My tank has a leak....help???

[jciwlsn]

I was up at 4:30am :eek1: today to clean my tank and found a leak. I got some water inside the stand, (I get pretty messy) and when I grabbed a towel to clean it up, something told me to grab a flashlight and look up. It’s not dripping, but found a small amount of wet salt crust near the bottom seal. I know HD has some stuff you can buy......not sure what though. Any suggestions?

[Scuba_Dave]

I had the same thing happen to my 30g. I took everything out, put in tubs, drained & cleaned out tank & resealed w/GE silicone I (no anti-bacterial). Let seal cure 30 hours, refilled w/fresh & left overnite. Drained the next day & put everything back. The problem I found, once a seal starts to go, it's an indication all the seals may be going. My tank was 25 years old, so that may be the reason. Better to reseal & know the problem is fixed long term.
Sticker on tank: Dell April 1978

[creativesmurf]

Twenty five years old!!!!

[jciwlsn]

Originally posted by Scuba_Dave
I had the same thing happen to my 30g. I took everything out, put in tubs, drained & cleane dout tank & resealed w/GE silicone I (no anti-bacterial). Let seal 30 hours, refilled w/fresh & left overnite. Drainned the next day & put everything back. The problem I found, once a seal starts to go, it's an indication all the seals may be going. My tank was 25 years old, so that may be the reason. Better to reseal & know the problem is fixed long term.


Oh..... no......, PLEASE don't tell me I have to tear my tank down. I think I'm going to be sick....... :sad1:

Did you have to put new sand in? If I have to tear it apart, I'm not restocking the 30.

[Scuba_Dave]

I actually had gravel in the tank at the time (before RC). So I wanted to tear it apart & redo w/sand bed. The problem as I see it is, where you see the water leaking, may not be where the seal is bad. I bought a used 110g that they tried to repeatedly reseal from the outside as the leak kept spreading/apperaing in different areas. Not sure the age on that tank.
Maybe someone else has expereince w/patching from the outside?
For me it would be like having your roof leaking, and trying to patch from the inside ceiling - I just don't think it will work long term. But who knows?

[jciwlsn]

That does make sense, I don't want to do a patch up job only to find the leak has spread to other areas.

When I set the tank up, I made sure that it was level, but noticed that it leaned on that side about 1/8" of an inch more after a couple months. Some threads on RC didn't think it would be a problem, but I guess you shouldn't underestimate the weight of water.

[Scuba_Dave]

One thing, just make sure the leak is from the tank, not a pipe, connection etc or that the water level is too high & flowing OVER the top. I overfilled tank at one point & water came up thru trim & down the side.

[jciwlsn]

Well, at 4:30am in the morning it's easy to make a mistake when you haven't had coffee and can barely focus.

Thanks very much for your help..... :)

I'm just really bummed. Bad day and my eyes are getting blurry......

[moe_k]

Yeah, don't add anymore water and watch your level. How fast are you losing water?
I have salt creep under my tank, but no leaks. My salt creep is just from water dripping down the back or over the side when doing maintenance.
So as Dave was suggesting, verify you have a leak before taking any drastic action.

[jciwlsn]

Probably a drop's worth, and wouldn't have been detectable if it wasn't for the salt creep. I'll check it again tonight to make sure.

Thanks Moe......

[efruehauf]

Jackie,

I had the same thing happen to me a few months after setting my tank up. After thinking the worst and cursing the reef gods for my misfortune, it turned out to be salt creep near my overflow.

It appears to be more common than I thought.

I'm hoping that all you'll have to do is clean off the top of your tank and then get back to enjoying it.

Good Luck!

[creativesmurf]

I remember when I first installed my 29g I had a Fluval 55 as my main circulation and within a month it start leaking thru the filter seal. Slow drip, luckily, had to get it replaced. Never know when or where the next disaster will strike.

[denvig]

I had a similar thing happen to me on an older tank where the top frame was not completely set in silicone. (This is how the older tanks were made)
Anyway algae and salt got under the trim and started to cause a capillary action drawing the water up and over the glass. Check the glass on the back or sides of the tank and see if there is a light film of moisture on in. If this is the problem you need to drain down the tank a little scrape all the salt etc. off and completely seal the top frame.

[jciwlsn]

Well, unfortunately it's not salt creep. I checked the outside seams and their tight. Took a closer look and there is no silicone on that underside seam, and the opposite end of the tank as well. The leak only causes a small 1/16" bead that creeps along at about 5", but doesn't get any bigger (??)

I don't know what I'm going to do. It's minor for now.......I'm going to check Home Depot to see what type of sealant they have to temporarily stop it before it does more damage.

Thanks very much for all your input.....

:)

[Keith Sheridan]

My tank sprang a leak about 3 months into using it. It was leaking faster than what your's sounds like ~ 3 gallons a day. Anyway I purchased some Silicone II at Home Depot, along with a 35 gallon Rubbermaid trash barrel. I removed everything and placed it in the 35 gallon. Couldn't really fit all of the rock, I put the overflow in 5 gallon buckets. Cleaned out the tank and resealed it. It was a lot easier than you would think. That was just over a year ago and it hasn't leaked since.
Thing is you can't just seal the leak from the outside because where you see the leak coming from, is rarely where the actual problem is. Sealing the whole thing is the only sure fire way of fixing it.

[tstone]

Jackie is the tank new? If so it may be under some warranty. You'll still have to dismantle everything.

[jciwlsn]

Originally posted by tstone
Jackie is the tank new? If so it may be under some warranty. You'll still have to dismantle everything.

Marvin, it's not new, I bought it in February this year. I"ve had lots of AGA tanks, and never any problems. Not sure what the warranty is.

Got up this morning and accepted the fact that I need to tear it down this weekend. BUT, at the same time, a light went off in my brain, I can finally add the sump I wanted without having to assemble it inside the stand. Gotta look for my DIY sump plans...

So, instead of taking 4 days off, I'm taking 5. Promised my mom I'd make her drapes for her living room; promised my son I'd help put up sheetrock and mud'n tape (yech); fix the chair I reupholstered because my cats wrecked it; and tear a tank down. That's about 5 days, then it's hello Tuesday...........

Thanks everybody for your help.......sorry for the ramble

[tstone]

Jackie I would check with AGA on the warranty. If you bought it new in Feb. I think it should still be under warranty.

So, instead of taking 4 days off, I'm taking 5. Promised my mom I'd make her drapes for her living room; promised my son I'd help put up sheetrock and mud'n tape (yech); fix the chair I reupholstered because my cats wrecked it; and tear a tank down. That's about 5 days, then it's hello Tuesday...........

You must be a woman. It would take me three weeks to do all that.:mixed: