mystery leak

H

Hez Yeux

AC Members
Dec 14, 2005
69
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0
a little background.

First weekend in Jan my wife and I went away. I did a normal water change Friday night, saturday morning fed everyone, and when we got home Sun eve the tank was half empty and the air pump was full of water. Since then I lose about 1-2 gallons a week. No visible signs of damage to the tank, no water detected under/around it, and no change in environment.

So, where could my water be going? Should I be worried?
 
Sounds like your air pump broke and the water is siphoning back down into it. Water may be escaping from the pump and seeping into wood etc.
 
joephys said:
Does your air pump still fill up with water?
Click to expand...

No, that's a weird thing. I turned it off immediatly, then after a week or two decided to try running it. At first it wasn't making bubbles in the water, then i looked at the airlines and you could see water going out of it. After a few minutes it started bubbeling and has woriked fine since (months).

What was really alarming was that basically overnight the tank that never leaked before was half empty and ever since then loses water slowly.
 
Always run an air pump with a check valve so that water can not bes siphoned back, either due to a faulty pump or a power outage. Don' know if this will solve your problem, but in any case, get a check valve if you don't already have one.
 
I would echo PeeJay's suggestion about the check valve. I wouldn't ever run a pump withoout one, especially if the pump was lower than the water level. With a check valve, you will not have the issue or worry of the water flowing back into the pump.
 
agreed, and both lines for the bubblewands have an anti-siphon valve on them.

As for normal evap, how come I've never had that for the past yr I had the tank till just that weekend when it started by losing half the water overnight? By the way, it is covered.
 
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