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10g tank lost (leaked) 3 gals of water overnight(?)

D

duijver

Hey guys,

I woke up this morning to my little tank and I stepped in a wet carpet and noticed that the 10gal nano had lost about 3-4gal's of water. Obviously the stand is Not as level as I thought since the water only spilled over one side .. or the leak is on that side. I picked up the 10gal and felt underneath and there is no water underneath and there does not appear to be any cracks/seal breaks etc.

The tank has been running for just about a month (few days before xmas I think) and I have never had a leak. To make things more interesting I reinforced the glass with acrylic in anticipation of a mantis shrimp - yes... I know this is overkill. But, the "silicone" that Home Depot sold to bond the acrylic together did NOT make a water tight seal and I do get water underneath some of the sheets - so I mention this as a potential problem. But, I did use an entire tube of silicone on the corner's so it should sealed.

The only thing I added to the tank was three very big fireworms (?) that I found on a new rock I purchased and a yellow damsel. I would say that the yellow damsel was flicking water (he's big), but the water level is just too low at this point. BTW, The biggest fireworm was litterally 1' when it extended and probably about 1/4" wide - yes it was huge. The 2nd and 3rd were also large but only about 1/2 the size.

Thanks guys!
 
onefish2fish

onefish2fish

any wires hanging over the tank? i had carbon in a sock in my sump once and thought i had a slow leak, didnt realize that the sock was hanging over and causing the slowest siphon.
 
D

duijver

Nope. It is a very basic tank - heck there isn't even a heater just a HOB pump that I suspect could be the problem but there isn't an ounce of water near the top of the tank. It looks like the bottom seal may have broken somehow but I REALLY gobbed a lot of silicone on the bottom so I can't see how that's possible. Yet, the actually bottom glass is dry as a bone. The plastic that surrounds the bottom is the part that seems to be releasin water.

And.. let me tell you I would have never figured 3 gallons would have done this much sheetrock damage. It leaked into not one but two room ceilings below and a main gurter (spelling?). I have a bunch of plastering, priming and painting (both rooms haven't been ceiling painted in >5+ years) to do now before the little one comes in about a week :-(

Did I mention the wife is pissed.. ? I guess i'll keep a lookout for a small full acrylic tank that won't leak.
 
D

duijver

OK.. so now I am baffled..

When I saw the bottom floor ceiling with water stains, this morning, I drained the tank 1/2 and carried it into the garage. Then I filled it up with 5gal new water and threw in a 150w heater in it to see if it leaked again.

As of right now... there virtually no water leakage and what did leak is probably just the plywood frame saturation (10gal base). In the garage the tank has everything that was upstairs minus the FW tank top & light. Basically, just the HOB filter that was running when I found the wet tank and it was dry as a bone.

The only difference is the added heater. The water temp was 64 degrees when I dragged it from upstairs and now it's 78.

Thanks guys.. if anything I am just really confused (?) Shouldn't leaks always leak?
 
N

NJ_ychung1

yes. leaks always leak. if it didn't leak in the garage then it probably wasn't a leak to begin with. maybe some sort of unintentional siphoning owing to loose wires or anything touching the surface of the water or your hob.
 
N

NJ_ychung1

agree w. the last posting except small tanks are worse than large tanks for keeping water params stable. my first 10G was a disaster after I went away on vacation and water params went out of control.
 
D

duijver

Patriot76:

I can't agree more! That was one of the first things I thought of when I woke up and saw about 1/2 the tank emptied. It is going to look stupid, but I guess I'm going to put a metal/plastic bucket under the tank and bookcase it sits on to mitigate it in the future and get a water sensor alarm for the DT.

Thanks guys!
 
P

Patriot76

came home today to find my kalk reactor leaking all over the place! i think i am going have to invest in one of those sensors as well.

NJ_ychung1- i totally agree. the smaller the tank the less margain you'll have.
 
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