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Disaster hits!

Fishmanic

Hammer Time
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Was sitting in front of the tv in my recliner...my 35 gallon tall hex tank is a bit to my right. I look over to the tank and noticed the water level was down by about 5 inches...I had just done a WC 2 days ago. Checked the floor and sure enough, it is very wet. Aw--oh! Checked the filter to see if hopefully it was leaking...nope! The tank is leaking somewhere near the bottom seals.

What to do ... what to do. I have 5 black skirt tetras, 2 neon tetras (survivors) and a full grown BN pleco in the tank. I decided to move all the fish except the neons to my 29 gallon over filtered tank which contains 6 tiger barbs, a BN pleco, and a Bolivian ram. The tiger barbs are ignoring the Black skirts...that's good. The BN is at the front of the tank and seems not to be concerned about his new home. The other BN is ignoring him and he usually just hides under the driftwood so I think they will get along fine. I am now slightly overstocked but may just keep all the fish in there and do more frequent water changes.

I don't plan on replacing the 35 gallon at the moment and won't be resealing it as it is 25 years old and the glass is etched. It would be extremely difficult to even attempt to reseal it as it is 24 inches deep. The stand may be ruined as well as it is just made of particle board.

And to top it off, I dropped the Aquaclear 50 filter when removing it and it is now cracked. Now I need to soak up all the water on the floor with some towels.

I might start up my 5 gallon tank which was in storage to house the neons at least temporarily...I know they need a larger tank long term though.

It has NOT been a good day today.
 
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Bother that is a pain, and right on Christmas. The neons will be fine in the 5g. I wish you lived closer, I have a couple of tanks you could borrow.
 
I had transferred the 2 neons to the 29 gallon with all the other fish. They were immediately hounded and chased which is what I had expected. So they're now in the 8 gallon tupperware container on their own. Put in a heater and transferred the large sponge filter . Put in all the plants from the leaking hex tank. They should be fine for now.
 
Sorry to hear about that, definitely not the best way to spend the evening. But as fish people, we are used to things going south quickly and at inopportune times. Hope the rest of your evening goes much better.
 
Well, the bright side is I caught it before too much water leaked out. Probably about 5 gallons leaked out before I discovered it. It could have been much worse if I didnt see it till tomorrow. It's on a tile laminated floor over concrete in the basement so I don't think there will be much floor damage.

Also luckily the tank was understocked and my other tank was under stocked so I think it will be fine for now with the bulk of the fish (except the neons) in the 29 gallon. Per Aquadvisor, it's about 11% overstocked. The additional pleco may add to the bioload though. But the added Pleco is more friendly and out in the open more than the one that was in the 29 gallon. And he loves grazing on algae and I have a good amount in the tank so that is one bonus. The other one just munches on the driftwood all day. I just hope they don't mate as I think one is a female and the other a male. I do feed a couple of algae wafers to supplement their diet. They're both a few years old. And I also drop in some shrimp pellets which the Tiger Barbs and the Bolivian ram gobble up. And of course, I feed a helping of New Life Spectrum flakes every day.
 
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I just hope I don't get an ammonia spike by adding the fish to the 29 gallon tank. Maybe I'll float the media from the 35 gallon for a few days. I'll have to check for ammonia and nitrites over the next few days. The skirt tetras I added are juveniles so that's a plus. 3 of the 6 tiger barbs are also juveniles. But the two BN plecos are fully grown.
 
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If you get another tank, go long, super long 72" or more long. Find a wall measure it that's the length
 
Now that I've got your attention, it might be a good time to remind all of you to vote in the Tank of the Year Tournament. We need as many votes as possible as we have 12 entries--one for each month of 2021. Right now, there is a tie for first place. So if you haven't yet voted, now is a good time to head over to the polling thread and cast your vote!
 
Now that I've got your attention, it might be a good time to remind all of you to vote in the Tank of the Year Tournament. We need as many votes as possible as we have 12 entries--one for each month of 2021. So if you haven't yet voted, now is a good time to head over to the polling thread and cast your vote!
You are so good at this. We would love you at our golf club, you are the best promoter I think I've ever seen👍
 
My reward is getting as many members to vote as possible and to increase interest in our 3 contests. I am hoping we can get at least 200 members to vote in the TOTY Tournament.
 

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