Oh Crap!

[AmyStardust]

Ok so here's the story...

I bought a 17 litre tank for my son - it currently houses 2 Platy's and 4 Ghost Shrimp!

I'm noticing water appearing by the base - I'm pretty sure I have a very small leak...

So - I have all intentions of calling the pet store in the morning and demanding a replacement!

If - I do have to relocate to a new tank, do I just put my existing water and filter into the new tank??

Also - I'm not panicing, but I am in total fish paranoia at the mo and I'm sure I saw some white fish poo earlier - that's not good right??

 

[Truck]

yes transfer your filter media etc over. and soak up all the water and after a few hours look if there is more water

 

[AmyStardust]

yes transfer your filter media etc over. and soak up all the water and after a few hours look if there is more water

Yeah that's what I've just done - I could just have splashed a lot whilst doing my cycles, I'm hoping that's what it is anyway!

 

[Truck]

i thought i had that problem but it was my silly error :

 

[waterdrop]

A tank with a glass bottom that is in a bottom frame (plastic or other material framing around the glass at bottom) (called a "floating base") can become cracked, often from a high point or other lack of level around the bottom frame. It will then proceed to leak tank water under the cracked glass but somewhat held in by the weight of the floating base. This can make it appear to be only a splash spill but in fact it will eventually get worse.

I'm just passing this on as information. I truly hope it was just a splash!!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[AmyStardust]

Nope - not a splash...

Checked again this morning and there's more water so it looks like we're relocating tanks!

Just one more question.... My filter seems to be taking tiny pauses every so often as opposed to having a fluent stream of water being pumped out - is this ok??

 

[waterdrop]

Nope, that doesn't sound normal either, sorry you're having such a bad day!

 

[OldMan47]

Amy, if the pauses you are talking about are short pauses in a biowheel, it is not at all unusual. As long as the biowheel rotates fast enough to stay wet it will be fine. If the flow of water actually stops, I would become quite concerned. For a HOB filter, flow disturbances are usually the result of the media becoming plugged up with solids. That can be easily remedied by rinsing the filter media in tank water during this weekend's partial water change.

 

[AmyStardust]

The fish are in a new tank now - they all seem happy at the mo!

The filter seems to be acting "normal" again now - the pauses were only for split seconds so I'm thinking that maybe it was a one off!!

When I moved the gravel over today though there was tonnes of dirt and left over food in it - is that normal??

 

[OldMan47]

Gravel can get pretty bad if you don't deep clean it with a gravel vac quite often. I try to do part of my gravel each time I change water so that over a month or so the whole thing gets a good deep cleaning. Of course, by then, I need to start all over again.

 

[Jaymz]

If there's left over food, perhaps cut down on the feedings and make sure that the fish eat all the food you put in the tank, that'll stop the excess waste, save food, and lower the chances of disease breaking out and whatnot.