How urgent is this 125G drip leak?

[Flaring Afro]

Hello, my 125 gallon display tank has started to drip from a bottom center brace. The good news is it is dripping back into the sump, which is about 100 gallons and spans the whole 6ft. The bad news is I'm currently looking into jobs where I would have to move and would really rather not buy a tank, pay someone to deliver it, and go through a day of swapping them when it would be way easier to put a new tank in a new house and set that up while the old one is running.

How quickly would people expect this leak to get worse? Can I just buy some emergency totes for the fish as a precaution and see if the tank will make it a little longer? Thanks

Edit: I forgot to mention I bought the this Aqueon tank new from petsmart in December of 2015. Also the random bits of silicone is from LED strips I attached to to light the sump as a refugium, which I removed 5-6 years ago.

 

[Toby_Hook]

I was about to say, "incredibly urgent"... until I read, " it is dripping back into the sump." That changed my opinion greatly...

Id be very curious as to why it's leaking and where it's leaking from. It could be something simple. A rag, napkin, sponge wicking water up and out of the tank. The water overfilled so it spills over the glass (yet under the rim). Hopefully it's something silly like this that is easily remedied at no cost to you... but...

If, worse case scenario the silicone is leaking, or you can't locate the leak, I'd personally run an experiment to determine the rate of the leak today. Place a board across the sump, put a shot glass (or similar small container) on it and see how long it takes to fill up. Check it each day. If consistent continue checking it ever few days. If it's not getting worse, and the water is leaking back into the same system. Sorta, who cares.

If it starts getting worse, get an "oh sh*t" plan in place ASAP and decide how much risk you're willing to accept. Is it more practical to buy a 150 Gal rubbermaid to set up as a temporary tank until your long term life plan plays out? Or is it better for you to spend the money/energy replacing it then moving the replacement. We can't really help you with that decision as it's a matter of what works better for your specific details / preferences.

 

[Flaring Afro]

I was about to say, "incredibly urgent"... until I read, " it is dripping back into the sump." That changed my opinion greatly...

Id be very curious as to why it's leaking and where it's leaking from. It could be something simple. A rag, napkin, sponge wicking water up and out of the tank. The water overfilled so it spills over the glass (yet under the rim). Hopefully it's something silly like this that is easily remedied at no cost to you... but...

If, worse case scenario the silicone is leaking, or you can't locate the leak, I'd personally run an experiment to determine the rate of the leak today. Place a board across the sump, put a shot glass (or similar small container) on it and see how long it takes to fill up. Check it each day. If consistent continue checking it ever few days. If it's not getting worse, and the water is leaking back into the same system. Sorta, who cares.

If it starts getting worse, get an "oh sh*t" plan in place ASAP and decide how much risk you're willing to accept. Is it more practical to buy a 150 Gal rubbermaid to set up as a temporary tank until your long term life plan plays out? Or is it better for you to spend the money/energy replacing it then moving the replacement. We can't really help you with that decision as it's a matter of what works better for your specific details / preferences.

Measuring it and checking if the leak is accelerating is a good idea. I'll get on that.

As far as an emergency, I am now remembering I have the sump (duh) which is literally just a tank underneath made with wood and waterproofing with EPDM pond liner. There's no baffles etc, just live rock down there. The fish could just be relocated in the sump with the only problem being the halving of water volume. Right now I have a green wrasse, flame angel, royal gramma, and a baby porcupinefish (about 3.5") so the sump volume should be enough to be stable, I'd just have to perform more water changes and empty of the skimmer.

My biggest concern is it expanding rapidly while I'm at work, killing the fish. I do not think this is very likely to happen, but not impossible.

 

[Gershom]

No definite answer from me, but a related story.
I have a 90 gal (brand?) which is 10-15 years old, and it developed a slow leak from the bottom somewhere, after I moved and refilled it.
The location made it non-urgent (shop with concrete floor), so I just watched and waited: it resolved by itself after a couple weeks!

Just so you know it’s possible.

 

[Flaring Afro]

No definite answer from me, but a related story.
I have a 90 gal (brand?) which is 10-15 years old, and it developed a slow leak from the bottom somewhere, after I moved and refilled it.
The location made it non-urgent (shop with concrete floor), so I just watched and waited: it resolved by itself after a couple weeks!

Just so you know it’s possible.

Not sure how that's possible, unless algae or cyanobacteria was thick enough to clog the tiny leak. Fingers crossed that somehow happens to me

 

[Toby_Hook]

Not sure how that's possible, unless algae or cyanobacteria was thick enough to clog the tiny leak. Fingers crossed that somehow happens to me

I'd assume calcium and minerals from harder water.
Or something like I mentioned above such as over filling (over the glass yet still under the trim) or wicking. I've at least twice severely overracted to a leaking tank that turned out to be a minor user error that was quickly and easily corrected.

 

[Flaring Afro]

I'd assume calcium and minerals from harder water.
Or something like I mentioned above such as over filling (over the glass yet still under the trim) or wicking. I've at least twice severely overracted to a leaking tank that turned out to be a minor user error that was quickly and easily corrected.

Sadly in my case I don't think it's user error. I haven't messed with the tank in a month aside from feedings and I saw the leak before the morning feed. I've never seen this puffer squirt water but that's a possibility, except it's now been about 10 hours so she'd have to be continually doing it when I'm not looking (but puffers have done weirder stuff lol). I don't manually top the water off and instead have a float valve in the sump that is directly connected to the RODI.

For now I have a cup under the leak and will keep an eye on that over the next few days.

Edit: Actually last night I did replace the LED strips along the top. It's an open top with "waterproof" LED strips hot glued to the top braces and side rims. I wouldn't think the heat of this would make it's way down to cause a leak but maybe I did somehow cause something to shift.

 

[Flaring Afro]

Over an hour, a little over 1/8 of a cup of water leaked through tonight. 44 grams of water. That just goes to show how those slow drips can add up fast, I'm glad it's not going into the floor.

 

[Toby_Hook]

I was running some numbers for you earlier but lost interest.... lol

In the video you posted above, there were 4 drops in 12 seconds. I used the first drop (at 0:01) to start the timer and the 4th drop was at 0:13. So 0.333 drops per second. 1 drop per 3 seconds. 20 drops per minute. 1,200 drops per hour.


Looking at your numbers... Lets assume 70 minutes...

1/8 cup is 0.0078125gallons... but 44 grams is 0.0116236 gallons...
0.0078125 is 591 drops... 0.0116236 is 880 drops...
591 drops in 70 minutes is, 0.14 drops per second...
880 drops in 70 minutes is, 0.21 drops per second...

Your video showed 0.333 drops per second...

It's slowing down.

 

[jjohnwm]

Leaks like this almost always slow down over time as the hole becomes plugged up with debris, mineral deposits, etc. I've had several such tanks over the years, ranging from 5 to 90 gallons, and none of them has ever worsened or suffered any kind of later catastrophe. They've always been in unfinished basement fishrooms, and the most I've done is move them closer to the floor drain, or over top of a bigger tank. Trying to re-seal a glass tank to correct some almost-imaginary drip is just a PITA. The theory of stripping the interior bead, assiduously cleaning the glass and then re-applying a new bead all around is simple...but it's tedious and tiresome, and allows no shortcuts. You either do it right the first time...or else you will be doing it right the second time...

Your drip has been polite enough to show up in a spot where it literally doesn't matter, since it drips into the sump. I'd just live with it...but I am lazy....