Total Chaos As Tank Leaked! Advise Urgently Needed

[mandarinfish]

Hello fellow fishkeepers
i find myself in a bit a predicament . i have been quite happily keeping my mixed fish aquarium for three years without any problems until i started to loose water and i noticed it was definately not due to evaporation.
i have a small leak! not having a spare tank large enough to take my stock of fish, which inhabit a 4ft aquarium i had to make some pretty quick decisions.
i contacted my lfs and they agreed at short notice to board my fish until i can fix my tank.
I also left my filter at the shop so the bacteria is kept alive,being used in the tank with my fish,this is costing money so i would like for them to be boarded for as little time as possible.
With no filter on the system the remaining gravel bacteria and water will become un-useable and i am aswell starting afresh.
The tank has now been completely emptied (which is no mean feat) and i have sourced the leak but to be on the safe side i am going to put a generous smear of tank sealant round all of the corners to minimise the risk of a repeat!

What would be the recommened way to mature my tank from now? Also how can i acheive this with haste?
Many thanks and hope that noone else has to experience this.
cheers,tigerbarb

 

[Durbkat]

All you should have to do after you reseal the tank is rinse it out a few times, get the new gravel and rinse the gravel good to get the dust out of it and put it in the tank, put the plants in (if you have any), then get a bucket full of tank water and go to your pet store and get your fish and filter and have them bag the fish and stick the filter media in the bucket of water and head home immediatly and put the filter in the tank which should already have treated water in it, plug filter in wait 5 to 10 min and float your bag of fish in tank like you would for new fish, let bag float for 20 min and add a small amount of tank water to bag of fish wait 5 more min and net fish out of bag into tank. Also make sure you have the heater on before you put the fish in it.

 

[Tiggle]

I remember the fun of a leaking tank. woak up one morning to water all over the floor!! luckly we found it in time to save the fish! That same tank then got a patch job on it, refilled and refished and was fine for 6 months before we had a repeat of the incident on a smaller scale. in the end my dad had too reseall all the seals.

As for restarting your tank... i think there is a product you can use that contains the benifical bacteria a tank requires that you can add to your tank once youve got it running again to be sure you have a sufficient amount of bacteria, though if your keeping the bacteria in your filter alive you shouldnt have too many problems since the majority of the bacteria lives there not in the gravel or water, just monitor it closely to ensure you dont get a mini cycle.

 

[Jules H-T]

Provided the same filter is being used with all your fish, you should not have any problems just whacking it all back together, seriously.

Leak test the tank before filling it though, the last thing you need is to get it full of fish and spring another leak.

Personally, for a matter of a few £, I'd replace the tank.

 

[mandarinfish]

hello fish keeping buddies,
many thanks for all of your replies to my predicament.
your advise has been taken in and digested.

I think maybe the best solution is to aquire a new tank
As the lfs has kept my filter live i may not have such a daunting task as i first imagined.
this is the 1st time i have visited this site and asked for help,which i thank you for.

i rekon i will be a more frequent visitor and hope to have a trouble free hobby again.

regards to all,catch you later
tigerbarb


1 x 36gallon tank
7 corydoras,1 koi angelfish,2 clown loach,3 gourami,5 swordtails.