The invisible crack. The Aquarium Nightmare?

**Wolfgangs246** · 13th Dec 2010, 23:38

Hi Guys,

I've been having a leaking problem with my tank. Over the last month, my tank will seemingly randomly spring a leak and water will collect near my UV and External canister filter. IT doesn't seem to be continuous because water levels will drop noticeably but at random points in the week/month.

I don't know where to begin figuring out where the leak is coming from. I've fumbled around and tried feeling all the pipes within reach for moisture or leaks and can't find any. The canister and UV filter don't seem to be wet externally either. I'm deathly afraid that the tank itself may have a crack on the underside and might leak/crack the tank wide open.

Do any of you have any advice on how to find a possible crack in the tank? I'm in the information sourcing stage right now cause I'm overseas, but I want to have a definite plan in mind to get to the bottom of the leaking problem before the tank and it's contents come crashing onto my floor!

**eviltrain** · 13th Dec 2010, 23:49

Is it possible to check the underside for dampness as i knows yours should be a cabinet tank. If there is somewhere in the middle, the tank most propably leaking underside.

**Wolfgangs246** · 14th Dec 2010, 00:30

You mean the roof of the cabinet which is contact with the bottem of the tank? I suppose it's possible but because the cabinet is less than 6 months old I worried that the cabinet will still be relatively water tight and won't show the dampness. But I'll go home and check. *sigh*

With the ph problems and the leaking problems. Tempted to just decom the whole tank and start from scratch. But think I should find the source of the leak before I radically decom the tank. Otherwise if the tank isn't the source then I'll be stuck. X-P

**eviltrain** · 14th Dec 2010, 00:39

Agree. Just go home and see if its really the tank is having leaking problem or what. Get back to your tank maker regarding this too

**Shadow** · 14th Dec 2010, 09:28

make sure your piping ok, some time it can leak from there as well.

Tank leak is the work, it is good practice to fill up empty tank (no scape) with water to make sure no leak

**Wolfgangs246** · 15th Dec 2010, 22:49

@eviltrain: Will do bro. I'm very concerned cause the leaking doesn't appear to be constant. So not sure what that would indicate. The tank was bought second hand so don't want to cause the previous bro trouble. Might just get a new one if thats the proper corrective action here.

@shadow: I would agree. the tank wasn't leaking until recently though so I wouldn't say this is something I could have detected from the beginning. More likely stress on the bottom of the tank from the rocks in the scape may have cause the crack. IF this is one. Still something to be determined.

However in the worst case scenario where an immediate evacuation is necessary. Is it alright if I just take residual substrate I have on hand, dump it into a smaller tank and transfer existing tank water and filtration system from the current tank to the 'holding' tank? I know some BB needs to establish in the substrate as well but in a critical situation will the BB in the filtration system be sufficient to prevent the nitrogen system from crashing?

Thanks for your suggestions bros. Appreciate the help.

**eviltrain** · 16th Dec 2010, 00:42

Bro. Try to get the top layer of the soil from the existing tank for the holding tank and existing tank water for it. Prefer to be at least 2 feet. And just connect your existing hardware over. You might need to slow down the flowrate a bit.

Good luck

**Wolfgangs246** · 16th Dec 2010, 03:42

Thanks for the valuable advice bro eviltrain. Hopefully that means the survival rate will be higher too. :-p Will post again once the damage assessment is done. Should be home in 36 hours! Yay!

**eviltrain** · 16th Dec 2010, 09:53

my advice given above is to increase the chance of surviving. if CRS is kept in constant temperature / condition, the chances of them dying decrease alot. as you can see, a lot of LFS sells them in plastic bags.

**stormhawk** · 17th Dec 2010, 11:13

Hello Adrian, it is quite difficult to check for a leak on a tank, because it is usually due to the silicon having small fissures or spaces within which you cannot see at first glance. If in doubt I suggest you remove the tank inhabitants, decommission the tank and check again for a leak before you put everything back together.

Frankly speaking, at times it is cheaper to just purchase a replacement tank, instead of trying to repair a "broken" one. You never know what may go wrong if you try a repair on the leaky tank. If the glass is the cause of the leak then it can be VERY dangerous if the tank bursts at the seams.

To prevent rocks from pressurising on the bottom glass, next time place a layer of undergravel filter plates, and then do your scaping. This ensures the rocks are not in contact with the bottom glass.

**Wolfgangs246** · 17th Dec 2010, 15:26

Hi guys,

An update for all your helpful people out there. First off thanks for all your suggestions. I'm back in SG now and I did a full sweep of the tank. Based on my noob detective skills, I finally localized the leak to one of the 2 nipples on the UV filter. So I took it out, wrapped it in some white plumbing tape, and put it back in circulation. For now it doesn't look like the leak is still happening, but I'll leave it for a couple of days. So far water trails don't appear to be anywhere else. So I hope this is the one and only problem with the tank. Thanks again everyone for all your help!

With great gratitude.

-Adrian