# Tank disasters (like splitting seams) and your fish...



## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Have you ever had a tank burst a seam, develop a bad leak, or even get a slow leak?
If so, what measures have you taken to be sure your fish make it through the trauma?

It would probably be a good idea to have some simple supplies on hand in case we ever find a bunch of water rushing to the floor, which is one of my biggest nightmares... :shock:

A few things I've heard that are good safeguards to have on hand are:
A large Rubbermaid type container or two - one for the fish and one for the substrate, plants, etc.

An air pump

A heater

A wet/dry vac?

What else?

Do you have a plan in place as to what to do with all of the fish, plants, substrate, equipment (like unplugging it...), and clean up? If we are surprised by something like that, we may not think of all of the necessary things at the moment, so I think having a plan ahead of time is a good idea.

So far, I've only had one tank with a leaky seam (KOW), and I was able to use the underwater epoxy to hold it long enough to run to another town and pick up a replacement tank.
I also had my Hubby come in the house through the basement and tell me that the floor was flooded down there. It appeared to be the 125, so of course I panicked right away, but it turned out to be a leaky seal on my canister filter. Whew.... 

So anyway, lets hear about your experiences, or hopefully non-experiences...


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## T-Bone (Nov 23, 2005)

Had a run in with greenwater, after trying a few things, I tried the blackout. Covered everything, unplugged the CO2, turned off the timers. Little did I know that the airline to the CO2 reactor had fallen down. Thus creating a syphoning effect! I couldn't see the waterline dropping, because the tank was covered. It was also done at night so I didn't see the water accumulating on the floor either, untill I got up in the morning and walked into a puddle. I immediatly uncovered the tank, thank goodness only about 1/3 of the tank was empty, of course with a 90 gallon tank, that was approx 30 gallons! We did all we could do to mop up the carpet with every towel we had in the house. Afterwords the floor smelled like fish water, so we had to get a box of carpet de-oderizer and use it all. I'm very lucky the CO2 airline is such a small gauge, or I could have lost the whole tank to the floor, and all my fish and plants :jaw:   :doh: A wet dry vac is on the to do list, but I can't really afford one atm.


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## standoyo (Aug 25, 2005)

One of the best things about being a fishoholic is that you'd definitely have more than one tank at home so whenever a disaster hits all the fish will go into either the other tanks or a large Ikea tub.

I once had a 4x1.5x1.5 feet tank develop a crack right acros the bottom because I foolishly used two shoe racks to prop it up as a stand. Big mistake as over a couple of months the two racks warped...

Luckily the water was a trickle but it soaked into the parquet and caused some warping.

Lesson learnt is only use custom/ready made for aquarium stands for tanks larger than 100 liters/25G.
Never keep fishtanks in a bedroom. [a nano is ok though IMHO]
Never in a place with wooden flooring or carpeting.
Always have an air pump or powerhead+filter box in reserve.

Regards

Stan


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## wiste (Feb 10, 2006)

The wet/dry vac is a valuable tool.
No spilt seams but there is the occasional water transfer snafu to cleanup.

On the things to get: a backup power supply. I lived in an apartment that lost power with every thunderstorm. Not such a big deal with freshwater but it would be nice to have.


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

I had the center brace on a 55 break on me once. Tank did not burst, but DID noticably bulge! I ran out and got a new tank ASAP (the 72 bowfront I had my heart set on took a few days, but the 55 held!) WHEW!


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