Urgent: My Tank Is Leaking

[freckspecks]

My 10 gallon nano tank is leaking.

I only know b/c I stepped in a puddle.

I've unplugged and removed filter and airstone.

Still leaking.

HELP!!!

 

[DoubleDutch]

From the top / lid ?

 

[MissRuthless]

If it's cracked or the seal is broken you need to CALMLY scoop the fish out as fast as possible and put them in a safe place. Do you have another tank?

Edit: if you don't have another tank you could throw your filter on the side of a storage tote, 5 gallon bucket, or anything else like that. I kept three sunfish and a six inch bullhead catfish in a 5 gallon bucket with a filter for over a month and nothing terrible happened - as long as you keep the water clean and have your filter hooked up it'll do until you can figure something else out!

Edit again: totally not proud at all about doing that to the bullhead and sunfish - just saying in an emergency, you can ghetto rig something up that will hold them safely until you have a tank for them.

 

[freckspecks]

Thanks so much for the thoughtful response, MissRuthless .

It was a seal along the bottom that suddenly gave way. (This freaks me out.) I'm so glad I forgot to make the coffee or else my poor fish would have perished. (Their tank is in the kitchen.)

I *THANKFULLY* had a spare 10 gallon in the garage. I tried to calmly clean it with hot water and rinse and rinse and rinse. (It was on a high shelf and really just dusty.)

I was able to transfer about 60% of the water. Nearly all but 2 of my fish are accounted for. (Two of my pygmy cories hid as the last of the water leaked away. Hopefully they made it in with the substrate.) I've only seen one of eight of my crystal shrimp. *sigh* Poor babies.

I've got the filter and aerator hooked back up...and the proverbial dust is settling out.

 

[NavigatorBlack]

Tough news there. When a silicone tank leaks, you first look to make sure it isn't the filter or something easy, and if not, do what you did.
They can be repaired, if you want info on that.

 

[freckspecks]

From the top / lid ?

Sadly, no. Fast drip from a bottom corner. Scary...but I think everybody made it!

 

[MissRuthless]

I've been there!! My first one was a 10 gallon - dropped a piece of decor and cracked the bottom. Panicked, started screaming, and caught my baby pictus in the net and nearly killed him. Half the water ended up in my bed since it was on a nightstand. The second was 29g, all I did was reach into the tank and it cracked down the back. That was horrible. At least you can just reseal your tank though, if you want to

 

[Auroraspet]

Most LFS can or do carry silicone to repair the tank. And its not too expensive. Depending on local costs though some times easier to buy a new 10 gallon aquarium. Also might be good excuse to get larger tank lol I use any excuse I can here to get a larger or another tank. Though wife some times gives me a look

 

[MissRuthless]

You can get a tube of 100% silicone at Walmart for like $3-4 and a gun to dispense it with for $2

 

[Auroraspet]

You can get a tube of 100% silicone at Walmart for like $3-4 and a gun to dispense it with for $2

Some silicone has dangerous chems in them. Need to make sure to use correct brand and type.

 

[MissRuthless]

Walmart sells multiple types of silicone. Brand is unimportant, all that matters is 100% silicone with no additives.

 

[Auroraspet]

Well I shouldn't of said brand. Though some brands seem more trust worthy then others. But ya the rest I agree with

 

[AllieSten]

You can get a glass 10 gallon tank at Walmart for $14. Since you already have everything else, all you need is the tank. Unless you want to practice resealing a tank that is lol

 

[MissRuthless]

I looked in my fish cabinet but I guess I misplaced the tube so I can't say for sure, but I believe there's a number system they use, silicone I & II, and then there's a window/door version and a kitchen/bath version of each - the kitchen/bath stuff is what has the mold inhibitor. It's GE brand, by the way.

 

[Auroraspet]

You can get a glass 10 gallon tank at Walmart for $14. Since you already have everything else, all you need is the tank. Unless you want to practice resealing a tank that is lol

Walmart ones are cheap so definitely a option. But I think IMHO that their tanks seems... flimsy to me.

I looked in my fish cabinet but I guess I misplaced the tube so I can't say for sure, but I believe there's a number system they use, silicone I & II, and then there's a window/door version and a kitchen/bath version of each - the kitchen/bath stuff is what has the mold inhibitor. It's GE brand, by the way.

Ya definitely stay away from Kitchen/Bath ones. As long as no added ingredients they should be good to go

 

[AllieSten]

Walmart ones are cheap so definitely a option. But I think IMHO that their tanks seems... flimsy to me.

Both of my 10 gallon tanks are from Walmart and I haven't had a single issue. One is 6 months old, and the other 3 months old. So far so good anyways.

 

[freckspecks]

I've been there!! My first one was a 10 gallon - dropped a piece of decor and cracked the bottom. Panicked, started screaming, and caught my baby pictus in the net and nearly killed him. Half the water ended up in my bed since it was on a nightstand. The second was 29g, all I did was reach into the tank and it cracked down the back. That was horrible. At least you can just reseal your tank though, if you want to

Oh my gosh...you have had some adventures! Yikes!

 

[freckspecks]

I order my aquarium silicone from Amazon. Used a bunch when I was making a cave for my pleco, Al.

Al's Place

• freckspecks
• May 5, 2017
• 8

I made our pleco, Al-G-Gone, a special place to tuck in when things got a bit bright. He loved...

 

[MissRuthless]

That cave is so dope!!!! I have been wanting to build some rock structures with silicone but never thought of using gravel, what an awesome idea!!! I love how it blends right in and looks, well, like sculpted gravel because it is, find the cave is just like part of the substrate. Very cool!!!!!!

 

[freckspecks]

That cave is so dope!!!! I have been wanting to build some rock structures with silicone but never thought of using gravel, what an awesome idea!!! I love how it blends right in and looks, well, like sculpted gravel because it is, find the cave is just like part of the substrate. Very cool!!!!!!

Thanks, MissRuthless! It was a fun, sticky project. If your interested, I shared a how to for the project in response to another forum members request. You can find it in the comment section of the picture.

 

[SpikeyPlant]

I've just looked at my aquarium, there's water leaking out of it, I haven't done any water changes recently, and the water is around the bottom so not running down the sides. It's slow, so probably small and under gravel as of yet, but I know I can't leave this. Luckily there are no fish in there as of yet as I'm still cycling, just plants. What do I do? I'm panicking a little. How do I save the filter (I'm almost done cycling and it's taken 2 months so far, I don't want to start again!) when I drain the tank?

 

[barbmiester]

do u have water proof tape

if so u can use it to patch up the hole then put fish in and how big is your tank

 

[SpikeyPlant]

I don't have waterproof tape, my tank is 28 litres. I know an LFS nearby sells fish safe silicone but that's as good as it gets with patching this up

 

[barbmiester]

Ok then that's your best bet

 

[Skavatar]

get a storage container and put everything from the tank into it, the filter can continue to cycle.

 

[mattgirl]

If you can get another tank you can just move all your hard work over to the new tank by moving everything from this tank to the new one.

Ninja'd by Skavatar

 

[SpikeyPlant]

I'm emptying what I can into a bucket for now, and the filter will run in that.
Honestly, I'd love a new tank but I think I should try to see if I can salvage this one first in the interest of cost.

 

[mattgirl]

I'm emptying what I can into a bucket for now, and the filter will run in that.
Honestly, I'd love a new tank but I think I should try to see if I can salvage this one first in the interest of cost.

I totally understand saving whenever I can. Hopefully you will be able to salvage this one. As long as you are able to move EVERYTHING from the leaking tank over to the bucket and keep the filter running your cycling progress should continue.

 

[SpikeyPlant]

I've managed that aside for a few stray grains of gravel, now I'm just confused, I can see where it's leaked but I can't find the breach

 

[Marinus]

If you can't find an obvious leak/crack it may be the silicone doesn't adhere properly to the sides and a small amount is getting through and out that way. Is the leak seem to be from the corner? Might have to strip and reseal the aquarium depending on if you can find an obvious point of leakage or not.

 

[SpikeyPlant]

the leak is either a corner or just the front seal, as there's no water leaking to the back. My guess is it's somewhere in the middle of the front as that's where the worst of the water was.
How would you go about stripping and resealing the aquarium? And how long would that take? I'd rather avoid having my plants die from lack of lighting if I can help it.

 

[DoubleDutch]

Could it almost invisible drip from your lid downwards.

It is quite unusual a tank suddenly starts leaking.

 

[Marinus]

Stripping and resealing can be a giant pain to do and, if not done right, you can end up with it still leaking...or worse. Considering your tank is fairly small if it were me I'd consider just replacing it or, as DoubleDutch said, check for other areas that might be causing the leak. If you end up knowing its a faulty seal and want to try and fix it there are some decent guides online. You'll need aquarium safe silicone, razor blade, and probably a couple other things and it takes 24 hours for silicone to dry so factor that in as far as needing to keep everything somewhere else up and running. And the 24 hours of darkness shouldn't kill your plants though if you have a clip on LED light you could attach that to where-ever they are being kept or even just move them closer to a window/light source.

 

[Jimmie93]

Stripping and resealing can be a giant pain to do and, if not done right, you can end up with it still leaking...or worse. Considering your tank is fairly small if it were me I'd consider just replacing it or, as DoubleDutch said, check for other areas that might be causing the leak. If you end up knowing its a faulty seal and want to try and fix it there are some decent guides online. You'll need aquarium safe silicone, razor blade, and probably a couple other things and it takes 24 hours for silicone to dry so factor that in as far as needing to keep everything somewhere else up and running. And the 24 hours of darkness shouldn't kill your plants though if you have a clip on LED light you could attach that to where-ever they are being kept or even just move them closer to a window/light source.

I agree with this you can get a 5 or 10 gallon aquarium for around $10 the silicone alone would probably cost more.

 

[86 ssinit]

How old is the tank? I would replace. Not worth chasing leaks. If new I would return.

 

[SpikeyPlant]

Actually, getting the closest to equivalent size tank (34 litres) from the LFS is £100 out of pocket, not $10, unfortunately. But if it has to be done, it has to be done, I've invested too much into this to give up now. If I bought a new tank I'd go at least to 57 litres as I can afford the £20 extra. Other tank sizes could be available in store that aren't online, so we will see what happens there.

It's secondhand and I don't know how old it is (it was a gift from a friend of my mums as she was moving and didn't plan to set it up again. My mum, knowing keeping fish has been a dream of mine for a while, accepted).

I noticed it seeping a few days ago but brushed it off as a splash from maintenance (I was putting plants back in the gravel, picking out dead leaves, and skimming off a few of my salvinia as they'd about covered the surface). Today, no maintenance done, but water was spilling onto the floor. There was no evidence of water dripping from the lid, there'd have been drips down the side of the tank, and it'd have likely been less water, I hadn't even opened the lid today. I could be wrong, but I'd have thought water dripping from the lid would have been an issue in the last 2 months as well

 

[Donthemon]

Fish keeping is more expensive than most people think. You need to be prepared to spend money on the unexpected.

 

[SpikeyPlant]

True that. I'll pop out tomorrow and see what I see

 

[Blaze]

Have you discovered exactly where the leak is? If not you should drain the tank dry it inside and out, then look for any obvious signs of cracks or loose seals if non are noticed start filling it up slowly and watch for leaks.

 

[Fricknfrack]

the leak is either a corner or just the front seal, as there's no water leaking to the back. My guess is it's somewhere in the middle of the front as that's where the worst of the water was.
How would you go about stripping and resealing the aquarium? And how long would that take? I'd rather avoid having my plants die from lack of lighting if I can help it.

Just an fyi, I recently just resealed a tank and 2 weeks later it exploded. I wound up buying a new tank and stand. And... I had resealed it properly. The bottom blew out. Not trying to scare u, just giving you a heads up.

 

[SpikeyPlant]

cheers for the heads up.
I have now bought a replacement tank, a 55 litre (15 gallon), which will arrive by delivery in a couple of days. I was thinking of trying to have a crack at the old one in spare time to see if I could, but I'll bear this in mind and have towels and buckets on hand in case of disaster if I ever get around to it.

 

[RSV]

I've just looked at my aquarium, there's water leaking out of it, I haven't done any water changes recently, and the water is around the bottom so not running down the sides. It's slow, so probably small and under gravel as of yet, but I know I can't leave this. Luckily there are no fish in there as of yet as I'm still cycling, just plants. What do I do? I'm panicking a little. How do I save the filter (I'm almost done cycling and it's taken 2 months so far, I don't want to start again!) when I drain the tank?

If the leak is slow and not damaging any floor or furniture I recommend leaving is alone for a week or two to see if it will self seal. I have had established tanks leak and seal but new tanks may not have enough sediment to block the leak. Good luck.

 

[Fricknfrack]

cheers for the heads up.
I have now bought a replacement tank, a 55 litre (15 gallon), which will arrive by delivery in a couple of days. I was thinking of trying to have a crack at the old one in spare time to see if I could, but I'll bear this in mind and have towels and buckets on hand in case of disaster if I ever get around to it.

I never had a problem with any of my tanks up until now. .. and I resealed my 75 gal with no problems at all..its up and running in my house now. But, my worst nightmare came true and I just didn't want the same to happen to you! I just wouldn't take the chance again now that see what can happen!

 

[RHONDA PIMENTEL]

Never risk it. Get a new tank!