Tank Just Started Leaking Spontaneously.

[Ludwig Venter]

On Sunday night, I saw a few drops of water below the tank and assumed that my Eheimm sprung a leak, so I merely switched it off for later attention…..

Later that evening a puddle of water was noticed below the tank and I discovered that it was in fact the tank leaking. I put a bucket below the drip for later attention.

When I got back home from work yesterday, my wife told me that she needed to empty the bucket approximately every 4 hours. I decided I could live with her emptying the bucket every 4 hours until the weekend when I can give the problem my full attention.

This morning the bucket was full and water was raining from the tank…… all the way down the passage and into the main bedroom…… Now, my procrastination has turned into an emergency, but I have to go to work and will only be able to do something about it this afternoon when I get back home…

I’ve had this tank for more than 8 years and there was no one near the tank when it just started to leak spontaneously…..

Has this ever happened to you??

 

[KittyKat]

Yes: feeding fish on bottom of the rack in the morning before work.. and suddenly a *drip, drip, drip* onto my arm from above. When at the bottom of a rack with some 15 tanks on it, not a good sign.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Well then..... procrastinating even further, I found that when the tank gets to the halfway mark, the leaking stops completely..... so for a while then, I was happy to live with a half full tank (don't think the fish was however).........

Yesterday morning, (since my gardener was available to assist).... I felt particularly motivated to tackle the task of completely stripping the tank.... do a proper leak test, reseal with silicon and set-up from scratch...... includes washing the gravel, filter materials and scrubbing all the rocks and ornaments.

This is the first time this tank was removed from it's stand and springcleaned in this way in almost 8 years and looks so different, I almost feel like entering the bare tank in TOTM competition.

Watch this space.....

 

[the biffster]

yes several times once had the front
Pane of a 5x2x2 open up from the
bottom while i was laid on the floor
watching TV one minute relaxing next
minuet swimming also had a 3x18x18
spring a leak just as i walked past it
both with no warning

 

[Vin Swords]

isnt it annoying..

 

[myrtle]

Annoying with a 20l disastrous with a 240l (thank God it's never happened to me)

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Watch this space.....

Now, why did I say "watch this space".......

When I got back home from work this afternoon..... I carefully spread the washed "old" gravel as a bottom layer and the new washed gravel over that..... I then put my best ornamental volcanic rock back and rearranged it a couple of times to get the best display effect......

I put the Eheimm back up and ensured that none of the piping was visible..... Then I refilled the tank and started the Eheimm.

Exactly one hour later, I was busy feeding the fish in the fishroom, when I heard the shreik from the lounge!!!!.... The whole house was flooded with 425l of water..... Fortunately The whole house floors is tiled out with only a few carpets here & there.....

All available towels and mops are employed and I sincerely hope my wife completes the drying up before bed time..... I am so disgusted with fish atm..... I may even consider giving it up completely....

 

[Flute]

Oh god, that must have been a nasty shock D: Is it repairable in anway?

I'm hugely paranoid about that happening with my 200 ltr tank.

 

[-Craig-]

Its going to happen to me soon, I have cracks at the bottom of the tank, they are getting bigger and I don't think it will actually leak, the entire bottom will smash, So the tank i have (No lid, just the tank) at my lfs is £30 (250 US Gallons)its the same size and its were i got my tank from (the tank i'm buying is my tank i have currently) so il just strip it all down and basicly reset up.

yea it does annoy you when you have leaks.

 

[lljdma06]

Watch this space.....

Now, why did I say "watch this space".......

Because you know we will...

I am so disgusted with fish atm..... I may even consider giving it up completely....

I'm so sorry, LV. It'll be ok... My new ADA tank was doing the same thing. Was so scared it was a leak, turned out, was the filter.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

@Flute: Shock?? How is this possibly a shock??
Maybe its just me, but to me the story reads like this;

Day 1: "Oh my tanks leaking"
Day 2: "Oh its still leaking"
Day 3: "Oh its leaking even more now"
Day 4: "Oh it is leaking everywhere now" etc.
Nothing shocking about this outcome '_' .

I hear the word "procrastinating", which when your tank starts to drip-drip-drip this is the least thing you should do. A common cause of random tank breaks is when the fish tank is on an uneven surface or is filled up too full of water or heavy ornements. There is a large amount of pressure constantly exerted on the bottom of the tank when it is full up, and over time if this pressure is not distrubted evenly enough can cause the tank to crack. This can take a very long time to do (it happened to me once with a 5gal tank, took 3months for the tank to crack on an uneven surface), but when the tank does start to leak can happen very slowly or extremely quickly.
Whatever the case though, you don't really want to take the chance of whether the tank will last the next few hours or 'til the next week. Having to keep your fish in buckets over night stressing over whether they will survive the shock is not very fun. I'm not necessarily saying this guys case was certainly a case of uneven pressure distribution in the tank (could have been a dodgey silicone seal etc), but IMO the issue here was the lack of quick serious action on the matter. Seriously, tanks can break very quickly and you don't want to take this chance!

 

[Biulu]

My bowfront 180 litre cracked twice (at the bow). The first one was a glass tank and I thought that the glass wasn't thick enough. Then it happened again, with the acrylic version of the tank, and it turned out that under the weight of the water, the front of my base had lowered somewhat. So you can imagine with all that weight on the bow, which is more vulnerable anyway, all the water was spilled on the floor.

No damage to the fish luckily, but the damage to my Chinese paintings which were kept in a nearby closet, was unrepairable.