Well, that was exciting…

[Pepere]

You know, 10 gallon tanks seem small, but they hold a heck of a lot of water…

i had a brand new 10 gallon tank on the floor that has been there for a few months acting as a quarantine tank.

Tonight as I passed it I noticed a bit of water.  Mopped it up and more appeared…

 

Then I heard a crack and there was a lot more water appearing.  And I had 7 American Flag Fish in there ending week 5 of Quarantine.

Tomorrow I was going to dose the tank with second dose of paracleanse to kill any eggs that may have hatched.

With not much time to act, I netted the fish and transferred the fish to my 20 high tank that is lightly stocked with 6 Green Neon Tetras and 6 Pygmy Cories.

 

At this point, since I have cleaned everything up,  I am thinking the best course of action will be to dose the 20 high with Paracleanse to treat all of the fish rather than transfer the Flag Fish to another 10 gallon quarantine tank.  I have 2 more set up in the basement.

 

[nabokovfan87]

 Nice rescue.  Hopefully plenty of towels close by!

Maybe there was a pebble somewhere under the rim or something?

[Flumpweesel]

On 11/6/2022 at 1:33 AM, Pepere said:

At this point, since I have cleaned everything up,  I am thinking the best course of action will be to dose the 20 high with Paracleanse to treat all of the fish rather than transfer the Flag Fish to another 10 gallon quarantine tank.  I have 2 more set up in the basement.

What a nightmare but thankfully you where on hand to catch it (or them).  And yes I think this is your best course of action they are in there now so if they have something everyone could have been exposed so you may as well treat them in there. 

[Pepere]

On 11/5/2022 at 9:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Maybe there was a pebble somewhere under the rim or something?

Nothing that I saw when I brought the tank downstairs.  It is a rimmed tank, sothe glass was off of the floor.

 

There is a crack in the glass underneath that I could feel.  It was a Petco ten dollar special.

The cost of the tank was the least of my concerns….

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 11/6/2022 at 2:33 AM, Pepere said:

You know, 10 gallon tanks seem small, but they hold a heck of a lot of water…

i had a brand new 10 gallon tank on the floor that has been there for a few months acting as a quarantine tank.

Tonight as I passed it I noticed a bit of water.  Mopped it up and more appeared…

 

Then I heard a crack and there was a lot more water appearing.  And I had 7 American Flag Fish in there ending week 5 of Quarantine.

Tomorrow I was going to dose the tank with second dose of paracleanse to kill any eggs that may have hatched.

With not much time to act, I netted the fish and transferred the fish to my 20 high tank that is lightly stocked with 6 Green Neon Tetras and 6 Pygmy Cories.

 

At this point, since I have cleaned everything up,  I am thinking the best course of action will be to dose the 20 high with Paracleanse to treat all of the fish rather than transfer the Flag Fish to another 10 gallon quarantine tank.  I have 2 more set up in the basement.

 

You got lucky there!

About 6-7 months ago now one of the corner seals on my 65 gallon tank broke (how??) and had to do a quick DIY repair with towels & glue while the fish were netted out. In total about 30 gallons of water ended up on my parents kitchen floor 🤦‍♂️they weren't pleased!

I eventually resealed the aquarium and it's looking great today!

[PineSong]

Scary stories! I have four tanks in a carpeted room and live in absolute fear of water escaping tanks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scary stories! I have four tanks in a room with carpet and live in fear of water hitting the floor. Sometimes I want to go back to having a 55 and then I think about "that's a lot of water in one place" but the four tanks are 70 all together, so....six of one, half dozen of the other. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scary 

[Anjum]

On 11/5/2022 at 6:58 PM, Pepere said:

There is a crack in the glass underneath that I could feel.  It was a Petco ten dollar special

Ugh what a pain! Would've been a nightmare had you not been close by... One of my biggest fears. Makes me wonder if the super sale tanks are more prone to problems? Or is it just the nature of things, a certain percentage will be defective? How long had you been using that tank? 

[dangerflower]

Tank failure is such a major source of anxiety for me. I almost talked myself out of setting up my newest tanks so many times because I'm so paranoid about it. Thankfully you caught it while it was happening but I bet that was not fun to clean up!

[Pepere]

On 11/6/2022 at 12:38 PM, Anjum said:

Makes me wonder if the super sale tanks are more prone to problems? Or is it just the nature of things, a certain percentage will be defective? How long had you been using that tank? 

I cant imagine Aqueon makes a special run of tanks for Petco to have a half off sale on.

I had thought bottom panels on tanks were tempered glass.  This one was not Tempered.  Maybe that was the problem, maybe assembly was an issue, maybe there had been a scratch to the glass, or a chip on the edge hidden in the frame that was a stress riser…. Who knows.  
 

it sure wasnt because I had too heavy rocks in the tank…

 

I had an undergravel filter and 2 inches of gravel over it, 3 plastic plants and a single hollow ceramic rock.  It had sat there happily for several months. No indication until I happened to see some water there.

I have to think it is a fluke and not a frequent occurrence, but it has got me thinking…

next time Petco has a 50% tank sale I will replace it.  I have my other 2 ten gallon quarantine tanks on stands in the basement, and the third will be there as well on a stand.  Concrete floor there with a floor drain so little worries if it were to recur.

but, when I build my 75 gallon cabinet to place in my living room in a year or so from now, I might opt to fiberglass the top of that stand and install a few inches of skirting around it with a waterproof epoxy fillet and plumb a drain into the stand and plumb that into the household drain.  That would deal with all but a catastrophic panel blow out.  A leaky tank would be no worry and even a crack as I experienced last night would be deadly for the fish, but cleanup would be minimal.

And a drain at the tank would make waterchanges much easier.  And If I go to that extent, I might as well plumb a water feed as well to fill the tank back up….

[Anjum]

On 11/6/2022 at 12:27 PM, Pepere said:

And a drain at the tank would make waterchanges much easier.  And If I go to that extent, I might as well plumb a water feed as well to fill the tank back up….

That would make the maintenance on a 75 much easier ... 

[Rita]

I too live in constant fear of water leaks... I have 7 tanks on the 2nd floor of the townhome we're renting.... I'm thinking of doing some research on water sensors for the floor but have no clue where to start lol So glad you were there to catch it!

[sairving]

I had a 10 gallon tank crack during a water change. The python barely tapped the rim. Next thing I know there's three cracks from top to bottom on the side. Luckily, I managed to get the fish, plants, and water out before it leaked everywhere. The tank probably would have cracked eventually. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/6/2022 at 9:38 AM, Anjum said:

Ugh what a pain! Would've been a nightmare had you not been close by... One of my biggest fears. Makes me wonder if the super sale tanks are more prone to problems? Or is it just the nature of things, a certain percentage will be defective? How long had you been using that tank? 

based on the warranty for tanks.... I would go bigger if you can.

[Pepere]

On 11/7/2022 at 11:34 PM, Rita said:

too live in constant fear of water leaks... I have 7 tanks on the 2nd floor of the townhome we're renting.... I'm thinking of doing some research on water sensors for the floor but have no clue where to start lol

Well, in the scenario I experienced, water sensors would not have helped any..  the tank was empty within minutes..  any sensors would have been useless to me.

I live on the first floor and the tanks were on a hardwood floor.  Much easer to clean up than carpeting.  A lot leaked down in to the basement as well without damaging anything there..  on a second or third floor there would definitely be ceiling and wall damage and also likely damage to woodwork.

My suspicion is that occurrence of similar is rather rare.  Rather than buying water sensors, I would make sure you have good insurance to cover an occurrence.