# Another tank bites the dust. Soaked floor again..



## sciencefiction (12 Jul 2015)

One of my big tanks just decided all of a sudden to start leaking from the bottom while I was sitting watching a movie. I felt like crying.... I spent the last few hours catching clown loaches, corydoras and a large pleco and they are all in a 5f tank now with a big bunch of other fish.  Total overstocking as there were about 30-ish corydras and 20-ish platies in the 5f tank already....

I moved all the filters bar the trickle filter which won't fit over the 5f tank. I have total of 5 filters installed on it I hope it will keep the water quality.....And I now have to start cleaning the soaked floor....

This is the 2nd time a tank gets bust on me. It was a 5 year old tank. I have no money buying another big tank right now....I am totally devastated and I just need to vent off....

The only temporary option I see is moving the platies to a 90l plastic tub I have....At least it will take some load off...My other tanks are small and won't fit more than a few small fish....Life is so tough sometimes..


----------



## Henry (12 Jul 2015)

Take solace in the fact that it started to leak while you were there to remedy the situation; it could have been quite a warzone to find after a hard day at work. I'm very sorry to hear what's happened though, and hope it's nothing a Rug Doctor won't get out.

In the meantime, have a look in your local paper "For Sale" ads, as there's always big tanks going cheap in there. Even if you have to house them in an empty tank with some wood and floaters for the time being, it'll buy you some time to get something more permanent set up.

Out of interest, what brand of tank was it? 5 years is pretty unacceptable, so far as longevity is concerned.

Life is tough, but when life gives you lemons, swear a lot. It helps.


----------



## Manu (12 Jul 2015)

Really sorry to hear about that...
What size is the tank? I've seen some on Gumtree for sale for almost nothing...
Hope you can sort it out...Good luck mate!


----------



## sciencefiction (12 Jul 2015)

Thanks guys.

The leaking tank is a 100G All Pond Solutions 
I don't have an empty tank. I only have an plastic container but it won't fit many fish.
I haven't worked in 3 years. I am a mature student and I have another year to go. I am totally broke right now and can't buy a new tank even if it's cheap enough. Plus here in Ireland there aren't many options when it comes to 2nd hand. The last 2nd hand tank I bought leaked too but I was able to fix it. It's the same 5f tank all the fish are in now.

I think this tank leaked from the back corner seal. There is no glass damage but there's certainly damage on the silicone there as I can sort of lift it off with my nails. It may have leaked somewhere else too but I was too quick emptying the tank and catching the fish as to not flood the floor further.

The fish appear ok right now, my clown loaches are out and coloured and the two groups of corys are doing a dance. They are parents and kids now all in one since they were just eggs, lol. And the clown loaches are going to be delighted with the snail and shrimp population..

I'll start doing large water changes every other day for now and hope for a miracle.
I am looking for a job but it's not happening right now.


----------



## Andy D (12 Jul 2015)

That sucks!

I hope something comes along for you.


----------



## sciencefiction (13 Jul 2015)

Thanks Andy D. It does suck.

Maybe I can try resealing the entire tank myself. If I jinx it and can't do it, so be it but I've got to try. I've no idea how to and where to start. I suppose I'll clean it up really well from the sand first and then try removing the old silicone.

I did plan on removing this tank in the future along with the tank next to it and then install a larger tank instead but it won't happen anytime soon and not right now.  Although it would have been handy since I already disturbed the poor fish. I've all my savings invested in myself and I think that maybe have been a shite investment considering the situation I am in


----------



## zozo (13 Jul 2015)

Sorry to read that  that realy sucks, quite a massive tank 100 gallon. I can imagine you're totaly stressed out trying to restock everything and save it. It happend to me once and the glass cracked, the tank was empty in 5 minutes.. Had to buy a new tank. So i have no experience with resealing tanks.

Since i'm planning to build me my own tank searched a lot info about it, also found resealing tutorials and seems to be a straight foreward job only taking you a day ore 2 to get it silicone cured. Oftenly done by people on 2nd hand tanks just to be on the sure side. Getting it perfectly clean and grease free is the most important part.



I guess since your leak is at the bottom plate you could make an even wider silicone seam in the bottom corners.

Good luck..


----------



## ian_m (13 Jul 2015)

Tanks suddenly leaking at silicone is usually a symptom the tank is not on a flat level base. Either the stand is not level or twisted, or like my mate, the floor underneath wasn't flat causing the stand to warp which warped the bottom of the tank tearing the back left and front right silicone joints. He sorted his stand out and silicone the torn silicone and still has the tank, leak free 15 years later.


----------



## Brian Murphy (13 Jul 2015)

Not nice at all .... where in Ireland are you? I have a few 3ft tanks here but they would need re-siliconed before filling up and you are welome to have them if it helps you out? I am in omagh, N.Ireland.


----------



## sciencefiction (13 Jul 2015)

ian_m said:


> Tanks suddenly leaking at silicone is usually a symptom the tank is not on a flat level base. Either the stand is not level or twisted, or like my mate, the floor underneath wasn't flat causing the stand to warp which warped the bottom of the tank tearing the back left and front right silicone joints. He sorted his stand out and silicone the torn silicone and still has the tank, leak free 15 years later.



Thanks Ian. I think it is a twist. The tank has always been level, however I noticed today that the way we had placed it on the stand was slightly off at that same side of the tank where it leaked so it doesn't have full support beneath. So there's a "hanging" corner.  It's a milimitre or so sticking out of the stand there but that was enough I suppose to cause it to leak.....  I don't know how I hadn't noticed that all these years. It's a very heavy tank because it has metal all around the corners and it was very tough lifting up at the time but the metal frame must have kept it from leaking earlier.



Brian Murphy said:


> Not nice at all .... where in Ireland are you? I have a few 3ft tanks here but they would need re-siliconed before filling up and you are welome to have them if it helps you out? I am in omagh, N.Ireland.



Thanks so much Brian. But I am going to need a much bigger tank than that.
I think I will try resealing the entire tank myself. I watched a few videos last night, it may not be that difficult and I have time. If I manage, I can at least finally put soil substrate which I've wanted to do in this tank for so long.


----------



## sciencefiction (13 Jul 2015)

zozo said:


> Oftenly done by people on 2nd hand tanks just to be on the sure side. Getting it perfectly clean and grease free is the most important part.



Getting all bits of sand will be a nightmare. The tank is also very deep and it's hard for me reaching the bottom.


----------



## sciencefiction (13 Jul 2015)

The funny part is the fish seem sort of excited, especially the clown loaches. The 5f  tank is very well planted, lots of cover and hiding places and the clown loaches coloured up immediately and seem to have gone on a mission to catch all snails and shrimp. And interestingly they don't seem spooked one bit despite the move. They were all out browsing last night which isn't typical for having been moved. And they are right now dancing at the front as usual.   I am sort of relieved as long as they are ok because I'll be devastated if something happens to them.
I suppose the excitement will last as long as the water quality is fine which will be tough to handle.
The corys are spawning right now, lol, which is typical when they get moved....

The harder part will be if I have to catch the fish back and move them again because there's no easy catching around all these plants. I might leave the clown loaches in there for good and instead move the pleco and all corys back one day if I fix the tank.

The common pleco is definitely sulking though. He hasn't moved much. I hope the bristlenose pleco and himself don't kill each other in there......

On a good note, I was always having lack of nitrate issues with just the small fish in the 5f tank. My emergent plants kept throwing yellow old leaves.  I suppose now there'll be plenty of nitrogen for them, lol.

And also, the leaking tank smells so nice actually. It doesn't smell of a 5 year old tank. There's some sort of a "nature" smell from the substrate, reminding me of being out in the open.  There's no hydrogen sulphate smell or any fishy smell and I had never disturbed or stirred the sand all these years.


----------



## sciencefiction (13 Jul 2015)

And here is the offending corner below. The leak came out from the very bottom seal, not the side seal because the tank was dry all around, just water gushing from between the stand and the tank bottom in that corner. Hence I knew it was the tank and not my trickle filter this time  Which had happened in the past.... At least the tank has not cracked....Today I'll be wiping out sand all day...


----------



## sciencefiction (13 Jul 2015)

ian_m said:


> Tanks suddenly leaking at silicone is usually a symptom the tank is not on a flat level base. Either the stand is not level or twisted



The tank is level all around, back to back, side to side. At least to me it seems the bubble to be right in the middle. Do you think it's the hanging corner that caused the twist maybe? I'll fix that easily I suppose. I just need to move the tank back in place over the stand.


 


And for anyone that hasn't seen an overstocked tank, he, he....here is a small video  Watch in full screen as the lights are not on.


----------



## ian_m (13 Jul 2015)

It's the tank stand (and tank) bowing that causes the silicone tearing. Bowing can be caused (as in my mates case) one leg of the stand wasn't fully in the floor, due to uneven floor, when stand didn't have the full tank on it, but did when the tank was full of water. The weight of the tank was deforming the stand (some form of drawer unit), bowing the bottom piece of glass. Tank was in place for years before he noticed the dribbling water one day.

If you can remove the silicone using a brand new craft knife, then use silicone eater to remove the last bits.
This works really well. Used to remove silicone blobs used to attached background on my tank when I got it.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-sealant-remover-100ml/88987

Rinse well with water, wipe away and clean with meths or IPA before applying fish safe silicone. Note fish safe, most DIY silicone contains fungicide and is not fish safe.

Use a set of these (not used these, I have a 5 piece Fugi set, use Google to find) to finish your silicone off neatly. If not neat bury in sand/gravel no one will know.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-smoothing-tools-straight-joints/92313


----------



## sciencefiction (15 Jul 2015)

Any idea how to clean all the bits of sand from the tank? Maybe dry it out and then try to hoover it?

And I wonder why are all the fish so hyper after the mix? Everyone is rushing around like lunatics... I wonder whether this is good or bad......
All the corys are swimming in the middle of the tank and the clown loaches are all over the place. It's very entertaining to watch but it gives it makes me worry because the fish seem happy from the move, or what I normally consider happy, but they shouldn't because it's jammed with fish inside.

I'll put a video up when uploaded.


----------



## ian_m (15 Jul 2015)

sciencefiction said:


> Any idea how to clean all the bits of sand from the tank? Maybe dry it out and then try to hoover it?


Took my tank outside on the lawn and blasted it with hose pipe to remove all the sand. Also descaled it (Viakal) whilst having access to masses of water.


----------



## sciencefiction (15 Jul 2015)

Hey, Ian, thanks for your quick reply. Unfortunately I can't do that. This tank is extremely heavy even when empty. And I live in an apartment.
It doesn't have much dirt or calcium on the glass so I'll manage that but the sand bits are hard taking out and I need to remove every last bit.


----------



## sciencefiction (15 Jul 2015)

I tested the ammonia and it's bright yellow 0. I don't have a nitrite test so I don't know about that but the fish seem ok to me? Here's a video. have a look and tell me what you see....Sorry about the state of the tank. I haven't taken care of aesthetics in a long time.


----------



## Manu (15 Jul 2015)

Hi, remove as much as you can by hand. Then, either wait for the sand to dry and vacuum clean or take a hair drier to dry the sand and vacuum clean. That's what I would do. Good luck!
Manu


----------



## sciencefiction (15 Jul 2015)

And I just saw a bunch of shrimp travelling in the hose of one of the externals. I don't have a spare sponge for prefilters, lol. I am going to get some today.


----------



## zozo (15 Jul 2015)

I would say too, let it thoroughly dry and take a soft brush and a vacuum cleaner to dust it out. In a wet condition you'll never get it completly out, wet sand keeps sticking. And maybe not need to say but in case, if you plan to take a hair dryer, don't hold it to long in one place to close to the glass. They can get pretty warm and glass can't stand it to get irregularly warmed up, it creates tension in the glass and might crack it. Maybe better to use a small ocsiltating table fan and put that in the tank. To create some air speed in there..

For the activity in the fish it looks kinda like the flow in the tank.. Like if they swim from left to right and stop it looks like they are pushed backwards again and like they need to accelerate their body movement to pick up speed to get foreward again. If they turn f.e. the cory's get already pushed back to the left side again when still not fully turned around. Swinging from right to left they look like just surfing the current, with more speed and less effort and less body movement. 

Nice Botias btw, look great..  How old are they?


----------



## sciencefiction (15 Jul 2015)

The loaches are different ages. 5 of them are 3 years old. The biggest one is older but I don't know how old he is. I've had him for about 2 years and he's the fastest growing. He's got huge.  He obviously gets to most of the food too. And I have a baby loach too which I only got a few months ago. He's very outgoing.

Maybe they are indeed playing in the current or fighting it  I have 3 externals blowing from left to right and there's quite the flow right now.  It's over 20x. For some odd reason the clown loaches have been having great fun. I think they'll definitely stay in there for good unless they wreck the plants  They having been touching the shrimp so far. I saw them look at them sort of and ignore them...for now.....


----------



## alto (15 Jul 2015)

I'd expect the loaches to eventually hunt & eat all  the shrimp, though you may never see any signs of this during the day or lighted hours.

Fish that were not already living with the clowns, may show a big fish~little fish stress response of constantly moving (even if you never observe any overt predatory activity from the bigger fish), make sure the cories have a place to settle where they are not disturbed by the loaches coming through, also try to create areas of low flow in the tank.

I'd be inclined to separate out some of the fish/shrimp into food grade bins (I'm assuming you have multiple filters or can set up air sponges etc ... all you need is some filter media in a yogurt container with air line flow through) - once the fish are settled into what seems like "normal activity" groups, there'll be less pressure to get the big tank sorted.

You definitely want to remove all sand etc before re-sealing - repeated rinsing, (water) vacuuming to remove all water/sand (tilt tank so water etc flows away from compromised area), drying, then (carpet) vacuuming to remove remaining sand grains .... then do this all over again until you can't feel anymore grit, it just takes time & repetition.

How big is this tank?


----------



## Andy Thurston (15 Jul 2015)

hairdryer, brush and vacuum is the best way to remove the sand if the tank is too heavy to move. preparing the seams for resealing will be the tricky bit.
good luck!


alto said:


> How big is this tank?


Fairly big!


----------



## sciencefiction (15 Jul 2015)

alto said:


> make sure the cories have a place to settle where they are not disturbed by the loaches coming through, also try to create areas of low flow in the tank.



Thanks alto.
If the clowns eat the shrimp, so be it. I've got hundreds of them in several tanks. I just feel sorry for the poor shrimp.
The loaches were always living with a group of corys and never bothered them or chased them. So I doubt it they'll start now all of a sudden.

There's less flow in one side of the tank behind the driftwood and around it.
I do have one big plastic container in which I can put some of the fish. Bujt how many fish can an 80l hold?
I regret I didn't put the group of corys that were in with the loaches straight away into it, now it's too late.  They are around 5 years old and now I can't distinguish all of them from the younger corys.


----------



## Tim Harrison (15 Jul 2015)

Just read about your woes...major bummer...hope all goes well and you get it sorted...fish look fine despite being in smaller accommodation.


----------



## sciencefiction (15 Jul 2015)

Thanks lads. Sand is out. Now I've got to wait for the remainder to dry out and hoover it.
It's going to be tough from here on. I hope I am able to do it because I have two left hands for such things.


----------



## Tim Harrison (16 Jul 2015)

If you're worried about making a mess of the joints you can always use low tack masking tape to get a neat finish.


----------



## zozo (16 Jul 2015)

Troi said:


> If you're worried about making a mess of the joints you can always use low tack masking tape to get a neat finish.



Yup thats the way  take one that's wide enough so you can smear away as much as you want and work fast. Make sure you have enough kit, as long the glass is spotless clean and degreased with alcohol there isn't much that can go wrong. Preparing is the most work of all. And pull the tape out when kit is still wet. Don't let it skin, that it can do pretty fast sertain kits start skinning within 20 minutes, so with a big tank you have to speed up a bit so you're finished within the skinning time of the kit. If the tube doesn't give information about skinning time make, ask for it.

That's why low tack tape is so important. You can't afford tape scrapping sesions nor coffee breaks in between kitting.


----------



## NC10 (16 Jul 2015)

I used >these< for mine. 

Seemed expensive for what is just a bit of plastic, but soon forgot about that after doing the first joint


----------



## zozo (16 Jul 2015)

And if your tank is to deep to work comfortably and difficult to stick the tape in a straight line over the whole lenght. Buy an aloy 90 degrees corner profile, lay that in the corner as a guidance, and make somebody hold it in place while you stick tape. You only need 1 about the lenght of the inside of your tank if all seams go same thikness, say 5 or 10 mm.. Actualy no idea what the best seam widht should be in your tank size.. 

Why aloy, they are always straight, wooden or plastic profiles are mostly bend and or crooked.


----------



## sciencefiction (18 Jul 2015)

I am thinking of using the CT1 sealant again. I used it for my other tank and it has held great for the last year and a half at least...for now...

http://www.sealantsonline.co.uk/ProductGrp/000200380003

Any objections of using this? Has anyone used it to reseal an entire tank and how many bottles will I need? Would 2 suffice? One bottle holds 290ml.


----------



## NC10 (18 Jul 2015)

The CT1 is silly expensive. We sometimes use it at work when we need to seal underwater.

HA6 is the norm for aquariums. >Link< About a quarter of the price.


----------



## sciencefiction (18 Jul 2015)

Thanks NC10 but the HA6 from the link is more expensive than the CT1 sealant I got 2 years back?
Is there anything cheaper? I am in Ireland so it's pretty limited choice here locally but maybe I can get some online unless they have ridiculous postage prices which happens often.


----------



## NC10 (18 Jul 2015)

That's for four tubes though, it's about £3 a tube, the CT1 is about £13.

Have a look on the Irish eBay, see if there's any on there.


----------



## sciencefiction (18 Jul 2015)

OK, I found some cheaper. Is this the stuff?
http://supplies.trulypvc.com/produc...sealant-fish-tank-aquarium-safe-silicone.aspx


----------



## sciencefiction (18 Jul 2015)

How many tubes should I buy? 2-3?


----------



## NC10 (18 Jul 2015)

Yes mate, that's it


----------



## NC10 (18 Jul 2015)

Not sure about how many you'd need though. How ever many you think, then add a couple more 

You don't want to be running out halfway through


----------



## sciencefiction (18 Jul 2015)

Ordering now mate. Thanks a lot.


----------



## sciencefiction (18 Jul 2015)

Postage is same as the tubes cost but still way cheaper than I can get for aquarium safe one here.


----------



## sciencefiction (18 Jul 2015)

The tank doesn't have silicone on the front vertical sides as it's a curved glass. It only has all around the bottom and back vertical corners so less silicone , easier job  I still have to figure out where to start from, bottom or the corners? I am going to watch a ton of videos....


----------



## sciencefiction (18 Jul 2015)

By the way, the fish have settled and all is quiet, whether good or bad. The corys are no longer jumping around.
My big clown loach has found his old cave which I moved from the other tank. He's odd.  I hoped for a change and that he'd join the other 6 clown loaches which always stay together but he insists on being a loner when "sleeping"

Also, I vacuumed most of the sand. But there's sand stuck to the silicone which doesn't want to come off? It's all over it. It's really odd that it's stuck.  Maybe I can use something that will help wipe it off? It's not coming off with a brush. Any ideas?

And one more question. There's a silicone rim outside the tank. It's well above the actual silicone inside. It's above the black rim all around the tank bottom. I am not sure what it is for. Here is a bad picture of it:


----------



## sciencefiction (18 Jul 2015)

Also a question to ian_m if you are around.
There's is a slight unlevel problem going on.

These are pictures of it below. The level basically says the water is heavier at the back where the leak is, meaning that side is lower.  And actually the level points exactly at that leaking corner. If you imagine looking at a tank from the front, it's the right back corner that's leaking. The level I am using shows the level at the back of the tank is lower than the front and also the right side of the tank slightly lower than the left too which points exactly to this right back corner. Took it 5 years to leak...

However, when I place the level on the ground itself, it's the total opposite story, the floor is lower at the front. So why is my tank lower at the back when the floor is lower at the front?

I know this is without water in it, but I am pretty certain it's about the same when there was water in it. I measured it when my other tank leaked as I was freaking out at the time. I actually thought this was pretty much levelled enough but maybe not.....

Back to front glass of tank (left to right on picture)





And left to right side of the tank on the long side. It's not very much but the right side looking at the front of the tank, is lower.


----------



## sciencefiction (18 Jul 2015)

The tank is on a stand with 6 legs, 4 in the corners and two in the middle back and front. The tank is on a carpet.
What's the best way to level this if indeed the back side is lower as the level shows? Although the floor is telling me a different story...I am a bit confused?


----------



## zozo (19 Jul 2015)

sciencefiction said:


> By the way, the fish have settled and all is quiet, whether good or bad. The corys are no longer jumping around.
> My big clown loach has found his old cave which I moved from the other tank. He's odd.  I hoped for a change and that he'd join the other 6 clown loaches which always stay together but he insists on being a loner when "sleeping"



I do not know how the weather is in Ireland  over here the weather is quite jumpy lattely.. Temperatures are constantly rising and lowering again within days and sometimes 6 degrees difference within days  time. This also triggers fish behaivor and in smaller tanks fluctuate even more, this is even more noticable when the tank is bit overstocked i guess.

I come to notice this morning had almost 4 days around 29,5 degrees tank temperature and this morning it plummeted 4 degrees over night. The whole tank is frenzy, shrimps racing like chainsaws and cory's which normaly dont see so much are higly active swiming around. I looked outside the window and i see the goldfish in the garden doing excactly the same racing around constantly bumping eachother and even wiggling over the floating vegitation together, somewhat like spawning behaivor.

Might be just that in your case the coincidental leaking during and sudden changes in temp and maybe invironment trigering hormones..  The tank of lust.


----------



## ian_m (20 Jul 2015)

sciencefiction said:


> The tank is on a carpet.


Make sure the back legs are not sitting on the carpet grippers, this will cause the stand to be uneven. Need to be say 5-10cm away from carpet edge.

For bowing of the bottom of the tank you are looking for two opposite corners  (or just one corner) being a different height that the others. Only need a mm or two difference to cause issues.

I assume the tank is sat on a foam base between stand and tank ? A foam base is normally used to compensate for slight stand unevenness and protect the bottom sheet of glass.

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/aquarium-stand


----------



## sciencefiction (20 Jul 2015)

Thanks for the reply Ian.
The tank is away from the wall and not on the carpet grippers. I checked this already. Plus it's the back that is lower, not the front even though the floor is the opposite.
The tank itself has a floating base and by instructions from the manufacturer is placed straight over the stand. The bottom glass basically does not touch the stand.
There could be a twist at the front opposite corner but it's a curved glass so no silicone there in the corner, just at the bottom glass so maybe that's why it didn't leak from there.

Basically the level is telling me to raise the back but the floor itself is sloped towards the front which is the odd part.
Anyway, if I have to raise the back it's going to be very difficult. Plus shimming legged stand....not sure how to do it properly.


----------



## sciencefiction (20 Jul 2015)

zozo said:


> Temperatures are constantly rising and lowering again within days and sometimes 6 degrees difference within days time. This also triggers fish behaivor and in smaller tanks fluctuate even more, this is even more noticable when the tank is bit overstocked i guess.



I actually did raise the temperature a few degrees because of the clown loaches. That tank was sitting at 24C and now its 26C so maybe that triggered some hyper behaviour.
My baby clown loach started hand feeding again. He used to in the small tank I quarantined him in while he lived with a bunch of baby platies.  When I moved him into the "leaking tank" with the rest of the clown loaches he wouldn't approach me anymore. There were no platies in there.  Now in this tank, that is overstocked, he's again amongst all the platies coming to my hand for food with them like he used to


----------



## sciencefiction (20 Jul 2015)

I started removing the silicone. Lol, it's not easy at all. I thought it will peel off itself 

I also managed to cut my finger on a couple of places and didn't even feel it.

There's tiny bit of silicone between the glass panels and it's hard removing that.


----------



## ian_m (21 Jul 2015)

sciencefiction said:


> There's tiny bit of silicone between the glass panels and it's hard removing that


Unless you can see this silicone is not bonded (ie bubbles ?) I would leave be, just cut as much off as possible from the silicone fillet using a very sharp craft knife. Don't use silicone remover, fantastic stuff, breaks the bond between silicone and glass so silicone peels of leaving no residue, just in case it soaks into the seam and causing it to debond.

If you really want to remove the silicone between the panels, you use fine fishing wire or steel wire to cut between the panels. This obviously entails removing & resiliconing the whole panel, which is probably not necessary for your repair.


----------



## sciencefiction (21 Jul 2015)

Thanks Ian. I cut into some of that bonding silicone by accident but the glass is held by frames all over so I don't think it will fall apart. I surely don't want that. I'll make sure I force some new silicone in there after.
I am getting by well with the razor blades. I had to wait a bit for my finger to heal but I am 3/4ths done now.
I found 3 places where water came out from behind the silicone. The leaking corner I saw initially, the middle back side of the tank at the bottom and the front bottom corner but not the one opposite the leaking back corner. I haven't reached the other side yet but it looks to me the tank is leaking from all over the bottom silicone.

And look at the small amount of silicone there was by the manufacturer.  That's actually how thick it is. I was able to cut it intact. That's the entire width from the front bottom all over. There's more silicone on the vertical corners but very little at the bottom glass.


----------



## sciencefiction (21 Jul 2015)

My back is hurting now. Can't do it all at once.  The tank is really deep and I've got to stand on a chair and bend inside the tank to reach the bottom, twisting myself in awkward positions. And having two left hands doesn't help either.


----------



## sciencefiction (23 Jul 2015)

I still haven't received the silicone. I think it takes at least a week from the UK and then again I am not ready with cleaning the tank yet. And I need to perfectly level it too.
My poor fish. It's a sore view at feeding time. Imagine a big common pleco sweeping around like a hover amongst tens of corys trying to get something, platies that eat from everywhere, top, bottom, middle, bunching up fish in a pile of all kinds, and clown loaches that just grab the food and try to run somewhere with it but there's nowhere to hide.... I just refuse to watch them while they feed....It's painful. It's like watching kids in Africa fighting for food.

I still see shrimp all around unbothered, no snails though....but then again I never had many snails in there.

  I think my emersed plants are doing great now, no nitrogen deficiencies this week and I've been having problems with that, yey.
The water quality has been keeping up without spikes which is great but I've been doing quite the water changes every other day or third day.

On a positive note, the big common pleco is like a snake in there. He has not uprooted or damaged any plants. And he ignores the bristlenose pleco completely. But he isn't happy at all. I tore his tail and fins a bit when trying to catch him. I did that 4 years ago when I moved him too and he ran away from me for 2 years afterwards. I don't think we'll be friends again for a while.

I am dreading the time when I will have to catch fish to move back again. It's nearly impossible catching anything without doing a big mess...

Sometimes you just wonder why going through all this trouble just to keep fish. The point is to keep them healthy and happy but then everything goes against you and them all the time and breaks your heart.


----------



## Crossocheilus (23 Jul 2015)

sciencefiction said:


> Sometimes you just wonder why going through all this trouble just to keep fish. The point is to keep them healthy and happy but then everything goes against you and them all the time and breaks your heart.


 
Don't despair 

It is the difficult times that really make you appreciate the good times. 
I hope you can get the tank sorted and the fish back into their home. Then I'm sure you'll be able to rediscover some of the joy that currently feels so lacking.

Good luck!


----------



## sciencefiction (25 Jul 2015)

I have removed all the silicone from the tank, well....at least 99.9% of it.
I went over wiping with rubbing alcohol a couple of times, I probably have to go over again as I keep finding the tiniest bits of silicone invisible to the naked eye.
It was a tough job at first but I got really good at removing the silicone in the end. Although I never want to do this again 

Any tips on how to re-silicone it best? I understand I have to work pretty quickly while applying the silicone.  I am going to use some masking tape to prevent a mess but I am more concerned about quality of the seal and not aesthetics.
I understand I need go over all the bottom and edges fast enough all at once.  Then smear the silicone well with my finger and then remove the masking tape.  Is that it? Then I wait 48 hours or a week?

It says the silicone becomes tack free in 10-20 min so I've got apply the silicone in less than 10 min all over the tank?
And full cure is 3mm per day? So how many days before a water test?

I hope the silicone arrives early next week.


----------



## Edvet (25 Jul 2015)

If you never did it, go do some pieces of scrap glass first, maybe some old photoframes. Just to get the feel. I just lay down a "line"and stand the glass in it. Should be plenty on youtube.


----------



## sciencefiction (26 Jul 2015)

Thanks Edvert
No, I've never done such a thing before. I already smell defeat. I just watched a video where the guy was on his third attempt of scraping silicone and resealing as he couldn't finish it fast enough and the silicone dried out too quickly


----------



## Edvet (26 Jul 2015)

Shouldn't be a problem. It never made me fail. There should be plenty succesfull videos on youtube. Just don't need to do the whole tank at once, glue two panels together, let it dry, do the next the next dayt, easy peasy.





etc etc


----------



## sciencefiction (26 Jul 2015)

Thanks Edvert. Thanks for the videos. I am actually not going to dismantle the panels. I can't do that myself easily. My tank is one of those that has frames all over the edges on the bottom and sides. Here is a poor picture below.  See the black on the outside which actually goes around all the bottom and the vertical back edges.... The front two vertical edges are curved glass so there's no silicone in those corners. The glass is all one piece.  The bottom is framed all over and it will be a very big job removing the frames, at least not easily done for someone like me that has never done it before. 

 I've basically just cut the silicone on the inside all over and I am hoping resealing will do the job? The white silicone you see on the picture is on the outside and it's part of the frame seal from what I see.


----------



## sciencefiction (26 Jul 2015)

What I am going to try is this, just do all the insides again. It's definitely not the best way but I read it can be successful. I am totally not an expert though.


----------



## sciencefiction (31 Jul 2015)

I have to wait until sometime next week to get at it so my partner can help me.
My poor fish in the other tank..... I think they went through some water quality hiccups. I've been doing plenty of water changes, prime, etc...but there were a few gasping corys at the surface and today a dead platy.  It was probably a nitrite spike but I've got no test for it as the ammonia is 0.  Doing large water changes every second day didn't prevent it unfortunately. I also only fed them every other day.

It was a funny sight today when I put two pieces of cucumber for the two plecos. They both came out within seconds.  Each one of them shot at one cucumber piece each and spent the day on them. I put them on the two opposite sides of the tank so they don't fight.  The bristlenose pleco normally used not to come out during the day with lights on when he didn't have competition. Right now, he's still inside that cucumber left over which is just the skin remaining in the shape of a boat. I think he's found himself a new place to sleep...


----------



## sciencefiction (1 Aug 2015)




----------



## zozo (1 Aug 2015)

Sorry to read about the losses..I hope everything works out right next week and get it up and running again soon.. Nice pleco btw, looks very punky..


----------



## sciencefiction (2 Aug 2015)

Thanks zozo.


----------



## roadmaster (3 Aug 2015)

Resealing one corner or pane of glass at a time was the way I re-sealed my own tank .75 gal
This way I did not have to worry bout the silicone drying too fast.
I used the masking tape to make clean,straight seal and then moved to the next pane or edge.
Ended up housing fishes in large plastic tub about 30 U.S.gallon's.
I let the sealed tank cure for 3 day's before filling and testing for leak's.


----------



## sciencefiction (3 Aug 2015)

Thanks roadmaster. I am sealing it tomorrow.
Today I scooped out another dead platy and I moved a couple of gasping corys to one of my small tanks.
My common pleco has a perfectly round whole in his fin as big as my tumb. Don't know how he got it but he's been flying around the tank unfazed.


----------



## sciencefiction (6 Aug 2015)

The tank is done. Now I've got to wait to see if it's done right.
I only used one bottle of silicone so I've got more for another attempt if it needs be.


----------



## zozo (11 Aug 2015)

And? Now not tell us it was all for nothing. i realy hope your about up and running again..


----------



## Tim Harrison (11 Aug 2015)

Good luck.


----------



## sciencefiction (12 Aug 2015)

I haven't tested the tank yet lads. I'll do it tomorrow afternoon. I think that silicone must be dry now. It's been one week.


----------



## sciencefiction (13 Aug 2015)

I am filling up the tank as I type. Wish me luck


----------



## sciencefiction (13 Aug 2015)

Well, the leaky corner at least didn't leak outright but it's never too late. I have it filled halfway up. I'll wait an hour then top up.

Then how many days do I wait to test it? I don't want to rush it because wet carpet, scooping substrate and fish again is not an option.


----------



## Andy Thurston (14 Aug 2015)

sciencefiction said:


> I am filling up the tank as I type. Wish me luck


good luck


sciencefiction said:


> Well, the leaky corner at least didn't leak outright but it's never too late. I have it filled halfway up. I'll wait an hour then top up.
> 
> Then how many days do I wait to test it? I don't want to rush it because wet carpet, scooping substrate and fish again is not an option.


 depends how big your balls are its just a new bead round the inside so a few days should be good. I think the recommendation is 1 week for every 1mm of glass thickness but thats for a new tank not just re sealing/beading


----------



## sciencefiction (14 Aug 2015)

Thanks BC. I suppose it's a good idea to leave it for longer.

I only filled it half way. I got a bit spooked by seeing it with water again and I wouldn't be able to sleep if it was full  I'll top it up tomorrow to test the upper part.
So far so good, the bottom doesn't leak right now but I am reading up it may take up a few days if there's a problem.
If it's ok for a week I might just set it up with soil and plants and let it run without fish for a while. I would need to re-cycle the trickle filter anyway as all the media is dried up, plus the soil...
It will be tough catching the fish from the other tank so I am not looking forward to that anyway.

Today I found another dead platy. It must have been dead for a while as it was half eaten. I am not sure why they are the affected ones as they were in that tank already.  There's one cory on a death bed from those that I moved because they were gasping but the rest have recovered and are good.


----------



## sciencefiction (14 Aug 2015)

The tank is full now  I never thought I'd be so scared filling up a fish tank with water  I swear I was hearing noises while it was filling up, as if the tank glass was sort of settling....

And here is a glimpse of my job. It's not really noticeable that it was me who did the silicone


----------



## sciencefiction (14 Aug 2015)

I also forgot to mention, I moved all my ottos in one of my small tanks from the leaky tank, in with the kuhli loaches, and they have been doing great. They've been daily feeding on spirulina sticks, now that they are not bothered by the other fish and I think they'll stay there for good because at least they can get to the food in there.  It's the only food they ever went for but my clown loaches really love the sticks too, and the plecos. And it's lovely seeing 7 ottos together interacting with each other and being brave fighting the evicted male platy for food. One day I'll just have a tank full of ottos.


----------



## sciencefiction (14 Aug 2015)

It's been all day, tank still holding 

But there's one more dead platy stuck on the filter intake  It seems they didn't do well with whatever ammonia/nitrite spike was going on. Poor things.

Also, someone has eaten about half the amazon swords. I just picked out about 10 munched leaves but the small plec used to do that anyway.


----------



## zozo (14 Aug 2015)

I'll cross my fingers for you and hope to see your tank shining again in a few days. It's an exiting period for yuo i can imagine. Ive once had a tank spontainiously cracking open standing next to it and it was only about 120 liters in the living room. That was a flush and  rush ill never forget. I replaced it with a 250 liters after that.. Took a while to get trust back again i even was afraid to look at it for months.


----------



## sciencefiction (14 Aug 2015)

zozo said:


> Took a while to get trust back again i even was afraid to look at it for months.



Thanks Zozo.
That's exactly how I feel and I felt in the past when my other tank leaked and got fixed.
I've got one more year to struggle and hopefully after that I'll be able to afford one new massive tank. And I'll get a custom tank installed professionally.  I went for an interview the other day and got a place on a job for June 2016, subject to me completing successfully my exams this year, the employer sponsoring my last year, so looking good. My career change at old enough age may pay off.


----------



## Edvet (14 Aug 2015)

Luckily we have tiles on the floor and i have two large holes in the floor with heating conductors (punch a small hole in them and the water will run out of them in the crawlspace), I always wondered how 400 gallon would look on the floor


----------



## sciencefiction (14 Aug 2015)

Edvet said:


> I always wondered how 400 gallon would look on the floor



He, he. I had to smile.
Please don't even imagine it  To be honest, I wasn't worried about my carpet, my furniture, the work it took to clean it up, etc.. All I cared about was my fish getting through alive. That's my biggest fear, killing them accidentally.


----------



## Tim Harrison (14 Aug 2015)

I'm sure it'll be fine...but I know what zozo means...that feeling of impending doom due to previous failure isn't good


----------



## sciencefiction (14 Aug 2015)

Yep, it's a dreadful feeling, whether it's about a leaking tank leaking again or something else.


----------



## sciencefiction (15 Aug 2015)

Well guys, bad news.

The tank just cracked. The crack is right in the middle of the bottom glass. I am emptying it right now. It's actually not leaking through the crack yet.
I am not sure what causes a crack right in the middle of the bottom glass? Either way, it's a bin material. The bottom glass is in two pieces from back to front
That's it then with my fish having their old home.


----------



## sciencefiction (15 Aug 2015)




----------



## Tim Harrison (15 Aug 2015)

Nightmare...but I suppose it's better that it went now tho', rather than later.


----------



## sciencefiction (15 Aug 2015)

I suppose now I can get a hamster


----------



## James O (15 Aug 2015)

Must have been a change in stress from either the silicone drying & pulling. Or maybe as the tank wasn't flat, it had moved out of true until it blew and now it's true the base wasn't up to it.

Sucks 

Vivarium?


----------



## Edvet (15 Aug 2015)

Cr@p. You could glue a piece of glas over the crack and use the tank as a greenhouse and start producing plants for the next year, it will hold an inch of water surely (every cloud has a silver lining)


----------



## genomecop (15 Aug 2015)

I'm willing to make a donation to you to help you get a new tank. I can't take this any longer. Send me a message. really.


----------



## sciencefiction (15 Aug 2015)

Thanks very much for your generous offer genomecop. It's very much appreciated. However, I'll have to pass on it.  I just won't feel comfortable taking it. I

I think I am going to setup my 80l plastic tub and put some platies in there to lessen the load on the other tank. Most of them are old anyway but I have bunch of youngsters as well.  I'll also throw a few more corys in my 15G tank. And just prey that my 5f tank will hold the overstocking with a bit of extra care.


----------



## genomecop (15 Aug 2015)

think of it as a gift for your fish not you. You can return the favor to someone else some day.


----------



## Brian Murphy (16 Aug 2015)

Not good ! I still have these 3ft tanks but need re-siliconed .... which should be no bother to you as you have loads and are an expert at it


----------



## ian_m (16 Aug 2015)

The base cracking in conjunction with silicone tearing definitely indicates stand is bowing the bottom glass sheet. Your issue is will only show once loaded. My mate had exactly the same tearing silicone and cracked base due to using a chest if drawers as a stand. One leg was collapsing along with uneven floor caused chest surface to bow ONLY when loaded or his case when he parked is a**e on it was no longer level. He built a stand, resiliconed the seam, put a piece of glass across cracked bottom and that was  probably 20years ago...


----------



## zozo (16 Aug 2015)

OMG  that realy sucks big time after all this work you've done. Man thats bad luck.. I too think it isn't the silicone causing the crack.. Rather check and double check the stand.  even if you had a little luck in this that it is the bottom plate which is sealed 360 degrees and there for probably didn't crack open, but it still sucks. In my case it was the back panel cracking open from top to bottom. that was 120 liter gushing out in les than 3 minutes.. when it's on the floor than you realise how much it actualy is, like throwing 12 buckets of water over the floor. thats a lot of mopping i can tell.. You realy don't want this happening with 100 0r 400 gallon even not with a good covering insurance..


----------



## sciencefiction (16 Aug 2015)

The stand is the one that came with the tank from the manufacturer so it's build to handle this load. It doesn't look damaged in anyway. The tank was perfectly level horizontally according to the level with the water in it but I don't know if the level could measure the middle bowing as the crack is right down the middle. It looks like the legs collapsed underneath in the middle  as the stand is one of these with legs on.  I must check it out when we move to throw away this tank. I can't look at this tank and my fish right now suffering.
I've had way too much to handle. That's so annoying. There's no way I'll try fixing this piece of crap.


----------



## sciencefiction (28 Aug 2015)

Hey guys, I just wanted to thank everyone that wanted to help and is probably worried about my fish.

So far things have stabilized and the deaths have stopped. I am really surprised at how tough my clown loaches are compared to the platies and corys. I hope that lasts.

My common pleco's fin has recovered from the big hole he had. It was really big....  He's getting on well with the bristlenose plec and if I am to venture a guess, the small bristlenose is the boss when it comes to food.

The corys I moved out because of "gasping" issues have recovered in the small tank and are getting used to it. They look happy in the finer sand and are burying half their bodies in it, they hadn't seen sand in years.  The others that are still in the overstocked tank are hungry all the time, no wonder with such competition but I can't feed much. I am afraid to do so.   No one is sluggish or hiding.

The broken tank is still standing empty. I couldn't convince my partner to get hamsters 

All the best. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed for my fish to be fine for another year.


----------



## sciencefiction (28 Aug 2015)

Oh, and by the way, the clown loaches ate all the snails which was expected but plenty of shrimp on site which is surprising. Maybe they are just faster and smarter.


----------



## sciencefiction (18 Sep 2015)

Well, another boring post by me. I've been a bit reluctant to look at the tank inhabitants properly these days. I suppose I think that if I don't see the problem, it's not there. But generally things have been quiet in terms of health and fish are still showing up for breakfast. Right now whoever survived seems fine..
As in my previous posts, I did experience a mass platy die off and it also affected the corydoras fish. I am suspecting a parasitic problem spreading and dying off eventually judging by the symptoms I observed. All these fish have been intermixed before so it wasn't like I infected one tank with the other. It's just one of those fish things caused by the stress of moving and bad water quality.


----------



## Andy D (18 Sep 2015)

Hopefully the upwards trend continues.


----------



## sciencefiction (25 Sep 2015)

Thanks Andy. I hope so too.

I had a 3 day "filter battle". One of the external filters was sucking up air, to the point of nearly stopping and I couldn't figure out where the air leak came from.  Normally that happens when my prefilter sponges get clogged or the water level drops and exposes connection parts of the intake(I never let this happen, almost) But the connection parts were all submerged under water. And I have an identical filter set next to it that wasn't having air issues with the same water level(these filter pipes were set to work in a taller tank before)
This drove me mad. I cleaned filter media, the hoses, impeller, put some proper "Vaseline" on the O-rings, etc...nothing at all, thought the filter is bust.
In the end I found a tiny crack in the plastic parts above the water, like a tiny hair line which was very hard to see.  I put a plastic hose over it, like a glove, and it finally solved the problem.
A second nitrite spike would have certainly wiped my tank considering what happened to the poor fishes not long ago.

I also observed the first pleco fight. They started pushing each other over a piece of boiled carrot despite me putting a 2nd one further down the tank but they were not having it. Normally each of the plecos takes a piece and leaves the other pleco alone. Not to be this time and it wasn't nice to see but they didn't hurt each other.

 The small pleco was the bigger offender. He arched himself like a bow and was attacking the big pleco going after him like a mad puppy. The big pleco would in turn swim away and then swim back at him at speed trying to "sweep him off his feet" as he normally does to other smaller fish at food time. Needless to say that ended up with a boiled carrot mess in the tank flying everywhere which I just removed and the fight stopped. No more carrots for them.


----------

