Leaking Aquarium

I was walking up to my 50 gallon fish tank to feed my fish, as usual, when my socks get soaked by a big puddle of water on the floor. At first I blame it on my one year old toddler who is always spilling her water bottle all over the floor. I quickly wipe it up. But then I look up and see water leaking out of the bottom of my fish tank. Oh no.

I use a paper towel to soak up all the water, desperately praying that it was just leftover water spilling from the water change I did two days ago.

Ten minutes later, water continues to slowly but steadily leak out of my tank. My fiance says right away, "You better empty the whole thing, tear it down before it the crack gets bigger and damages our property." I have a mini panic attack. Tear down my pride and joy? A fixer upper I've poured almost $2000 into? No!

But reality was staring me in the face. I had no choice.

So I turned to Google. Explanations on how to reseal tanks were complicated and unfeasible. I didn't have time to do all that with a toddler to look after. I started going on Craigslist, desperately looking for another 50 gallon or larger tank to buy as a replacement. After sending a handful of emails, I went back on Google.

Meanwhile, in the background, my fiance's voice continues to nag, "What are you waiting for? Just empty the tank already! Move the fish and plants and stuff into your small spare tank."

I retort with great frustration, "Just give me some time to think about it!"

"Think about what?" He says, "It's leaking. You need to fix it or get a new one!"

So I hook up my Aqueon water changer hose and start draining away. I take out my spare 20 gallon tank (used as a plant terrarium) and start wiping it down, all the while silently mourning the loss of such a beautiful tank. I have spent 8 months getting it to the way it looks now...only to tear it down? And don't even get me started on how long it would take to catch all of my shrimp and fish in there (over 50!)

After changing out 50% of the water, I remove the hose. Ok, one last check on Google to see if there are ANY alternatives. One last check before I destroy my aquascape.

I visit a fish forum website and a genius on there was answering a question about leaking aquariums. He said in the past his tank had an unexpected leak. So he emptied it and tore everything down to check out the problem. Yet there was no crack or rupture in the silicone sealant. So he filled it up again and the tank started to leak from the bottom again. Long story short, he discovered that his filter was actually overflowing, causing water to drip from the back of the tank to the front.

OF COURSE!

I had noticed that after draining 50% of the water and unplugging my hang-on-back filters, the "leak" stopped for 15 minutes. Could it be??

I checked the back of the tank and lo and behold, there was a puddle of water right under my Fluval C3 filter!

So I refilled my tank and cleaned out my filter media. Plugged everything back in and it's been half hour now and NO LEAK! WOOHOO!

Problem solved.
Thanks Google for saving my butt.
Thank you inner intuition for staying calm and not listening to the advice of my fiance.

Imagine if I had torn it all down only to realize it was just the filter overflowing...

So just thought I'd share this funny story with you guys.

If you have a strange leak, make sure it's not your filter!! And don't keep the water level too high that causes the filter to overflow more easily.

Take care readers!

Chesmok