This is the post that I hoped I'd never have to write....
I have a 125g AGA (All Glass Aquarium) that has been up and running since 2007. Lately it has been dripping into my stand below and I can't for the life of me figure out where it's leaking from. I've checked all 4 bulkheads at the bottom and they are all bone dry. No drips or salt residue on any of the pipes coming down from the bulkheads.
For a little backstory, after I saw some puddling inside of my stand it made me realize that over the last couple of years I had noticed some random drip marks inside my stand which I always thought was strange, but never paid too much attention to it. Over the last month or so is when I saw an accumulation of a puddle on one of my shelves inside of the stand and that had me thinking...Oh crap! My guess is that it had been very slowly leaking for a few years and it appears to recently be getting worse. Below is a pic of what my setup looks like. The tank is recessed in a tray that was created at the top of the stand.
Here is what it looks like in the tray...
The water is dripping into my stand from two cut out areas that I have in the tray where my bulkhead plumbing comes from the bottom of my tank, through my stand and then through the floor into my sump in my basement. Keep in mind that at no point was there ever any dripping along the piping coming from my bulkheads. All of the dripping was coming from the two cut out holes in the top tray of my stand. Here's an underside view showing the dripping.
For the last month or so it would drip some days and then be bone dry for another 4 or 5 days...then the dripping would start again. Up until now I've been putting my head in the sand because the dripping wasn't too bad (an ounce or so of water in a day on the days that it was dripping). Today was different and that's what made me finally post in search of some guidance.
Today for the first time I saw a bead of water along the top edge of the black plastic moulding that surrounds the bottom of the tank. Might be hard to see, but if you look closely you can see it.
The bead of water runs along the entire front, both sides and a little in the back.
Note that I have repeatedly run my fingers along all sides and edges of the tank to see if there is water dripping down from the top or the two unused bulkheads in the back and have found nothing. No drips or salt traces.
Also I have tried lowering my Tunze streams so that they don't splash or push water over the top.
Another note is that I do not move around my landscaping. What you see is pretty much how it's been for the past 13 years.
I am extremely careful around the silicone seams on the occasions when I use a scraper for algae.
I'm just baffled (and a bit scared) with this one. Could it be a crack somewhere??
Do many tanks fail at the lower silicone seams over time? I understand that the tank is 13 years old, but is this common?
The thought of replacing my tank is a lot for my brain to wrap around.
Any guidance or brainstorming on this would be a huge help,
Thanks
I have a 125g AGA (All Glass Aquarium) that has been up and running since 2007. Lately it has been dripping into my stand below and I can't for the life of me figure out where it's leaking from. I've checked all 4 bulkheads at the bottom and they are all bone dry. No drips or salt residue on any of the pipes coming down from the bulkheads.
For a little backstory, after I saw some puddling inside of my stand it made me realize that over the last couple of years I had noticed some random drip marks inside my stand which I always thought was strange, but never paid too much attention to it. Over the last month or so is when I saw an accumulation of a puddle on one of my shelves inside of the stand and that had me thinking...Oh crap! My guess is that it had been very slowly leaking for a few years and it appears to recently be getting worse. Below is a pic of what my setup looks like. The tank is recessed in a tray that was created at the top of the stand.
Here is what it looks like in the tray...
The water is dripping into my stand from two cut out areas that I have in the tray where my bulkhead plumbing comes from the bottom of my tank, through my stand and then through the floor into my sump in my basement. Keep in mind that at no point was there ever any dripping along the piping coming from my bulkheads. All of the dripping was coming from the two cut out holes in the top tray of my stand. Here's an underside view showing the dripping.
For the last month or so it would drip some days and then be bone dry for another 4 or 5 days...then the dripping would start again. Up until now I've been putting my head in the sand because the dripping wasn't too bad (an ounce or so of water in a day on the days that it was dripping). Today was different and that's what made me finally post in search of some guidance.
Today for the first time I saw a bead of water along the top edge of the black plastic moulding that surrounds the bottom of the tank. Might be hard to see, but if you look closely you can see it.
The bead of water runs along the entire front, both sides and a little in the back.
Note that I have repeatedly run my fingers along all sides and edges of the tank to see if there is water dripping down from the top or the two unused bulkheads in the back and have found nothing. No drips or salt traces.
Also I have tried lowering my Tunze streams so that they don't splash or push water over the top.
Another note is that I do not move around my landscaping. What you see is pretty much how it's been for the past 13 years.
I am extremely careful around the silicone seams on the occasions when I use a scraper for algae.
I'm just baffled (and a bit scared) with this one. Could it be a crack somewhere??
Do many tanks fail at the lower silicone seams over time? I understand that the tank is 13 years old, but is this common?
The thought of replacing my tank is a lot for my brain to wrap around.
Any guidance or brainstorming on this would be a huge help,
Thanks