leaky subject

[tall_jason79]

i just got into the wonderful world of salt last week . today i see what appears to be water around my stand , so i had to drain it and reseal the corners which where leaking , i never had a problem when i had fresh water in it . i hope this isnt a sign of things to come . i hit my spike yesterday and my levels where almost back at 0 any hope my levels will still be low ... i have all the water in 18 gallon plastic "totes" i tried to put some live rock in each . any imput?

 

[Nanook]

Might not have been a leak at all. If saltwater runs down the sides of the tank, this saltcreep will start appearing at the bottom of the tank from the trim...pretty common really. Or, it may be a leak

 

[DrBDC]

That salt creep leaves evidence. I've had freshwater that I've never noticed it until I switched and there's salt creep to prove it.

But either way, take your time. It will take a good 3-8 weeks depending on sand, rock, etc. If you continue to see the salt creep, don't start putting a lot of money in fish/corals until you reseal again or get another.

If you're holding the water in totes, be sure to have good water movement for CO2 off gassing. Maybe throw an airstone in them if you don't have the extra powerheads.

Here is an excellent list of links to help you out:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1031074

 

[DrBDC]

Oh, and in case you didn't get a proper greeting:

[welcome]

 

[DrBDC]

Whoops, I gave you one on the mh lighting thread. So double welcome.

 

[paulamrein]

What nook was talking about actually happened to me yesterday. All I did was empty about 20 gallons from my system from the top and my wife looked on the corner of the tank upset because I was dripping on the carpet. I freaked out and debated either grabbing some seal or scrap the tank completely. My LFS guy told me to dry the entire edges of the tank top and bottom and if there was still water in a half hour do it again. I did that and still leaked alittle than blew into the place where the water was coming out than it stopped No leak just water gathering in the trim which can surprisingly be a lot. If that didn't work I would have put my foot through it and been done with it.

 

[tall_jason79]

well the corners were leaking my 48 hours are up tomarrow . and yes i do have flow in the totes , thanks for the help and a big thanks for the welcome dr bdc

 

[tall_jason79]

ok well i added water lastnight ... didnt see a single leak ! so i putt everything back in it last night and this morning NO water except coming out of my input tube on my hob skimmer WOOHOO

 

[DrBDC]

:thumbsup: