Tormented & Need Help.

[Marsiggy]

Last night i noticed that my 150 gallon tank had developed a very slow leak. Since the tank is still under guarantee i have to dismantle it entirely and take it in to get it exchanged with a new one.

Tommorrow morning i will be taking out two 55 gallon tanks i have in storage so i can begin the process of dismantling the 150. I will be emptying out the 150's water into the two 55's i have. The 150 has two primary filters, an emperor 400 and and eheim 2260. Then i have 4 reversible powerheads attached to an undergravel filter. I will be using the eheim and 2 powerheads on one of the 55's and the emperor and remaining 2 powerheads on the second 55. Since i am preserving a majority of the 150's water supply and its filters, will these 2 smaller tanks go thru a crash cycle? Furthermore since the fish will only be in these tanks for a day or two until i set up the new 150. How much shock will they experience from being cramped up in smaller tanks?

When i have the 150 set up again i will try once again to preserve as much of the water in the 2, 55's to fill up the 150. Using the filters on it. Since i've preserved most of my bacteria colony how long before the tank is cycled and back to the way it was before?

This is what the tank looked like this tuesday after i finished my water change and weekly maintenance.

 

[pinballqueen]

It shouldn't shock your fish or your system too much to do this. I'm assuming you'll be moving the substrate as well.... I wouldn't worry too much about it, just keep a close eye on the fish for signs of stress.

Whenever you move a fish from the fish store to your home, it experiences a similar set of changes to a much greater extent: the fish is moved from its home in a breeder's tank, shipped to the lfs in a bag, put into water it has never been exposed to before, usually in a much smaller, more crowded tank, then it goes home with you, again, in a bag, and is exposed to new water conditions yet again. I don't think a few days in the same water and filtration, just a different tank, is going to do too much damage or cause them undue stress....

If you are really careful, you should only experience a "mini-cycle" covering a week or so. I had to do this to my 55 gallon once, moving everybody into a 29 gallon tank while I bought a new stand because mine was getting ready to fall apart....

 

[Cichlid Woman]

Bummer!! The fish will probably be fine--how's your stress level?!

-- Pat

 

[Sumpin'fishy]

Cichlidwoman has it right.....YOU will probably go through more stress than the fish. Just try to even out the bio load in each tank and split everything up into the 55's. Should be ok for temp setup. I pretty much agree with what pinballqueen said

 

[Marsiggy]

That much is true. My stress levels have gone thru the roof. I can't seem to concentrate on anything but the tank. I'm inspecting it every 10, 20 minutes to ascertain the leak hasn't gotten worse etc.

But the leak is really really slow. I do not understand what caused it either. The tanks been set up for a year and now is when it begins to leak... The leak is so slow that i've gotten away with just using a t-shirt to collect the dripping water. The t-shirt has been collecting the water drips since wednesday night and the shirt is only damp. The tanks water level hasn't even dropped below the top frame.

I assume that the seams on the bottom glass plane gave out in some fashion. At first i thought it was a crack but came to the realization if it had been a crack the tempered glass plane on the bottom would have shattered from the weight of the gravel and water. I can't really see anything on the bottom of the tank. What i can see is a slow water drip from the tanks bottom center brace. But there isn't a seam along the center brace. So i assume the water must be leaking out thru one of the edges and coming out the center brace since the rest of the frame is siliconed in place and the bottom brace is its only pathway to leak out.

Now my biggest worry is that the replacement 150 will leak as well. If it does then i will be totally devasted.

Looking on the bright side i always did want to redecorate my tank from scratch. Just not like this but i guess i can't afford to be that picky.

 

[Darkangel]

Funny I should see a post like this. I just went through a week of thinking my 90 gallon tank had developed a slow leak. To make a long story short it turns out the tank was not leaking at all. I had recently put a bubble up type filter in the tank to season it. It turns out that the bubbles were rising to the surface, breaking and sending water up under the lip of the frame. This water was then dripping down the side and made the tank appear to be leaking. Have you recently added anything to the tank? Could this be your problem too? Has an airstone been moved closer to the wall of the tank? Just a few ideas to consider.

 

[Marsiggy]

I wish that was my problem but unfortunately its not.

I've checked it so many times already i've lost count. My tank stand has two doors in front and a portion of the back opened up so i can putt stuff under in the cabinet. But the eheim canister is outside by the tank since it doesn't fit underneath it. I've checked both the eheim and the emperor and neither is dripping onto the tank itself. I don't have any airstones in my tank i use power heads for aeration and neither of them are pointed directly at a wall but out into the center of the tank. The water isn't collecting outside the cabinet on the floor but inside the cabinet itself and its leaking directly from the middle of the center brace. Are the bottom bracers usually siliconed in place as well as the sides and corner frames? Would explain why its leaking from an area where the tank has no seams.....