A disastrous leak ended the Bermuda Rectangle, my Giant Tropical Wetlands Vivarium. The glass of the tank separated at one section and caused all water and gravel to spill out onto the floor. The leak had to be repaired but not without the challenge of having to keep the vast array of aquatic plants and animals alive during the process. Hope you enjoy this Season 4, Episode 6 of my Ecosystem Vivarium Series. Ant love forever!

A Massive LEAK Destroyed My Giant Tropical Wetlands Vivarium

What a complete disaster!

This was my giant tropical wetlands vivarium, called The Bermuda Rectangle, and it was full of aquatic life and even a resident flying lizard.

My dream was to build the coolest, most biodiverse wetlands ecosystem within its glass walls, so it could attach by way of a glass connection to my other two giant vivaria, forming one huge trifecta of connected tropical life.

But sadly, this week, my dream plans turned into my worst nightmare—when I saw this.

This is the craziest story of a massive leak event that devastated my promising tropical wetlands vivarium and all its life within, causing the ultimate end of The Bermuda Rectangle—but not in the way you might be thinking.

Check out how it all went down.

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The Bermuda Rectangle was a dream-developing wetlands ecosystem, and none of its residents could have expected what was coming.

The community of thriving plants, animals, and other lifeforms had established a brilliant harmony of balance in what couldn’t have been a more perfect aquatic system.

Microscopic life was already beginning to proliferate in its flowing waters. Insect larvae and worms were spotted all around.

The community of multi-colored shrimp, named The Skittles, were busy picking away at minuscule edible bits from the gravel, mosses, and plants—like my gorgeous Buce here.

Backswimmers paddled peacefully through the aqua space, as a team of algae-eating fish and snails grazed from the glass, keeping it clear and free of algae.

I just loved how the wetlands ecosystem was coming into fruition—slowly but surely.

But little did I know, this beautiful slice of nature was about to experience its last day of existence.

The next morning, I was shocked to find the entire floor of the Ant Room completely wet, with a carpet of soaked gravel.

But the Ant Room is built for accidental floods, with drains all over.

However, what really shocked me was the tank.

It had drained almost completely of water, endangering all life within the vivarium.

I took this video and sent it to my team of tank builders, who immediately rushed to my place.

That is Ben, the architect in charge of building this tank—an aquarium hobbyist, a fellow AC Family member, and also my close friend.

He stared blankly into the tank with the saddest look, as water rushed out of the breach.

I actually felt so sorry for him.

He was just as devoted and in love with this whole wetlands project as I was, being there every step of the way, and was certain of the calculations and work by the team.

Ben had constructed tanks and massive ponds in the past and was no stranger to the power of water.

We refilled the vivarium with more water and allowed the drip to enter back into the sump, while we addressed where the glass had separated, causing the leak, and how we would fix it.

The water pressure had been far too great on this front glass panel, which caused a separation in the sealant.

The back and sides had brackets, helping to keep those glass panels safe from bowing outward due to the water pressure, so they were okay.

It was this front panel that was problematic.

In the end, to my horror, we had no other choice but to completely drain the wetlands, dig out the entire front end of gravel and plants, and reseal the front along with extra reinforcements.

Later that day, I approached The Bermuda Rectangle—and couldn’t believe my eyes.

What was once a neat and lush landscape was now a plot of devastated ground, covered in paper towels to help keep all the plants moist through this dry period, which would have to last several days.

The plants’ exposure to air now must not have felt nice, and in my mind, it would probably lead to a lot of the plants dying.

All the aquatic animals we could catch—from fish to snails to shrimp—were waiting in a state of limbo within a container off to the side.

It looked as though a tornado had blown through here, with white gravel dug out everywhere.

So let’s address what had to be done.

The entire front panel originally had a piece of glass that acted as fortification to ensure the main front glass panel wouldn’t bow outward from the water pressure.

This piece of glass was then sealed to the bottom glass and the front glass using a special black sealant designed for sealing tanks.

Ben and our team dug out all the gravel from the front, cleaned and dried the area, then added three more fortifying pieces and a ton more black sealant.

This area would need to dry over three days, and a fan would help with this.

But having wind blow through the vivarium was also hard for the collection of aquatic plants.

I gasped when I saw our once verdant moss vine, now dried up and dead.

It hurt me to think that all the gorgeous plants that used to line the floor might dry up over the next few days.

The vivarium did have automated rain, just like our other vivaria, but this was not the same as being submerged.

It was the most we could do, though, to try to preserve everything, and only time would tell if the plants and all the creatures would survive this state of suspended survival.

It was now up to the wetland organisms to fight through the drought.

I broke down thinking about all my failed dreams for The Bermuda Rectangle.

Across the room, some reptilian beasts were silently watching the scene.

Waking from his slumber in the blackwater pond of Pantdora, Godzilla took great interest in what was going on in the world just beyond.

He’s been eyeing The Bermuda Rectangle since its creation.

I think he saw all the creatures living there he could eat, as well as the vast waters in which he could swim.

Godzilla’s time in Pantdora, in which he was raised, was quickly coming to an end.

He would be needing more space, now that he has grown a lot.

Little did he know, his future would soon look very interesting.

Also looking on was Snap, now a full-grown sun skink, resting atop the Hallelujah Tree Stump, on which a pothos had converted into its giant form.

I wondered if she had any interest in exploring The Bermuda Rectangle, once Pantdora was joined to it.

But now, I wasn’t sure what the plan was.

Inside, I was beginning to wonder if this whole wetlands project was a case of me biting off more than I could chew.

The greater majority of my experience with tanks was terrariums.

Having a largely aquatic system as big as our wetlands vivarium here was definitely something different from my past builds.

I’ve had a 75-gallon aquarium in the past, and lots of paludaria, but never this big.

Keeping a tank this massive, which was predominantly water, was harder than I thought.

For a moment, I considered the idea that perhaps I should just scrap the whole tropical wetlands vivarium idea and maybe redo this whole tank to turn it into something easier.

Maybe I could just take everything apart and create a bog terrarium or something—something with less water—or just go back to what I know most and fill it with dirt so it could be one massive ant farm.

It was then that a movement caught my eye.

Hey, a Nerite snail!

It was one of the snails that was hiding from us while we tried to collect the animals before draining.

It slid across the glass along its slimy underside.

These snails were capable of surviving on land for some time.

It was hoping that wetter days would come.

On the paper towel, I noticed a series of little pieces of what I thought might be poop, but that I later realized were actually seeds dispersed from one of the nearby plants.

Hmmm…

It seems the plants were sending off their seeds in hopes they would find a proper place to sprout.

And then, I looked up and saw our resident flying dragon.

Draco was perched up high on the Arch of Aquarius, standing proud and majestic, despite the lands below him looking rather post-apocalyptic.

He, too, had grown to love these lands and had claimed them as his home.

It was then that I realized—you know what? No. I won’t give up on our wetlands.

The animals and plants weren’t going to give up—they were fighting through this drought event.

Miss Piggy and Kermit, the tree frogs of Orchadia, were counting on the connection to the wetlands for their breeding season, which was coming up.

They needed the wetlands in which to lay their eggs and home their tadpoles.

I just knew Draco would one day love living in Orchadia, our canopy vivarium, which was full of ants for him to eat and tree branches in which to frolic.

All the life—ants, reptiles, amphibians, and perhaps even plants—within our disconnected tropical system would benefit from this great bridging event and connection of the Old Worlds with the New.

Inside, I knew in my heart that it was my duty as their caregiver and Creator of Worlds to fix this and fight for all of them.

The leak test was scheduled to happen in three days, and I promised myself I’d do whatever it took to revive our wetlands.

The Leak Test Begins

As the tank began to fill with water, my team and I stood anxiously on the side, watching and praying that the tank would pass this test.

If it didn’t, that would be very bad.

But we were committed to the hope that the result of this leak test would be favorable.

We added all necessary fortifications and seals to ensure that this time, a leak would not be possible.

As the tank began to fill up, I noticed shrimp beginning to swim through the waters.

Wow!

There were Skittles that had gone into hiding all this time!

They joyously swam through the water, happy that hydration had returned to their home.

The snails also came out of hiding to once again move around the wetlands.

I crossed my fingers and hoped for them—and all our other animals—that the tank would pass this leak test.

And then…

The tank was full.

The Results Are In

AC Family, now it was time to wait and check the tank for any leaks.

And it turns out—the tank held in the water the entire day.

It had passed the leak test!

The next day, after a whole 24 hours of the tank proving it could handle the water weight and remain leak-free, we turned on the pump—

And waters began to cascade down our waterfall beautifully.

It was the great return of water to our wetlands.

It was then that I decided to name this waterfall—Cascadia.

Over the following days, we added the animals back in and continued to rehabilitate the tank, fixing the whole front end of it.

And though it didn’t look exactly the same as before, I felt it was an okay change in look that I knew I’d eventually get used to.

As for the plants, at first, the few days of air exposure seemed to have weakened them, and a lot looked shriveled up.

Nature Finds a Way

But one week later, this is what the plants of our wetlands looked like.

They had all bounced back to life and looked as gorgeous as ever.

Any plants that did die out, like our red tiger lotus, were simply replanted.

Over the week, I actually grew to love the new landscape and shape of the wetland floor.

I loved this circular clearing of gravel—that would make a great campsite.

I also loved how there was more exposed driftwood now, which would offer some cool hiding spots for the animals.

On land, our mosses and plants also bounced right back to life, with moisture once again restored.

And as for the dead moss vine, we managed to create a new one, but this time made a moss route, which helped direct the water more efficiently to the base of Cascadia, diminishing splash against the front glass—keeping it clearer.

A Resilient Ecosystem

Over a week has passed since the leak, and there have been no leaks since.

The bustling life has returned to the wetlands beautifully, like nothing ever happened.

Ostracods and shrimp grazed from the floor, and look!

See those blue babies?

There were many recently born baby Skittles—our first generation of natively born shrimp, spotted all over, as well as several pregnant Skittle mothers carrying eggs.

The Skittles were definitely going to undergo a population boom very soon!

The plants had picked up in their growth, right from where they left off.

My Buce had bounced back and looked as stunning as ever!

Check out the moss!

See the new moss tips?

I was so glad I chose to keep these wetlands wet and not turn them into something else.

Lessons Learned

After this entire ordeal, I realized two things.

One, that much of wetland life is designed to handle sudden drainage of water for a period of time.

I mean, who would’ve ever expected the shrimp to survive several days out of water?

And two, that it wasn’t a mistake to bite off more than I could chew in attempting to take on this wetlands vivarium project.

Taking the risk to try new things, despite being challenging, is the quickest catalyst to learning and a great way to explore uncharted, amazing worlds.

Fact is, failure is a part of life, including for us YouTubers, and mistakes help us learn, grow, and get better.

Though this project might seem to some as just content for a YouTube channel, in reality, I’m just a hobbyist with a passion for nature, wanting nothing more than to share this journey of biological discovery with the world—truly as it happens.

Which means sometimes, it includes my failures.

Presenting mistakes for millions of people to see, scoff at, judge, ridicule, or bully over is the scariest thing for a YouTuber.

Animal YouTube can especially get heated, due to it involving animal lives—lives we all love, want to protect, and fight for.

Which is why I am okay to take the heat whenever it comes my way.

Inside, I feel terrible that this happened, but all I can hope for now is that the tank no longer leaks, and that anyone out there watching who is attempting to make a tank involving water learns just how complicated tank containers can be.

Getting an already-made tank should decrease the chance of mistakes like this from happening, but even then, accidents can happen.

Ben’s Redemption

As for Ben, he felt terrible for this whole ordeal and continued to apologize for days, offering to pay me back for all the trouble.

But of course, I didn’t accept it, and I wasn’t mad at him.

He is, after all, my friend.

And plus, didn’t a wise, Godly man once tell us that we should always forgive?

Ben now knows exactly where we went wrong and fixed the issue swiftly—and also learned a lot from all this.

So guys, if I may ask, please be kind to my buddy Ben in the comments, will ya?

He could sure use a hug from the rest of the AC Family after all this.

I am still glad I chose Ben and his skillful team to build the vivarium.

It was just an honest mistake that is now fixed.

A New Name, A New Beginning

But speaking of fixing mistakes, I think I have another mistake I’d like to rectify now.

I originally called the wetlands vivarium The Bermuda Rectangle, which was a name I saw suggested in the comments.

But a huge number of you didn’t approve of such a name after its announcement.

Now, I’m not so much the superstitious type, but looking back, I think choosing such an ominous name might have been a mistake—

And this leak was surely a bad omen.

So, I decided—today would mark the end of The Bermuda Rectangle and the start of a new world.

AC Family, our new tropical wetlands vivarium will from now on be called—

Hydromeda.

A name which over forty-five thousand of you voted for in my Community Tab poll.

As the new fog began to roll through Hydromeda, blanketing its waters like a spiritual mantle, I couldn’t help but feel grateful that we fixed the leak crisis, that we learned new lessons, and that life was resilient by design.

I couldn’t wait to see what was up ahead for Hydromeda.

What’s Next?

Speaking of which—the next set of wetland creatures were waiting in their bags for their epic release into Hydromedan waters.

And AC Family, I CAT wait for all of you to meet them!

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