# Disaster has struck



## Shell Dweller (Jul 11, 2010)

My 150 gal sprung a leak tonight about 6 inches from the top on the rear left side. Lucky we were home and heard the water leaking out. I am hoping its going to stop when I have emptied the water to that level. I guess this means tearing down the tank and resealing it.


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## plantedinvertz (Apr 21, 2010)

Aww man, that is terrible  Hopefully things look better for you! Best of luck:!


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## mortava (Apr 24, 2010)

Sorry to hear about your tank leak. :/ Glad you were home to catch it though!


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## Shell Dweller (Jul 11, 2010)

Thankfully it has stopped pouring water out once it got past the leak. I just hope it holds and doesnt travel further down the side till the weekend when I will have the time to fix it. I'm not going to rest easy tonight thinking about it and will probably check on it sometime through the night.


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## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

GIve this a try it .

Orca Reef Glue Underwater Glue (450 Gram)


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## Shell Dweller (Jul 11, 2010)

I thought about that product but was thinking that the leak might mean more trouble down the road from the rest of the tank. I might be better off to reseal the entire tank. What do you think? Its a Hagen tank. I know that I am going to put in a center brace for sure. It doesnt have one and was made without one. I think that would help prevent any future leaks.


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## rich16 (Mar 25, 2011)

Ouch, sorry to hear that! Hope it's a simple fix, and that your tank inhabitants all make it through ok!

Rich


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## taureandragon76 (Apr 21, 2010)

I think your right in wanting to re-seal it, better safe than sorry


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## Shell Dweller (Jul 11, 2010)

All the fish are fine as they still have 14 inches of water to swim in, the top 7 inches we had to drain. The leak is just above that water level and the filter is still in operation so they should be fine. Thank my lucky stars we heard the water leaking out almost right away. It could have been worse, it could have happened in the middle of the night, or worse yet the leak could have been lower than it was. 

When I was driving to work Friday morning I was thinking of the saying bad luck comes in three's. Well a heater went on the fritz last week and I lost my red topped zebra before I realized the heater wasnt shutting off and nearly boiled all my fish in my 120 gal, then the microwave went, and now this. Hopefully this ends the streak. 

I will inspect the rest of the tank this weekend before deciding what course of action to take. The thought of tearing this down to reseal it makes me want to barf....


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## bingerz (Mar 3, 2011)

yeah...better safe than sorry. you'll probably sleep better knowing that's it's done the right way....than the quick easy fix.


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## 240sx (Sep 4, 2010)

I feel your pain, this happened to me at the start of the year with my 80 gallon. 

I was going to just re-seal it, but I bought a larger tank instead. I am going to use the Orca Glue and silicone the entire corner soemtime this summer, and then test it out, outside of course!

Good luck with everything.


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

do you know how old the tank is ? if it is not that old it might have been a flaw that caused the leak. and you could patch it, but if it is older i would reseal the whole thing. and a center brace is a pain in the butt . a euro brace would be best. hope that helps Cheers


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

A centre brace should take the stress on the corners. A Euro-brace at the ends will help as well without the centre brace - I won't add the centre brace if the glass is thick enough like the old Hagen.


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## Audrey (Apr 2, 2011)

I cracked the bottom of my 90 a month back from the plumbing tie to the edge the only thing that woke me was the sound of the powerheads running dry and 45 gallons on my carpet and it had my 2 snakeheads in it who had to go in my 150 to kick the crap out of my aro and oscars and there I am 4:30 monday morning taking buckets to the backyard soaked and then off to work lmao horrible but I did fix the leak and it holds but its not in use lol


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## Shell Dweller (Jul 11, 2010)

I took a better look at this later on last night and checked all the seams. It looks good except for the spot where it leaked. It looks as if the previous owner had tried to fix a leak at the exact same spot before as there is silicone residue along the outside edge. I guess he didnt do a very good job of it. I should have looked this over a bit better before using it, but wanted to get it set-up and running. 
I am still not sure what I am going to do but really leaning towards trying the orca glue on the inside, and cleaning up the residue from the previous fix and using the orca on the outside there too. If its as good as they say it is that should be fine. This would be a good testimonial for their product if it works. 
The tank as far as I know is not that old and is in good condition with no scratches or other cosmetic flaws. I am also re-thinking the braces as I really dont want to be making this tank look ugly. Hagen built this tank without the braces and I suppose they would have put one in if they thought it really needed one. My 120 gal has a center brace and I really dont like the looks of it.


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## Shell Dweller (Jul 11, 2010)

Well I bought a small tube of the Orca glue from J&l on friday and tried to repair the leak today. I only had to drain 1/3 of my tank originally as the leak was 7 inches from the top and the filter was still running, and fish were still fine. I would say it failed to do the job adequately.  I applied a liberal amount to the inside where the leak was and let it dry for an hour or so, then started to refill the tank, slowly. It still leaked, not that much mind you, but never the less, still leaked. I drained some water back out and applied more right to the top of the tank, let that dry for awhile and tried refilling again. It seemed to be holding for 15 minutes or so then it started leaking again, not a big leak but droplets could be seen coming out the side. So I removed the silicone residue from the outside edge of the tank where the previous owner had tried to repair it and applied some Orca glue to the edge. It held for a few minutes but soon I began to see a few drops appearing. I am back to 2/3 full of water and so I guess that now means that I will have to empty the tank and do a complete reseal. 

I think the Orca glue would be adequate for relatively very, very small leaks. It is black and very messy to use mind you. I wouldnt recommend it for anything but very small leaks, or in an emergency to stop a bigger leak until you could fix your tank properly.


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## hlee72ca (Jun 29, 2010)

Good info, I've never had a leak yet, knock on wood. I used to have larger tanks, 130 gallon & 110 gallon and they had a centre brace. Do you think a lack of a brace effects the tank?


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Sorry to hear it isn't an easy fix. I have never used the Orca glue , but I worked on swimming pools , fountains, hot tubs and such for 16 years or so and have never been fond of anything that seals under water. Always found it best to seal it while it's completely dry and cleaned. IMO.... cases like that it is best to reseal the whole tank, new silicone and old silicone do not bond together properly. Also the leak isn't always where it appears to be. Even though it may be leaking in one place on the outside of the tank, the leak inside could be 6" away as the water can travel between the inner seal and the seal/glue that holds the glass together. Also it's pretty much a waste of time sealing it from the outside as the water pressure is always pushing out, might hold for a bit , but will surely leak in due time.. unless it's dried really good and gets a couple days of curing. It might work that way but I wouldn't have much faith in it. Just my 2 cents


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## Shell Dweller (Jul 11, 2010)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Good info, I've never had a leak yet, knock on wood. I used to have larger tanks, 130 gallon & 110 gallon and they had a centre brace. Do you think a lack of a brace effects the tank?) 


I dont think a lack of a center brace affects this tank. As it was built by Hagen and it is very thick glass, I think they would have added one if they thought it was needed. 

I'm pretty sure the leak is in the spot where I was attemting to repair it but I think the Orca glue when it hardens doesnt give like silicone would. So when I started to refill the tank it probably broke the seal somewhat, just enough to let a few drops through. Mind you I could probably fill the tank right up and as long as I had a bucket under that corner to catch any drips it would be fine. I doubt that the few drops coming out would fill the bucket in a week. BUT I'm not going to chance it...:lol:

I have resealed a 90 gal and as John mentioned it must be completely dry, all the old silicone must be removed and then the surface to be sealed must be clean. I use rubbing alchohol on a cotton ball to remove all residue. 

I guess I know what I'm going to be doing next weekend.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Definitely better safe than sorry, especially with 150 gallons of water lol My bosses friend had a 200 or so gallon tank that had a small leak. The same week he noticed it.... in the middle of the night the front glass blew off it and drained in about 3 seconds flat. He offered me the tank but I passed on it lol besides that he took it all apart and I didn't feel safe putting that monster back together lol Obviously that doesn't happen very often & it wasn't a Hagen. Personally Hagen tanks are my favorite tanks & I agree that you probably don't have to worry about a center brace on that one. But I did notice my 33g & 55g both bow a little bit in the middle... they both are about 1/4" wider in the middle. Good luck resealing it, will probably be easier to do since it's a bigger tank.


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## Shell Dweller (Jul 11, 2010)

The hard part will be leaning over the tank for quite a few hours trying to get all the old silicone out. At my age that wont be an easy task.  Oh yeah, and moving the fish into other tanks temporarily, not to mention gravel and plants. The easy part will be resealing the tank. 
Funny you mention your tanks bowing in the middle by 1/4 inch, I know this one bows about 1/8 inch when full. 
I dont think I would want to put a tank back together either, especially one that large.


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## BCAquaria (Apr 24, 2010)

That sucks. I've never had a tank seal bust on me yet but have heard tonssss of stories over the years.

You're definitely one of the luckier ones. Most people aren't home when the tank decides to go.

Best of luck sealing 'er back up


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## Shell Dweller (Jul 11, 2010)

Oh crap!  I decided because the leak was so high in the tank I could wait until the long weekend coming to fix it. It has been good and not leaking anywhere else. Well the tank must have read my mind and decided otherwise and sprung a few new leaks last night all along the bottom front. I went into the room this morning to find water everywhere. My wife and I grabbed towels and soaked up most of the water and I put the hose on the drain and started to empty the tank, while grabbing buckets to put under the 4 new spots along the front where it decided to leak. The fish were transfered to other tanks along with all the plants. So NOW the tank is empty except for the gravel which I will remove later this weekend. I hope the discus dont mind the new tank mates and all the new green decor.

The floor is toast. We were going to put new laminate down eventually anyways, so now is as good a time as any I guess. Now what to do with the other three tanks while installing new floors. HHHHMmmmmmm.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

a few new leaks?? wow that really sucks! glad you got to it before something even worse were to happen. As for the discus, I'm sure they will love the green decor & new tank mates as opposed to the laminate floor lol


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## Shell Dweller (Jul 11, 2010)

I really dont know why it would start leaking from the bottom in the front all of a sudden in several spots I might add. Just bad luck? But as you say John it could have been worse. Im going to have to move the other three tanks out of that room in order to put in the new laminate. The dining room is going to be a little crowded for awhile. That room needed to be reorganised anyways and this will be the right time to do it. I am also re-thinking of what to use this 150 gal tank for. Maybe its time to tear down my 33gal which is a heavily planted, community tank for tetras and combine those with the angels, clown loaches, plecos, australian rainbows and cory's.
BTW...The discus dont seem to mind the new tank mates and all the new plants which I just put in there temporarily.


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## doogie (Nov 5, 2010)

Really sorry to hear of your tank problems, hope it is all sortable

Doug


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