Leaking Tank/ Fresh Setup

[k9cop1512]

Hi all, Have an issue with my tank.

1st and foremost, my tank has sprung a leak! It's not big but I am soaking up about 1/2 roll of paper towels a day. My tank is built into my wall. It is a 65 gallon. It has a black plastic base. The water is seaping out the top of the black plastic. I'm guessing the glue or silicone in one of the corners is bad. The tank has been set up for about 8yrs now. The leak started about a month ago when I started to see water dripping down my wall. I thought it was just some water that accumilated from a water change, however, its gotton much worse in the last couple days, proving not to be from a water change.

What do I do? Should I put my live rock and fish and corals in a tub and drain the hole tank, which would mean taking out the live sand too, and reseal the corners? I know if I disturb the well established deep sandbed, I will "poison" the water, so would a have to through the sand out and start from scratch OR is there a filtering method to reuse the sand.

The sandbed was about 1" thick when I started the tank and through the years of adding top sand, the bed is about 6-7" deep in the rear and 4" or so in the front.

Sorry for the long message! Tim

 

[stingray 125]

Welcome to my world on Dec 23 2011 the same problem ( a little larger leak about 5gal an hour) on my 125, it is not fun. What I did was move all live stock into 2 30gal trash cans with some of rock in each tank, heater and small power head. There is a way to repair it look on line but I did not want to take a chance and bought a new tank. Put the new tank on the stand with old sand, old water and top off with new water. Rocks went next then some Bio-Spira an Instant Ocean product. The fish went in last and did not have a problem. It is a FOWLR tank.:fish1:

 

[FragIt Dan]

Had two tanks spring leaks one about two years ago, one just last week, both we're used (serves me right for being cheap). I pulled both tanks apart, stashed my corals and other livestock in buckets with heaters and circ pumps. The process involved emptying, cleaning, stripping silicone SPOTLESS on the inside (was not fun), then resealling it with tank safe silicone, curing for 24 hours, filling it back up, then repeating twice more because I didn't strip all of the silicone (just stripped off the bottom edges where it was leaking). Silicone does not bond to cured silicone well, so you need to make sure you do the entire inside, don't overlap old and new silicone. I will not do it again if I can avoid it (I actually tried to buy a new tank this time but live in a smaller town and couldn't find a suitable replacement on short notice). As for the DSB, u can siphon it off and liquefy it in buckets with a garden hose, let the water run out the top of the bucket (only fill the bucket half full of sand or it will spill over). This will be like a mega phosban reactor and will thoroughly rinse your sand. It takes a while and will kill everything in your sand, but you won't have to replace it. I have done this as well helping a lfs move locations. Beware, you are messing with a lot of stuff and expect casualties. You will end up having to do much of this anyways with a new tank. Either way, it sucks! I'm feelin' for ya! Good luck... U will need it, Dan

 

[billsreef]

Sipon off the top 2" worth of sand and either keep it drained and damp or in another container with water such that the sand bed in the container is no more than 2" deep. This will keep the well oxygenated section of your sand and it's critters in good shape. With the deeper portions I'd do as Dan suggested.

BTW I've relocated a few reef tanks with DSB's over the years without any losses. It come downs to patience and taking your time with everything

 

[k9cop1512]

Thanks all, I will let you know how I make out. BTW, my understanding from what was written is that I need to rinse most of the sand (Top approx 2" of sand should be able to be kept without rinsing, right) HOWEVER, by rinsing the sand, it kills everything and the only good it would actually be is to save a little money on sand.....Is that right?

 

[billsreef]

Basically the only reason to rinse that lower stuff is that it doesn't end up getting stinky while you deal with the tank. Unless your using something like a powerwasher, you won't kill off much of that sand, just be given it a nice cleaning