Water Leak Emergency Kit: Do you have one and what's in it?

[Doctorgori]

I have 4-5 clean 32g trash cans from when I initially set my 210 up...I keep those and 20-30G pre-mixed water on hand always ...I also have several spare pumps, air $ pwr heads

 

[Vette67]

Shop vac, rags and a bucket. My failures are mostly in my tiled concrete floor, basement sump room. So I only need to get the standing water that didn’t quite make it to my sump (real house sump crock, not tank sump) yet.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I was thinking a couple of days ago that it's probably a good idea that we have an "emergency kit" for water leaks and issues if you will. You never know when your tank could spring a leak, your plumbing could get cracked or something like that. How many of you can confidently say that if you had a leak at 2am that you would be able to manage on your own? Also don't forget about a spare aquarium or aquariums that you could move coral and fish into during a dire emergency. So let's talk about it!

1. Do you have a "water leak emergency kit" and if so what do you have in it?

2. What are some things you may need during a water leak emergency that people may not think about?

3. Have you ever had a major tank leak and what were the circumstances?

I'll keep it short, any leak is an emergency, super glue and two-part epoxy that you kneel and sets in minutes is my emergency kit plus some towels and a few small buckets, in case
With super glue and epoxy almost any leak can be stopped. Most epoxies can hold up to 500 PSI pressure

 

[Roberth101]

I was thinking a couple of days ago that it's probably a good idea that we have an "emergency kit" for water leaks and issues if you will. You never know when your tank could spring a leak, your plumbing could get cracked or something like that. How many of you can confidently say that if you had a leak at 2am that you would be able to manage on your own? Also don't forget about a spare aquarium or aquariums that you could move coral and fish into during a dire emergency. So let's talk about it!

1. Do you have a "water leak emergency kit" and if so what do you have in it?

2. What are some things you may need during a water leak emergency that people may not think about?

3. Have you ever had a major tank leak and what were the circumstances?

I have several 25 gallon totes. With my new 270 gallon tank I have already had to utilize them when I noticed a crack in the lower left corner after filling it up. Then I found a marine grade 2 part liquid epoxy I was able to repair the crack with and nit have to empty the tank. This was a week ago and so far it is holding strong. I guess only time will tell. I would have just replaced the front panel but finding a 1/2" thick 84" long 30" tall piece of glass would cost me more then the $1700.00 I paid for the aquarium.

 

[HB AL]

If a shop vac, towels and some containers for the livestock count as a kit then yes.

 

[rusty hannon]

We had just moved to phoenix and all survival so I sat the aquarium on the dining room bar seemed solid enough n it was only a 30 so we finished moving in n with no furniture we slept on the floor.About 3 in the morning it all came down,fish swimming across the floor n about 2 inches of water.we had fish in sinks bathtub and large bowled . fortunately there was a 24 hr pet mart so got a new tank n a shop vac n all was well...except for the massive clean up.lesso learned

 

[Greg P]

I suffered a leaking tank back in 2016 and thankfully had enough spare tubs, tanks, powerheads, air pumps and heaters to survive an empty tank. Having enough spare parts to survive this if it ever happens again is essential, and I will be smarter about how to go about it if it ever does again.

My 75g sprung a leak. Fish went into a tank with powerheads and a heater. Corals went into tubs with powerheads and heaters.
Coral warfare ensued and losses happened. Keeping corals separated is not easy in tubs, so think ahead about where you'd put stuff.

Keep your spare heaters calibrated if you ever need them in an emergency !! Otherwise you may cook or chill your critters !!

So, the kit is;

Enough tanks, tubs, air pumps, powerheads and heaters to hold all critters.
A spare controller or 2 doesn't hurt. I have 2 spare DA reefkeepers on standby.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

I voted “other” and so, thought I’d explain. I have a built in safety “mechanism” ...sort of.

When I built my tank stand, I lined it with some heavy gauge plastic. I used contact cement to install it and then sealed it all up nice and tight. I even tested it. It held water for A week and never leaked. My stand is basically 6‘ x 2’ and can contain water for about... 8”. That translates to almost 60 gallons of water. Will that help me in a catastrophic failure? No... anything short of catastrophe? Yes, I do have a sense of comfort the water would be contained : ) Actually, with everything in there, the displacement probably cuts my safety factor down to around 20 gallons, but... better contained than all over my floor.

 

[salty joe]

I lined the cabinet that holds my calcium reactor and auto frozen feeder with shower pan liner with a drain to a sink. Their is the potential to leak 80 gallons of RO/DI water. I also have numerous leak detectors.

Years ago, a tank failed and about 60 gallons of water drained through my beautiful hard wood floor that was installed in 1928, when the house was built. The wood warped and cupped and looked bad. I loved that house and thought the floor was ruined. Believe it or not, after a week or two the floor straightened back out-you could hardly tell! I lost everything in the tank....

I have a number of leak detectors but someone mentioned getting phone alerts-that's a great idea.

My fish room floor is 3/4" lower than the hardwood floor in my house. I painted the fishroom floor with oil based floor paint and sealed the perimeter with metal flashing and caulk. Their is a 2" floor drain.

In case of a major leak, I have a Brute can, an empty 75 gallon and a handful of 20 gallon aquariums. And I can string bad words together in unique combinations with the best of them.

 

[jstncoffman]

my emergency kit is as follows
1 plastic tub
4 bath towels
5 large sponges
3 gallon bucket
,
I also ways have pvc ready along with saltwater made along with RO water

 

[syrinx]

I keep backups for everything. I date my pumps upon installation and change out before failure, and keep the old one after cleaning in vinagar. I have a spare tank for each display as well-mostly because I just have a lot of stuff from over the years. I always have extra salt and water ready for 100% change of water. Being a GM of a hardware store means- plenty of tapes, straps, clamps, epoxies etc-also a shop vac on every level of house. Since I dont drill my home tanks, or use unusual shapes- I have not had issues with failures. Other than an occasional seam leak-most breaks have been caused by people using hard pipe plumbing on drilled tanks-which is a great lever. Of course the record setter for tank failures in my experience have been the perfecto pent tanks- got to point when people would call and say their tank had failed-and I would surprise them by knowing the tank style before they told me!

 

[The Night Driving Avenger]

I'll be honest, i have a 200L cube and i was thinking at some point of looking for a tank that's being shut down and buying it plus it's stand then keeping it in a corner in my bedroom (very limited storage space here) as an emergency back up but everyone thinks im daft! i use natural sea water so im ok for water in an emergency, it's more just where to put everything.

what say you reef2reef?


(anyone near inverness scotland that has a spare tank and stand to sell cheap, drop me a message)

 

[Mike Hettinga]

I read a Question like this and panic. Ever since I left my rodi unit on accidentally, I have been paranoid of another flood. The worst part of that incident was that we had just moved and I was too lazy to install the float valve. Anyway after careful thought, I realized I did have a plan.

I have a 125g and a 33g running and I always have approximately 70 gallons of water on hand for water changes plus a few empty Brutes.

I also have a spare 330g. The tank I keep at my lfs. I feel pretty confident that if I call Josh anytime at night and tell him I need the 330g he has for sale he would help me out. He's a great guy.

 

[mdh71]

I had a water leak on a 90 gallon freshwater tank once. The hose on the canister filter came apart and around half of the water leaked out. That tank was on carpet. Most of the water leaked through to the basement. It was a discus tank; there was enough water for the fish still in the tank and none of them died.

I used a shop vac and towels to clean up, I then had the carpet cleaned. It did not do as much damage as I would have expected. Other scenarios could be a lot worse, hardwoods would swell, a tank blowout would shoot the water over all larger area causing more damage.

 

[WallyB]

I do have things for leaks (silcone, Rubber Tape and SHOP VAC!!!) , since I've had a few on different occassion.

Not a Big tank crack with Massive Water Dump, but cracked hoses, Loose hoses.

Key to LEAK issues is EARLY DECTECTION.

I got a few of these, and they save me twice. Even last week when I was filling a Garbage Can, for Salt Water Mix and got distrationc.


They are cheap. And work like a charm.

This is a Test I did...



Another good feature is they alarm when Battery Goes low. That's imporant since a dead-leak detector has no value.

I plan to order more. One for behind Sink (Dishwasher, which leak years ago), Same for any spot I could have a leak.

 

[kaceyo]

I was thinking a couple of days ago that it's probably a good idea that we have an "emergency kit" for water leaks and issues if you will. You never know when your tank could spring a leak, your plumbing could get cracked or something like that. How many of you can confidently say that if you had a leak at 2am that you would be able to manage on your own? Also don't forget about a spare aquarium or aquariums that you could move coral and fish into during a dire emergency. So let's talk about it!

1. Do you have a "water leak emergency kit" and if so what do you have in it?

2. What are some things you may need during a water leak emergency that people may not think about?

3. Have you ever had a major tank leak and what were the circumstances?

I have a battery water alarm sitting in the bottom of the stand next to my sump. I also have a wet/dry vac dedicated to my tank that is readily available. Maybe not a "Water Leak Emergency Kit" but ot works for me.

 

[WARz]

I have buckets, leakage alarms, pumps, extra emergency tank(20 long) big enough for live stock, brute big enough for rock and coral I have alarms setup behind tank under hoses and under tank. They work, got a wakeup when skimmer went nuts one night. Only a few drops hit it, but went off. Load siren and emails and text to my phone.

 

[Beth Villmow]

I had a water leak many years ago with a 29g freshwater tank. Was able to track down a 55g tank I could afford and didn't lose anything. Now I have grown to a 75g saltwater and have a backup 55g. I have a heater, skimmer, canister filter, circulation pumps and 25g of readymade saltwater. I also have plenty of salt and rodi on hand to make more. I think I'm ready but only time will tell.

 

[Trever]

I have my fingers crossed.