Tank sprung a leak

[Shark Skin]

Yesterday (12/2/25) my Red Sea 250 started to leak. I had seen there was sand in the silicone which told me the silicone was starting to break down. I figured it was time for a new tank because I wasn’t sure how long I had. This was my first tank ever and the plan was to upgrade eventually after learning the hobby. I bought a new tank (Waterbox Infinia 190.5) and have it mostly set up but no water in it yet. I needed another week or 2 before it’s ready for water. Well, the Red Sea 250 decided not to wait and sprung a leak.

I had a leak sensor start to go off and I noticed a puddle of water on the floor, then look up and see my tank spraying water from the bottom of the display. My wife and I spring in to action. I grab a bin we stored our Halloween decorations in and start catching the water. I didn’t even have time to clean it out thoroughly. I grabbed all my rock and coral and placed it in the bin. I have a 5 gallon auto top off tank that came with my new Waterbox so I decided to set this up as a small tank and place my coral and all my fish it it and set it up as a mini tank. I had bought all the equipment for my new tank so I had spare equipment luckily. I have the bin filled with some of the sand and have my invertebrates in with some rock. I also placed my bio balls in both of the tanks to keep the valuable bacteria. I set up 2 mp40s in the bin and 1 in the ato tank, along with a heater and a light on both.

Looking for any advice to keep these makeshift tanks running smoothly as long as possible until my other Waterbox is ready. How long will I need before I can add fish and coral to my new tank? Any way to accelerate the water cycle of the new tank? I was told to not feed the fish much if even at all because I don’t have a skimmer set up. I’m also concerned about the water parameters. What would you do in this situation? Thanks in advance. I’ll be posting pics of the new setup soon.

 

[rtparty]

Sucks to see Red Sea strike again

 

[Fish Fan]

Sorry to see this! Good luck!

 

[Dom]

Red Sea's silence on this matter is so infuriating, and I don't even own a Red Sea.

 

[Minifoot77]

Red Sea's silence on this matter is so infuriating, and I don't even own a Red Sea.

Nor would I ever own one

 

[NanoSteam]

Red Sea's silence on this matter is so infuriating, and I don't even own a Red Sea.

Indeed, and those who defend Red Sea with "it's a tiny portion of sold tanks" great! Then all Red Sea has to do is release that statistic because I'm certain they have that data.

 

[BryanM]

Yesterday (12/2/25) my Red Sea 250 started to leak. I had seen there was sand in the silicone which told me the silicone was starting to break down. I figured it was time for a new tank because I wasn’t sure how long I had. This was my first tank ever and the plan was to upgrade eventually after learning the hobby. I bought a new tank (Waterbox Infinia 190.5) and have it mostly set up but no water in it yet. I needed another week or 2 before it’s ready for water. Well, the Red Sea 250 decided not to wait and sprung a leak.

I had a leak sensor start to go off and I noticed a puddle of water on the floor, then look up and see my tank spraying water from the bottom of the display. My wife and I spring in to action. I grab a bin we stored our Halloween decorations in and start catching the water. I didn’t even have time to clean it out thoroughly. I grabbed all my rock and coral and placed it in the bin. I have a 5 gallon auto top off tank that came with my new Waterbox so I decided to set this up as a small tank and place my coral and all my fish it it and set it up as a mini tank. I had bought all the equipment for my new tank so I had spare equipment luckily. I have the bin filled with some of the sand and have my invertebrates in with some rock. I also placed my bio balls in both of the tanks to keep the valuable bacteria. I set up 2 mp40s in the bin and 1 in the ato tank, along with a heater and a light on both.

Looking for any advice to keep these makeshift tanks running smoothly as long as possible until my other Waterbox is ready. How long will I need before I can add fish and coral to my new tank? Any way to accelerate the water cycle of the new tank? I was told to not feed the fish much if even at all because I don’t have a skimmer set up. I’m also concerned about the water parameters. What would you do in this situation? Thanks in advance. I’ll be posting pics of the new setup soon.

Your makeshift tank needs regular small water changes. NOT feeding fish is not a good option at all, and I would not be listening to advice from wherever that came from.

The only real shortcut to cycling a new tank is real live rock from Gulf LIve Rock, TBS, etc. It's expensive, but it works, and it skips most of the ugly stages, etc.

I do not know how much mature rock you're working with, but you can likely use the new tank, new water, with that rock, and get to the same place pretty quickly as well....And this is what I'd be aiming for.

 

[MikeReefs]

How there hasn’t been a class action against Red Sea idk. Sorry this happened to you. I’ve heard this story far too many times on this forum. Best of luck with the waterbox I have a marine x love it so far and hopefully you can transfer everything without much hassle

 

[Segalplayer]

Yesterday (12/2/25) my Red Sea 250 started to leak. I had seen there was sand in the silicone which told me the silicone was starting to break down. I figured it was time for a new tank because I wasn’t sure how long I had. This was my first tank ever and the plan was to upgrade eventually after learning the hobby. I bought a new tank (Waterbox Infinia 190.5) and have it mostly set up but no water in it yet. I needed another week or 2 before it’s ready for water. Well, the Red Sea 250 decided not to wait and sprung a leak.

I had a leak sensor start to go off and I noticed a puddle of water on the floor, then look up and see my tank spraying water from the bottom of the display. My wife and I spring in to action. I grab a bin we stored our Halloween decorations in and start catching the water. I didn’t even have time to clean it out thoroughly. I grabbed all my rock and coral and placed it in the bin. I have a 5 gallon auto top off tank that came with my new Waterbox so I decided to set this up as a small tank and place my coral and all my fish it it and set it up as a mini tank. I had bought all the equipment for my new tank so I had spare equipment luckily. I have the bin filled with some of the sand and have my invertebrates in with some rock. I also placed my bio balls in both of the tanks to keep the valuable bacteria. I set up 2 mp40s in the bin and 1 in the ato tank, along with a heater and a light on both.

Looking for any advice to keep these makeshift tanks running smoothly as long as possible until my other Waterbox is ready. How long will I need before I can add fish and coral to my new tank? Any way to accelerate the water cycle of the new tank? I was told to not feed the fish much if even at all because I don’t have a skimmer set up. I’m also concerned about the water parameters. What would you do in this situation? Thanks in advance. I’ll be posting pics of the new setup soon.

Crushed it with the back up set up

 

[Dom]

Red Sea is a sponsor here on R2R.

Maybe R2R should suspend their sponsorship until they come on here and explain why this is happening and what they are doing about it.

R2R isn't some small time reef aquarium blog. It is a major player in the hobby and likely has some clout.

 

[Malum Argenteum]

Red Sea is a sponsor here on R2R.

Maybe R2R should suspend their sponsorship until they come on here and explain why this is happening and what they are doing about it.

R2R isn't some small time reef aquarium blog. It is a major player in the hobby and likely has some clout.

This.

I'm curious to see how the financial vs ethical factors play out in this sort of conflict. I'm not optimistic, but I'm open to being pleasantly surprised.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

Sorry to hear this. You were smart to get that other tank. I am angry for you, and I know im not alone on that.
I think what you're doing will be just fine until the new tank cycles. I just did a 65 to 100 gallon transfer and my cycle was instant. I used TBS live sand (not sure if that made the difference) and all my 2 yo live rock. No new rock. I also threw in a bottle of turbo start 900, which is kept cold and I liked that it smelled bad.
I would also scrape that hard earned coralline algae into your bin. It will probably make its way in anyway but cant hurt to seed some more.
Agree with someone above that R2R should speak up and address this issue with RS.

 

[Nemo&Friends]

If you reuse your rocks and all the water you saved, the new tank should be ready now.
I changed tank once, I just use back all my water, my sand and my rocks, and moved my fish in all at once. Then I just added new water. My old tank was a 55 G, and the new one 125G.
I did not have any problem, bacteria were already in the rocks and the water.

 

[Ziggy17]

If you reuse your rocks and all the water you saved, the new tank should be ready now.
I changed tank once, I just use back all my water, my sand and my rocks, and moved my fish in all at once. Then I just added new water. My old tank was a 55 G, and the new one 125G.
I did not have any problem, bacteria were already in the rocks and the water.

Bacteria doesn’t live in the water, so saving water is pointless. The bacteria lives on hard surfaces.

To the OP. Sooner is better but don’t rush and make mistakes. As one member mentioned, small water changes if need be, but if if you have cured rock, ammonia shouldn’t be an issue.

Great job getting something in place while the other tank gets ready.

 

[EnterName]

I'm in a similar situation. I see my Reefer slowly failing (not yet leaking), and have a new tank sitting in the garage but have to do some preparations first.

I would agree with @Nemo&Friends and @Ziggy17. Your current rocks (or rather the bacteria living on/in it) were able to deal with the biological load of your fish/inverts in the RedSea 250. They should be able to handle the same biological load in the new tank with more volume easily.

 

[Dom]

Your makeshift tank needs regular small water changes. NOT feeding fish is not a good option at all, and I would not be listening to advice from wherever that came from.

The only real shortcut to cycling a new tank is real live rock from Gulf LIve Rock, TBS, etc. It's expensive, but it works, and it skips most of the ugly stages, etc.

I do not know how much mature rock you're working with, but you can likely use the new tank, new water, with that rock, and get to the same place pretty quickly as well....And this is what I'd be aiming for.

If the live rock was saved, he could use that to seed. It would speed up the process.

 

[Dom]

Nor would I ever own one

I might, were I buying something small where water pressure is less.

 

[Minifoot77]

I might, were I buying something small where water pressure is less.

Still gonna have the worry of it making a puddle on your floor...

 

[Ziggy17]

I might, were I buying something small where water pressure is less.

The smaller ones leak as well.

 

[NanoSteam]

I might, were I buying something small where water pressure is less.

Best not support a company that refuses to acknowledge there's an issue. Money is the only thing that will be heard.

My max nano will be the last Red Sea for me, I just don't want to deal with the thought of waking up to that.