Help!! I strongly suspect my 75 g tank of leaking

[A. Nonymous]

I discovered a large and spreading wet spot on my carpet right in front of my 75g tank in the living room. It's the entire length of the front of the tank and the carpet is wet probably down to the wood underneath. I got under the stand and nothing under the stand appears to be wet. The sides of the stand don't seem to be wet. It's not that much water though. This started a couple of days ago and was about the size of a footprint. I just assumed I had stepped in a puddle prior to coming inside. Now there's a large wet area. The water level in the tank does look suspiciously lower than it should be. I've put tape around where the water is now and dried up one spot (a nearly impossible task). What can I do to narrow down the source of this leak?

 

[ODPILOT]

If you don't see the water coming out the sides, and it's coming coming out of any filter or filter pipes you may have -- then it's leaking from the bottom somewhere. I don't know if you can re seal with water still in the tank?? May want to ask a local aquarium store about it -- in the meantime, you might want to fill another tank or perhaps an unused bathtub with water, dechlorinate it - put your fish in it and drain your 75 Gallon tank and re seal it or buy a new one. Better hurry before you have Niagra Falls in your living room !!

 

[ODPILOT]

Correction: ... and it's NOT coming out of any filter or filter pipes ......

 

[Linda S]

do you have HOB filters? well I suppose any filter could develope a leak but my aqua clear was leaking and soaked the towel all around my tank. I caught it before it got to the floor. I would check lines, hoses, cords and the bottom of any filters. HTH, linda

 

[A. Nonymous]

If you don't see the water coming out the sides, and it's coming coming out of any filter or filter pipes you may have -- then it's leaking from the bottom somewhere. I don't know if you can re seal with water still in the tank?? May want to ask a local aquarium store about it -- in the meantime, you might want to fill another tank or perhaps an unused bathtub with water, dechlorinate it - put your fish in it and drain your 75 Gallon tank and re seal it or buy a new one. Better hurry before you have Niagra Falls in your living room !!

All I've got is a hob on the back. It's not coming from there. I verified that already. I really hate to lose this tank. Hate it.

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

Well if you systematically work your way our from the tanks feeling the bottom inside cabinet sides, outside cabinet, hoses, wires, tanks sides corners and you find no water. Then there is not leak unless you added something and forgot you spilled water or someone in the house was playing around with the tanks or the cat jumped in and jumped out.

A leaking tanks is not hard to spot although the actual location of the crack or siphon (a small breach in the silicone) may be hard to find. Did the water smell like water? If the spot disappears then it wasn't the tank.

 

[Steverd]

Do you have a DOG?

Maybe it's not water!!!

Steve

 

[Eupterus]

Do you have another tank to move fish into?. A good way to find a leak is lay the tank out on something like towels. If this is a slow leak, it should show up very quickly where the leak is. At any rate, I suggest dismantling the tank for repair work if a leak is suspected.

 

[BettaFishMommy]

open top tank and 'splashy' fish in there could have caused the wet on the carpet??

 

[pophead]

check the filter again, I had an aquaclear HOB and it leaked intermittently.
it could be leaking closer to the top of the filter where it hangs on the tank, I've had that before, too.