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  • Results 1 to 4 of 4

    Thread: Tank Failure

    1. #1
      little_mikey is offline Senior Member
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      Tank Failure

      Hello all,
      I am about to start renting and am curious about why it seems like a lot of places dislike fish tanks. I have had a fish tank pretty much my entire life but have never had one fail. One of my oldest tanks is 20 years old and the silicone is finally looking like it has gaps forming. Granted it’s only a 10 gallon, but it looks like it is straining. I have a 36 gallon glass bow front that I picked up from the trash last year. It looked like it was maybe 6 months later old (dirty but *new). I using that for a small moray. I also have 2 20 high glass aquariums that are about 10 + years old. One of which has a crack on the black plastic bezel. That one I use for my gecko. The other has a green spotted puffer. Both of the 20s look like the silicone is good (no air gaps). Planning on buying a new 36 bow front to replace the 20 high.

      In the meantime is there any way to gauge how healthy a tank is? I mean I checked the silicone sealant... but like what about the probability of total failure. How does that happen? Has anyone here been through that? I really hate the particle wood stands. It seems like they are wobbly and I imagine they sag and this uneven straign is what makes tanks fail. I have also done a lot of stupid stuff as a kid like put a 55 gallon on a dresser that should have buckled.

      Currently the tanks I have sit on the ground or wood boards over concrete blocks. Even this is upset me as I didn’t actually put a level down, just sort of eye-balled it. Should I be worried?

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    2. #2
      cottagefog is offline Senior Member
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      My brother has a lot of rental properties. He used to allow fish tanks, until tank "leak" problems kept compiling.

      There was never a fish tank seam leaking that gave him problems. Renters fish tanks where being tipped over, or smashed. Not only is the water damaging your apartment but the apartment below. He has had to change flooring and repaired ceilings because of a fish tank accident. And the cost typically eats up the renters deposit. Then when the renter decides to move there isn't much money left to repair everything else the renter messed up during their lease. I know there's many worthy aquarium owners but you just have to minimize the risk. You can add that to a list of what apartment owners don't want to deal with. Some examples are pets, smokers, waterbed owners!
      Last edited by cottagefog; 10-13-2018 at 03:02 PM.

    3. #3
      kevin32 is offline Inactivated
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      I have a 55 gallon truvu tank so I don't worry about any failures. I also use a hang on filter and not a external filter. Pretty much fail safe this way. I dont really line how glass aquariums are so thin and also really on silicone to hold

    4. #4
      rcmike is offline Supporting Member
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      I had a 75 gal. reef tank leak once. There was a hole burrowed through the silicone from some sort of worm that comes in with the live rock. It looked just like someone drilled through it with a drill bit. It is pretty rare and doesn't apply to freshwater though.

      I have heard of tanks failing and emptying most or all of the water out. It's pretty rare though. I would do some searching on the bowfront though. I seem to recall reading on either reef central or reef 2 reef that some of those had problems woth leaking. I think they were larger though.

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