Well, I can't believe it, but it happened again, albeit this time without flooding our house and needing a reconstruction -- our Marineland 60 gallon high seems to have developed a crack or leak from the bottom, as we noticed water pooling from the area where the front of the tank meets the stand. Prior to this tank, we had another aquarium crack in the back, spewing water onto the floor and into our living room below, requiring a team of contractors to fix the water damage and repair everything...it was a NIGHTMARE that lasted at least a month.
Luckily, I was able to stop this leak in time before it broke the glass or spewed the water everywhere; we purchased a 29 gallon Aqueon starter kit just to home our two fancy goldfish for now, filling it with their old tank water so there would be no shock or bacteria crash, and they seem to be doing okay (I'm using an Aqueon QuietFlow 20 on it just temporarily but it seems to be cleaning the water exceptionally well), and I drained the water from the 60 gallon to break the tank's decorations and filters down and all that.
So, this is the SECOND damn aquarium that has busted on us, and we're really getting sick of it -- HOWEVER, I do bear blame for at least the first one, because I believe what caused that crack was a cleaning I did of the tank after it came down with a bacterial infection (we also kept fancy goldfish in it) and I mixed scalding hot water with cold water, thus probably weakening the seals. With this newer Marineland tank, I don't believe the stand and aquarium were ABSOLUTELY level, as there was a slight lean forward from the day we set it up. I never fixed the lean, and it stayed like that for about 10 years or so. This was also a VERY tall "show tank" and the water balance never looked right, with the tank being so high and the stand not being completely level and straight. I think this may have contributed to the current leak, which is definitely coming from the bottom...
So now we have to, yet again, shop for a new tank to put the fish back into, but we really don't want to keep these big, heavy tanks on this second floor anymore...we wanted to drop down to a 55 gallon or maybe slightly less, but we're not really finding any in stock ANYWHERE. The only one we keep coming back to is a 75 gallon Marineland from PetSmart that is low and DEEP, so it would make maintenance so much easier; I also assumed that maybe this 75 would distribute the water more evenly, and the stand it comes with looks much sturdier than the last one we had.
Can anyone lend any insight as to why this keeps happening to us? Is it because the floor we have the tank on just can't hold the weight -- or would this just mean the tank would have fallen through the floor already? With regard to this last crack/leak, does it sound like it was because this very tall Marineland 60 gallon just wasn't leveled? Could a lean forward put enough pressure on a tank as to make it fail from the bottom after about 10 years?
This brings me to another question -- what is the average lifespan for these new tanks? Shouldn't they last more than they are? I mean, we really don't want to keep going through this after some time passes...if the seals on these tanks are going to fail regularly, we're just not going to stay in the hobby, as much as I like it. Could the decorations we put in the tank have weighed it down to the point the bottom glass cracked? We had a big two-piece pirate ship set from PetSmart in this last tank, plus gravel and some plants....but could this have added to the weight enough to break the bottom glass?
Does anyone have any suggestions for us moving forward as we try to get a new tank to rehouse the two goldfish we have? They can't stay in the 29 gallon indefinitely, so we need to get a new tank and stand up and running very soon. Is a 75 gallon a good idea for an upstairs room/area of a house, or will this be too much weight? If we go smaller, what would be recommended?
Luckily, I was able to stop this leak in time before it broke the glass or spewed the water everywhere; we purchased a 29 gallon Aqueon starter kit just to home our two fancy goldfish for now, filling it with their old tank water so there would be no shock or bacteria crash, and they seem to be doing okay (I'm using an Aqueon QuietFlow 20 on it just temporarily but it seems to be cleaning the water exceptionally well), and I drained the water from the 60 gallon to break the tank's decorations and filters down and all that.
So, this is the SECOND damn aquarium that has busted on us, and we're really getting sick of it -- HOWEVER, I do bear blame for at least the first one, because I believe what caused that crack was a cleaning I did of the tank after it came down with a bacterial infection (we also kept fancy goldfish in it) and I mixed scalding hot water with cold water, thus probably weakening the seals. With this newer Marineland tank, I don't believe the stand and aquarium were ABSOLUTELY level, as there was a slight lean forward from the day we set it up. I never fixed the lean, and it stayed like that for about 10 years or so. This was also a VERY tall "show tank" and the water balance never looked right, with the tank being so high and the stand not being completely level and straight. I think this may have contributed to the current leak, which is definitely coming from the bottom...
So now we have to, yet again, shop for a new tank to put the fish back into, but we really don't want to keep these big, heavy tanks on this second floor anymore...we wanted to drop down to a 55 gallon or maybe slightly less, but we're not really finding any in stock ANYWHERE. The only one we keep coming back to is a 75 gallon Marineland from PetSmart that is low and DEEP, so it would make maintenance so much easier; I also assumed that maybe this 75 would distribute the water more evenly, and the stand it comes with looks much sturdier than the last one we had.
Can anyone lend any insight as to why this keeps happening to us? Is it because the floor we have the tank on just can't hold the weight -- or would this just mean the tank would have fallen through the floor already? With regard to this last crack/leak, does it sound like it was because this very tall Marineland 60 gallon just wasn't leveled? Could a lean forward put enough pressure on a tank as to make it fail from the bottom after about 10 years?
This brings me to another question -- what is the average lifespan for these new tanks? Shouldn't they last more than they are? I mean, we really don't want to keep going through this after some time passes...if the seals on these tanks are going to fail regularly, we're just not going to stay in the hobby, as much as I like it. Could the decorations we put in the tank have weighed it down to the point the bottom glass cracked? We had a big two-piece pirate ship set from PetSmart in this last tank, plus gravel and some plants....but could this have added to the weight enough to break the bottom glass?
Does anyone have any suggestions for us moving forward as we try to get a new tank to rehouse the two goldfish we have? They can't stay in the 29 gallon indefinitely, so we need to get a new tank and stand up and running very soon. Is a 75 gallon a good idea for an upstairs room/area of a house, or will this be too much weight? If we go smaller, what would be recommended?