Tank leak seeking advice

[Pierce]

I have a 55 gallon tank and have noticed water coming out from the bottom right underneath the plastic base. It is a little leak now and not sure how much time I have before it gets worse. I can’t see where the leak is but assuming somewhere along the bottom behind the plastic rim.

I am thinking of upgrading to a 75 gallon.

But I am going to need to add some new sand. Will that cause any cycle issues or other problems. I don’t want to lose coral or fish.

Thanks

 

[Crabs McJones]

So sorry to hear Best bet would be to get the tank empty as soon as possible, you just never know how long before it breaks open and suddenly your entire tank is on the floor. Storage totes from walmart/target/hardware store work great for temporary housing of your rock coral and fish. New sand might cause a mini cycle in the 75 but nothing to be concerned about. But you'll definitely want new sand in the new tank.

 

[Hemmdog]

I have a 55 gallon tank and have noticed water coming out from the bottom right underneath the plastic base. It is a little leak now and not sure how much time I have before it gets worse. I can’t see where the leak is but assuming somewhere along the bottom behind the plastic rim.

I am thinking of upgrading to a 75 gallon.

But I am going to need to add some new sand. Will that cause any cycle issues or other problems. I don’t want to lose coral or fish.

Thanks

Sorry for your leak. Same thing happened to my biocube a few months ago. If your adding new sand I’d get it ASAP, start rinsing, sun dry, rinse, sun dry, then go for it.

 

[lapin]

Like others before me Emergency Will Robinson. Get the new tank asap and a big tub maybe a 50 gallon rubbermaid stock tank. Use the stock tank in case the tank comes apart before you get the 75 up and running. If the stock tank goes unused, return it. I would not worry about the cycle as you have live rock and sand now. Get some Prime just in case of an ammonia spike .

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Deleted

 

[Pierce]

Thanks for the information everyone.

I think I have 40 pounds of sand now. And might want to add another 20 or so. After rinsing it should I just mix it up with the existing sand and place it?

I won’t be adding anymore live rock for a couple other months

 

[lapin]

Rinse it and you can either mix it or not.

 

[Mical]

Only use a cup or two of your old sand, the rest toss. Add new sand & go from there.

 

[Pierce]

Just curious, why not keep the old sand?

 

[BZOFIQ]

I'd just rinse it thoroughly and add in small batches down the line.

Have fun with your upgrade!

 

[Mical]

Just curious, why not keep the old sand?

The old sand will be loaded with detritus. You can try to rinse it but seeding new tank with a couple of cups of old sand plus new sand will keep a mini cycle down to a minimum.

 

[Billdogg]

The whole "toss all your old sand" thing is a qualified maybe. How old is the tank? Do you clean the sand when doing water changes? (python siphon or similar)

I have never replaced all the sand when upgrading or moving unless there is another reason for the change. (Disease/absorbed meds - especially copper, etc) All you really need to do if you want to keep otherwise perfectly fine sand is to rinse it well in the old tanks water to remove the accumulated detritus. It really is not all that hard to do, and you will then be able to keep most of the beneficial life that is in it. Because I never reuse old water, it is a perfect way to get one final use out of it before it goes down the drain.

You can then freely mix the new sand with the old without fear of any cycle issues. In reality, the majority of the denitrifying bacteria reside in/om the rocks anyway.

I would not wait - if a seam is starting to let go, you will have very little, if any, warning before it fails dumping your tanks contents on the floor.

 

[Darth.Daddy12]

I have a 55 gallon tank and have noticed water coming out from the bottom right underneath the plastic base. It is a little leak now and not sure how much time I have before it gets worse. I can’t see where the leak is but assuming somewhere along the bottom behind the plastic rim.

I am thinking of upgrading to a 75 gallon.

But I am going to need to add some new sand. Will that cause any cycle issues or other problems. I don’t want to lose coral or fish.

Thanks

You don’t want to ignore a bottom corner leak.. thays the single biggest stress point on a tank. (Full force of water pressure always kissing against it) silicone holes glass strong but once there is leverage from one area it’s not that hard to rip two pieces apart. This is likely the result of the tank being unlevel.

If you rinse an new sand till clear water and keep everything wet while changing over you shouldn’t see much for a mini cycle. Likely some diatom from new silicates in sand. I’d not feed the new tank more then once a week the first couple weeks to help prevent a mini cycle. I’d save as much of the existing water as possible and reuse. This will help keep everything less stressed going into the new system.

I wouldn’t be as concerned about a mini cycle as I would the added footprint is going to make your current scape look barren and you’ll need more rock lol.. you’ll be soo much happier with a 75g vs a 55. You’ll be able to use same lighting with less wasted light. Have much better flow around the tank. And it will be more visually appealing. Tbh there is little cost difference between 76-90-120 I’d consider going up to a 120 myself.. it’s the best footprint in the 4’ tank range to best utilize flow, lighting and scape.

 

[Darth.Daddy12]

I’d also consider reusing the old sand and just power rinse it to remove build up.. place into 5g buckets 2/3 full and run hose till water is running out is clear while storing the sand every so often..


Same as rinsing new sand only takes little longer to get clean when it’s old. Worth the effort imop to prevent diatom bloom from new sand.

 

[Darth.Daddy12]

Search for a thread about “power washing sand” from user Brandon something’s another. He has very detailed method of how to do things like this with new live sand old sand etc and how to do it so tank stays as stable as the day before you broke it down.. you BB will survive a tap water cleaning. Takes a lot more to kill Bb then people think..

 

[Darth.Daddy12]

Search for a thread about “power washing sand” from user Brandon something’s another. He has very detailed method of how to do things like this with new live sand old sand etc and how to do it so tank stays as stable as the day before you broke it down.. you BB will survive a tap water cleaning. Takes a lot more to kill Bb then people think..

@brandon429 is member.. he’s very educated with tons of experience on things like this. He calls it a “rip cleaning”

Since you’re already breaking down to relocate you should do this at same time.

 

[Darth.Daddy12]

Corrected to tag him on this as he’s always watching and willing to jump in and help.. I’m sure he will tell you exactly how to swap over your tank the best and cleanest possible way.