# Help I'm losing water?? ideas??



## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

Hey all

I'm setting up a used 90g. 
I've resealed it and am in the process of testing that it holds water..but it doesn't!
I can't see/feel any leaks yet the water level is dropping faster than I like/expect.
I suspect its due to tank expansion and evaporation but seriously 2" in the first hour yesterday and 1" in the first 2 hours with additional 1"/hour today

I've resealed tanks before, usually testing them in a basement but this time I'm testing outside. Can evaporation really account for the the rate of loss I'm experiencing? 


Any ideas would be greatly appreciated


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

2" in an hour sounds like a leak that should be very noticeable, doesnt sound like evaporation to me


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

fully agree, but theres no water under the tank that I can see.. which is why I'm going nuts


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## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

Maybe put a water change bucket by the tank for a comparison on water evaporation ?? But sounds like a leak to me too.


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## Flear (Dec 8, 2012)

lift the tank, put it on a stand so you can see if water is pooling anywhere, ... and hopefully so you can tell where it's coming from, ... knowing water is leaking out of the tank is one thing, being able to identify where it's coming from is far more important.

what about your filter ?, could that be leaking water ?

if you are talking about 1" per hour, ... that's how many gallons per hour that is dissapearing?

if it's evaporation, everything around the tank is going to be dry, ... then you have a different problem, that's a lot of water that is going into your house.

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lets assume it's evaporating, ... safely

how warm is the tank ?
what kind of lid does it have ?
is it by a window ?
how dry is the air where you live ?

a warm tank + dry air + no lid/cover, ... it's going to evaporate fast, ... yet that's a ton of water that's gotta be going somewhere, ... and a rotten home because it's had too much water causing mold isn't good

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if it's leaking, set it up on a stand (if not already) so you can see where it's leaking, ... it would suck if where it's at now, it's leaking, and dissapearing down a hole or crack right away so you never see a puddle under the tank


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Or take some dry newspaper and shove it around the tank if its full and too heavy to move.

Quite sure its a leak. 2" is way too fast for evaporations unless you've set up your tank on the bbq or firepit


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

This picture was taken at 9:30am just before I marked water level









It's hard to see by this picture but the top red line is at 7:30am, then 9:30, then 10:30 today
but there is no water on or under the deck


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

Like I said in OP I've usually tested my silicone job indoors, but this time I'm doing it outside.
I did expect to lose some vloume to evaporation but this is more than I'm comforatble with.

today the loss is about 3.5g for first 2 hours


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

Put it on a slab of dry cement if you can. That way you might get a general idea where the leak is.


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## Snugpuppies (Jun 7, 2014)

I have resealed lots of tanks and I had one that drove me crazy - couldn't find the leak. I finally drained the thing - dried it out and put it on a cement pad with paper towels. I finally located a very small trickle leak in one of the corners. The deck boards (spacing) is likely hindering your search for a leak - as the water could be flowing underneath along the trim. My two cents anyways.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

I aways put them on a big piece of cardboard to check for leaks after filling for the first time


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

Just drained the freaking thing, looking to move it to the carport and use cardboard like suggested.
Tipped it over to drain last few gallons...and the bottom is 100% bone dry

I feel grey hairs coming in!!!!!

argh


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## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

A fenced yard? Maybe dog is drinking when you're not looking.


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

Vancitycam said:


> A fenced yard? Maybe dog is drinking when you're not looking.


thanks..needed that laugh


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## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

that is too much for evaporation.

You need to drain the tank and put paper/cardboard/plywood under it
so you can see / find the leak

I have a 4 ft by 2 ft X 3 inch thick slabe of pink styrofam I test tanks on

I put the styro on 4 milk cartons to get it 1 ft off the ground so I can easily check all sides.


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

Moved it on to a sheet of cardboard in the shaded carport. filled it. waited an hour, lost just over 1.5" of water. drained it. moved it back to deck.
cardboard was dry...

grrrrr all this extra frustration for evaporation


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Baffled here....I cant possibly think all that for evaporation, especially in the shade. Everyones fish ponds would be dry at the end of the day if that were the case lol


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## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

to eliminate evaporation

Cover the top of the tank with cardboard of plastic/seran wrap<G>


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Wow that's crazy. As others have said no way that evaporation can do it that quickly. Must be something we're all missing.


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## barvinok (Nov 20, 2011)

It's not evaporation or leak, too much for tank expansion. Must be something simple that everyone overlooked (elk in a carport or small hole in a hose?)


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## Flear (Dec 8, 2012)

Accidental, ... what's the humidity there ?, what temp was the water in the tank ?
i know these will be contributing factors to how quickly evaporation will occour, ... some of our more educated/experienced members may be able to shed some insight into what is reasonable when faced with whatever temp & humidity you are facing there


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## Clownloachlover (Apr 21, 2010)

try removing the hose after you refill the tank...you may have induced a siphon and the water is leaking out of your hose at some other point...maybe even at the faucet. Sorry there is no way it will evaporate that fast...not a chance. or you must have a leak


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## kim86 (Sep 5, 2012)

Could there be an animal drinking it? Aliens? Lol hope you figure it out.


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## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

I agree with clown loach when I saw hose in tank in pic first thing came to mind was a gravity back siphon?


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

Definitely
Back siphoning I'd say


Sent by tapatalk in north Burnaby


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

Back siphoning is something I hadn't considered, and it could apply when the tank was on the deck. Hose bid was about a foot lower than the water level. 
However that wouldn't explain the loss in the carport, I removed the hose to prevent any dripping on the cardboard that would have me searching for non existant leaks.

I'm stumped, but seeing as the cardboard was dry I'm risking it. Moved the tank inside.









Thanks for the input folks


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## Flear (Dec 8, 2012)

if it was just evaporation, let us know 
if you find a leak or anything else, let us know so we can help others out


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## Clownloachlover (Apr 21, 2010)

after reading through this post, I am sorry I do not beleive evaporation would lead to that rate of water level change. Back siphoning or a leak would be my two guesses, however given that you removed the hose in the carport to ensure the cardboard did not get wet is a puzzling scenario. given that you have chosen to set up the tank on the stand in your house...try this idea. fill it up with 2 inches of water...wait 24 hours and see how much "dissappears". If no change in the water level then add 2 more inches and wait 24 hours and see if anything changes....then continue this process...if you note a drastic change with any of those water additions you can narrow down the cause and it would most likley be a leak...probably a vertical seam up one corner or possibly a bottom leak where it requires so many pounds of water pressure before it begins to leak...you have puzzled us all...good luck with the investigation and eventual answer...please keep us all in the loop as to what you find out!


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## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

I wish you were closer I'd come over and help find the leak.

I hope you have a water proof floor under the stand and you don't need it.


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

put 200+ lbs of rocks, soil and sand in it and added the water from my xp4 to start colonizing the bacteria.
Water level is just shy of 3 inches right now and everything is dry..so far..

Going to be adding another 100lbs or so of river rock and fill it up over several days to check everything.

Flear - the average midday temp was 23C and humidity around 55% and there was a steady breeze
Right now I'm chalking it up to evaporation.. I hope


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## shaobo (Apr 21, 2010)

I certainly wish it's just evaporation, as 2” of water for standard 90 is over 4+ gallons.

Not sure if this has been suggested, but IMO the best way to find out whether if it’s evaporation is to simply cover the entire tank opening with plastic wraps or glass top while the tank is filled. 

Heard too many leaking horror stories on BCA over the years… best of luck~


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

It was driving me nuts being at work and not knowing if everything was okay with the tank.
So I got home 5 minutes ago and.... 
no water on the floor, water level in the tank has barely changed. That's over 10 hours without a freaky drop.:bigsmile:

Tomorrow I'll add another 3-4"


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## Snugpuppies (Jun 7, 2014)

keep posting...as many of us want to find out what's going on!?

After reading a post, I do recall one tank (many moons ago), had a leak about 3 inches from the top. Very subtle. Adding 2 or 3 inches at a time - smart approach (especially now that it is indoors)


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## Snugpuppies (Jun 7, 2014)

PS - just noticed your location. I was in sooke area (point no point) on thursday - saturday!


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## Jacques (Jul 5, 2014)

One to two inches lost per hour is WAY too fast for evaporation at your 23 degree temp. The water woud have to be boiling for that rate. Since there is no water outside the tank, it is not a leak. Somebody or some animal is removing water. My guess is deer. While it was outside losing water, were you watching it continuously?


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

It's half full and holding at the moment. 
We all seem to agree that evaporation at that rate is unlikely, but water level has not dropped at all while inside...so far.
My biggest fear is as clownloachlover suggested, a leak that requires x amount of weight, so I,m putting that out of my head at the moment and using occam's razor I've come up with the only other plausible reason.

As suggested by Kim86  aliens visited my yard, teleported and cloaked the entire local deer herd on to my deck for a refreshing beverage. :bigsmile:

Saturday, the only day I'll be home all day in case of, will be the true test. Fill 'er up in the am and hope


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## greenfin (Nov 4, 2013)

Will be following...


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

Tank has been full for an hour now. 
Zero loss....
I don't get it, but I'm not going to complain about being confused


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## greenfin (Nov 4, 2013)

This thread could be a submission to a reality TV show...it's got it all, drama, suspense, mystery, innovation, call a friend...finally...success? (tentative?) Let's approach a network and pitch the idea of an aquarium hobby based reality show. We could come up with a whole season easily! What should we call it?

I've been thinking about your leak. My vote is for the hose being left in and the back flow leaking out somewhere unsuspected. If you had time to kill you could set up the hose in another large container and see if that siphons/leaks. But I do also subscribe to the dog having several enthusiastic drinks..mine would. Or the aliens!

Here's hoping that's an end to it.


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## jhj0112 (Jul 30, 2013)

I have been following this thread closely as I read 2 occasions in few weeks of massive leak ( both described as explosion(?)) resulting one BCA member to quit this hobby(very sad but I can understand him). I hope that this is good end to it.. +1 on back syphoning hose (my guess). Please keep us updated and thanks for sharing.


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

24 hours. still no leaks 
thanks for all the input and support folks


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

I cant believe this thread has gone on for so many days and has 5 pages of posts. Glad to see Im not the only fish nut on here


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## Flear (Dec 8, 2012)

extreme arid conditions i would expect to cause massive water evaporation

what is the humidity level there typically ? (outside)


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## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

Wow, this has been the most exciting thread to follow in a long time lol. I need to get out more..I think we all do.


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

Nicole said:


> Wow, this has been the most exciting thread to follow in a long time lol. I need to get out more..I think we all do.


LOL glad my suffering and frustration is enjoyed by so many... :bigsmile::bigsmile:


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