Help!!!!! Leak in my tank!!!

Sxybeemr325

Sxybeemr325

Reefing newb
I got home from the store today. As soon as I walked in, I could hear an usuaual water leak. Rushed to my basement to find a major leak at the front of my tank. The leak was in the middle at the bottom. 1/4 of my tank was emptied on the carpet! I called my bf and he rushed home, furious, cause he didn't like the tank. I placed all my rocks and corals in large rubbermaid bins. I then catched all my fish, and placed them in a large rubbermaid bin . And placed all my corals and my anemone in the bin with my fish. Installed a power head, water heater and a small filter in the bin with the fish. I emptied the remaining water in buckets.. What a mess... !!! I been soaking water in towels fours hours now...My bf now wants me to get rid of my tank!!!!

Could I resilicone the tank myself? How do you do this? Do you remove the existing silicone or just resilicone on top of the existing one? I have marine silicone here, would that work? What are the chances of my tank leaking again if I resilicone it??

How long can my fish survive in the bucket? And my anemone?

Help please....!!!
 
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You're anemone is especially in peril and if he dies he could wipe your fish in thier stressed state. Keep an eye on it. As far as the silicone is concerned I would remove the old silicone and apply the new. I'm sorry to hear about your tank. Don't let your bf bully you into getting rid of your tank! If my wife tried that I'd send her packing lol! Good luck.
 
Wow sounds like a mess. Sorry to hear it.

You can resilicone a tank and it's not that hard. You should scrape all the old silicone off donw to bare glass. Then use masking tape to go on the out side of the beads (so you can rip it up and have nice straight lines) run a thick bead down each corner and then run your finger down the bead. Once that is done remove the tape and let dry for 24 hours.

You can use aquarium silicone or GE type 1 100% silicone either way it's the same thing. You can find the GE more readily than aquarium silicone. Walmart carries it. Just make sure it's type 1 and doesn't say any thing about being resistant to mold or mildew on the front.
 
To my way of thinking,you'd have to strip the old silicone then redo it.But even then,I dont know that I would trust it.
You MIGHT temporarily silicone the leak and have it hold untill you can get another tank.It worth a shot.
 
Where exactly was it leaking from? The middle bottom what? It would be very unusual for the bottom seam to start leaking. Stress on the seams is usually on the outside edges where there is no trim.
Are you sure the bottom isn't cracked?
 
ccCapt said:
Where exactly was it leaking from? The middle bottom what? It would be very unusual for the bottom seam to start leaking. Stress on the seams is usually on the outside edges where there is no trim.
Are you sure the bottom isn't cracked?
Click to expand...

It looked like it was leaking from the middle front at the bottom and in the right front corner at the bottom as well..

I guess I may try and fix it. Ill probably go buy silicone to try and reseal the whole tank tomorrow.... Tomorrow is another day... I guess I'm gonna go to bed and sleep on that..
 
I went to my lfs this morning. Spoke to the manager. Explained that I bought that tank from them sometimes around dec 26 - dec 30th 2007. Lost my receipt. They coudnt go back that far in their system. She said she would talk to the owner tomorrow, and call the manufacturer(all glass) for me tomorrow as she believed they had a 2 year warranty on the tank,and she will call me back tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait to hear from her tomorrow!! All my fish seem to be ok in the rubbermaid bin...so far... I'll go test the water now, just to be on the safe side...

Worst come to worst, I'll just resilicone my tank and hope that this will hold until I can buy another tank..

I'll keep you posted on the outcome.. What a nightmare!!
 
I thought AGA had a lifetime warranty on anything from a 125 on up?
Hopefully it all works out and you get a new tank pretty quick.
 
yote said:
I thought AGA had a lifetime warranty on anything from a 125 on up?
Hopefully it all works out and you get a new tank pretty quick.
Click to expand...

Nope!2 years(could be three,I can't remember)

Oceanic does have a lifetime warranty though....All tanks.Sorry sexy,I went through this with an Aqueon(All-Glass) aquarium a year ago.They did replace the tank and stand for me.
 
oh! Well I bought the tank just a little over a year ago. At the end of December 07. I really hope to get a tank and get over this mess! I'll be really pissed if I have to reseal my tank. I'm just hoping my fish and corals and anemone will live that long in the rubbermaid bin. I have to go to work at 7 am tomorrow and won't get back til 5pm... I kind of nervous leaving everything there all day...
 
Is this a large bin?While I waited for the new tank,which btw took 2 long weeks.Half of my live stock was in my old 75g. tank and the other half was in a 50g. rubbermaid bin.All of the livestock made it just fine those two weeks with just powerheads and a heater.I even fed the fish in the bin.

Good luck and make sure they give you a new tank.I don't trust re-siliconing nothing,especially a big tank like yours.I also complained about the stand being damaged from the water leaking so they replaced that too.
 
wow that really sucks. im sorry to hear about that misfortune. your tank was so beautiful too. Is there any way you can rig your lights up over the bin that your nem is in? that would provide a little less stress to it i would imagine. i sure have my fingers crossed that you are able to get that tank replaced. hopefully your bf cools out a bit too. I know it can be a stressful situation especially if you dont care for the hobby.
 
I am not sure of this but be careful in using "marine silicone". That is silicone that you can use on a boat or dock that would be exposed to saltwater. It will stand up to saltwater better than standard silicone. It is not neccessarily aquarium friendly. I used to use it all the time working on boats but I got aquarium safe silicone for my aquariums. Again, not sure if there is a difference but you have to check the package.
 
Bummer about the crack. Keep us posted, though. It'd be good to see how everything gets resolved for anyone else who might have that problem.

I guess it's good to get a more expensive brand like Oceanic, since you have a lifetime warranty on it.
 
Alexander, yes indeed! It is stressfull! I broke down in tears when I realized what just hapned. The shock of the moment I guess. But let me tell u that u never expect such a thing to happen. I guess he was furious and I can see why... He's all better now.. LOL.. He better be!

Bigploch, thanx for the tip on the marine silicone.

And it was not a crack, just a leak in the silicone. No visible cracks on the tank. I can t even find where the leak was..

Spoke to my lfs. She called all glass and forwarded photos to them.. She is just awaiting on a confirmation from them. She said it looks like they will replace it. They better! What a mess..

I just tests my ammonia in the bin. It's at 0.25-0.50!! High!!! Should I do a water change in the bin ? Or will this just stress out everything even more? My pick would be to do a 20-25% change...

And lesson #1 I learned from this, don't take anything for granted. My tank was at it's best ever.. I tested my water on sat before it happened, everything tested good... What a piss off....
 
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