Leak freak out!

fenijer · Jan 31, 2017

Sorry for rambling, I'm really new to this hobby & unsure what details are important. I don't even have a fish yet & already had a minor disaster.

Background - I purchased a used 20 gallon display tank from a saltwater fish store that was moving. It was dry when I bought it and being unsure how long it was used & buying it dry, we didn't trust the silicon (it was lifting a little in one spot). We went to Home Depot for marine safe silicone, replaced silicon, let it cure 24 hours, my husband thought one corner looked funny so re-did that corner and let it cure over 48 hours. We put paper towels under it and put in a gallon of distilled that I had just to make sure that corner was good. All seemed fine. We put water in and 20lb of live sand. It ran a couple of days just to be really super sure the seals were good. Then I added life rock and live rock (18.4 lb total). It ran for a week and a half. (2 weeks from the day the sand went in). Then I looked at my "pet rocks waiting for fish" and it looked a little shiny on the table under the tank. Sure enough, water. Not a lot but enough. I got a tote and moved everything. Water, sand, rocks & filter. We're going to strip it & redo the silicone seals & let it cure another 48. Then put things back in.

2 questions really. 1 - does the whole cycling process start over because I disrupted literally everything in this little world? 2 - is the sand still good because I kept reading once it's in you shouldn't ever take it out? I moved it in case it was salvageable. I kept it submerged the whole time if that matters.

Ty Hamatake · Jan 31, 2017

First off, I'd be careful trying to redo the redo on the silicone job. If you don't get all of the existing silicone off (I hear this is an absolute pain), you won't get a good seal and will eventually end up with another leak. It's early enough in the game that looking for a new tank may actually not be a bad idea. What kind of tank is it? If it isn't drilled you can get a new 20 gallon for fairly cheap. Then there's no laying awake at night worrying about whether or not the tank is leaking.

As far as disrupting the cycle and reusing the sand goes... you may have set yourself back a week or two on the cycle, but as long as the tote is heated and there is some amount of flow you should be fine. Again it's early enough in the game that your sand hasn't had any time to accumulate the bad stuff that people worry about when using old sand. You're good to keep on using it!

Let us know how it goes and what you decide on!