / Marineland….At first on the phone it was don’t worry we have you all covered and taken care of. Get the mess cleaned up, take pictures, get estimate send all this to us and we will take care of everything…..

Well I’ve putted like 60 hrs (between me and couple of friend) in cleaning all the mess, getting quotes and estimate. I was at the point where we were going to call the mover to take the old tank out and wait for the new tank back in….and get it moved in….well now it’s a little more complicated than that….

Now they have all the documents in hands…the story get a little more complicated….the insurance company need to go it’s investigation, we don’t cover your time, we don’t cover the tax on the items (over 6000$ in lost that a lot of tax (13% here in Canada)), we may not cover the Plumbing, we not sure at 100%……

Do you think I can trust them now ? remember at first on the phone it was no problem we have you covered and now slowly…..they are starting to thrown some shade onto what they will do for you and the we might not is slowly coming up……my advice lower your expectation and don’t trust anyone they are all full of it….

[1Sik1500]

I had a good buddy who purchased a house this year and his first fish tank was a Marinland 200DD with their Stand. This was my recommendation due to the price. After finishing his cycle the same issue with the bottom seam letting go on the right side. He was out of town and i had to come over and help his GF clean it all up. ruined base boards and hard wood floor. Ill search for pictures and post them. The LFS gave him a good discount on a Reef Savy Tank after that.

[mmaisonneuve]

New tank ? Marineland stand ? did Marineland do anything for him ? because right now their are telling me they have the best customer service in the industry.....

This is yet to be seen.

[bigcucumber]

I've heard of failures of the DD tanks. But the worst I've heard was mmaisonneuve tank the amount of coral colonies and mature paired fish is heart breaking. He lives up the street from me. His loss was massive.. I hope marineland warranty covers all his losses.

[Mudbeaver]

Originally Posted by mmaisonneuve

I bought my 200DD back in September 2013….it was my dream tank…..until yesterday…..Dec 4th

I was upsizing from 2 tanks (30 Gal and a 90 Gal)

Got the 200DD and the Stand and Canopy from Marineland

Thank had been running smooth and everything was perfect, new Dry Rock new sand started the tank and a couple weeks ago I had all my LR moved to the new tank with the fishes and all my 2-3 years old SPS Colony, I had a small cyano outbreak but in the last 10 days it was all gone a perfect….

This is where everything goes wrong:

Wednesday night 22h00 I find water on the floor……where is it from……bottom Silicone seam in the front gave up…..
22h30 I post for help on the Local Forum…..
23h00 people start arriving and we move all the water out…..
The fishes are put into holding tank with heater and Corals into another Tank with heater….everyone has circulation pump.
By 5 AM on the 5th everything is clean……
I go to work….but retreat back home to find all the fish dead….same with the inverts…..
Post again for help…..people are arriving home and until 7pm we move and clean everything we can…..
I go to bed……….
Wake up on the 6th The tank with all Live Rock and Corals smells like a tomb….circulation pump and heater are still in place working…….

Bottom of the Story……We lost everything…..and my Daughter for whom I started back into Fish Tank couple years ago is devastated…..it was he birthday on the 5th…..

I'd say Think Twice with those.....

Wow i'm glad i didn't go with them for my project this year. I had great service with Concept Aquariums from Calgary and they stand by their product specially when they make a mistake which they did . It happens in big companies. Well they fixed it by building me a brand new sump which this time fit under my stand, the last one they'd done it without trying under the stand and it wouldn't go in, too big, lol and they shipped it anyway, but they build one no charged and sent it. thats responsable. I was thinking of going for a DD next year i'll stay away from Marineland then. thanks for posting.

[JER-Z]

My 250 DD has been running about 5 years now w/ no problem.

[mmaisonneuve]

This was my hope...I was hoping to have a tank that would last long long time....this is why I invested so much in the tank and the stand...to ensure that it would not crap on me....I still wonder what Marineland will do about all this....the lost is incredibly high....around 10K with the tank and the livestock.....all this gone for no apparent reason.

[Mr.Mustang]

Any updates on this.

[jlafou1]

From the failures I've read about, the root cause usually seems to either be a flaw in the stand construction or design, or poor craftsmanship around the seams.

[ca1ore]

Having a tank failure, particularly a big one, is an experience I hope never to have. Yet, on some level this is an absurd thread. EVERY tank manufacturer who has enough products out in the marketplace will have failures - I'd view with suspicion, any who said they did not. What is key is the failure rate, and does Marineland have a higher level than other manufacturers? I don't know, suspect nobody does here on RC, and a few horrible experiences don't help us to the number.

[mmaisonneuve]

My 200DD failure ended up nice....Marineland replace my tank and all my Fish....on the Sad end one off the follow refer that came to help me on the day my 200 failed has had the same issue last night, is 300 DD sprunk a lead the exact same way....tank was less than 2 years old on concrete floor....hopefully Marineland will be good with him like they were with me !

[Wrench]

A few glass cages tanks here going on 10 years old; no leaky leaky 9 times out of 10 a tank failure is the direct result of improper support or setup.

[ca1ore]

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree; but there are also bad tanks clearly. I ran a 180, that is essentially a Glass Cages clone (well, maybe GC are the clones) from 1988 to 2008 before selling it - and as far as I know it's still holding up. So tanks can and do last a long time. I now have a ML 265 and have my fingers crossed that I'll have no problems with it (almost 1 year setup).

[prop-frags]

Originally Posted by mmaisonneuve

My 200DD failure ended up nice....Marineland replace my tank and all my Fish....on the Sad end one off the follow refer that came to help me on the day my 200 failed has had the same issue last night, is 300 DD sprunk a lead the exact same way....tank was less than 2 years old on concrete floor....hopefully Marineland will be good with him like they were with me !

That's really encouraging to hear that Marineland took care of you, especially the fish. They were in no way obligated to do so, since their warranty states livestock is not covered. Here's an important note for all big tank owners to pay attention: Check your homeowners policy about their coverage. Most are very restrictive on what they will cover regarding such things as fish tank leaks. It is definitely better to have a discussion with your agent before something bad happens!

[rcmania]

I have a 220 marineland tank on a custom stand built out of 2x6's and 2x4's. Its on the main floor of my house that is over a basement. I took great care in reinforcing the floor with floor supports and extra joist, building a square strong stand. All joints are connected with pocket screws and glue. I even removed the flooring/tile under the stand to give it a nice contact service to sit on. I used shims all the way around the base to make sure the stand was nice and level. The shims are side by side with no gaps in between. My tank is coming up on a year old and is still running fine and still level and plum. I Can promise that my stand it stronger than the marineland stands. Any custom stand built is usually over kill, like mine.

Failures can and are going to happen, its the beast of the hobby. A &80,000 car can still drop a transmission. Crap happens, doesnt mean its going to happen to every car. But what does matter is how that company or manufacture deals with the crisis at hand to help resolve the issue to get a customer back up and running.

[dmatt56]

Are there any problems with the 300 DD using the marine land stands? I'd love to have one day!

[davidfrances]

I have two (2) 250DD's on factory stand, no problems whatsoever going on 20 months