EMERGENCY IDEAS AND ADVICE NEEDED!!!

[greenbud]

I try normally to start off in a polite positive manner but I'm going to start this Thread off with a warning!!
If you wish to post responses that are rude and not helpful you can leave now. The life of my favorite pets are on the line and I have no care to be nice.

Here is the deal Due to a recent chain of events my plywood tank in my sig has a leak...

This is what happened I run plant filtration and up until now it has never had a side effect and been a great success. But on the 300 build I change my method of application and relocated the plants from the center of the tank to the back left corner. This was done because I wanted the rooting mass out of the main area of the tank. Add a few boards placed acrost the 4 foot gap I had left to let air pass around the tank and you have a great place to trap Moisture and begin to rot things. Now lets top that off with some king of insect that seems to have bored into the tank to the point to breach the fiber glass and we are now caught up with me in the current state I am in

As far as I can tell so far the leak seems to slow or almost stop at about 16 inches of water. The pool paint on the fiber glass paint was a massive bust. And I have nothing else even remotely close to big enough to hold Jojo and Thanksgiving well I come up with a fix.

Realistically I need options to by myself 6 to 9 months to get started on there next tank. After that this tank can go on the bonfire for all I care. And here the other part to this I need to keep it cheap as I can. I just did 1200 in car repairs and 900 in a new furnace setup and its back to school season and my son has grown and needs new stuff and my wife is starting a new job and with out pay for the next 2 weeks. If I sell off my spare riding mower I may be able to have 200 to work with to solve this. also had a friend offer me a spare 55 tall but can you imagine 2 2ft cats in that!!

I am now going to try and walk away from this and let my head clear and come back in the morning. Any ideas you have would be great im to upset to think clearly right now.

 

[lil_pendejo]

If you have a suitable basement, buy a pool.

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[brich999]

intex pool on amazon

 

[Silent Bob]

These 2 couldn't have said it better. Cheap and large and the perfect temporary home. If in doubt plenty of us have done it.


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[coolkeith]

Maybe line the inside of the tank with some clear plastic sheeting? Walmart has some 3.5mm 10' x 25' Husky plastic sheeting for under $10, that you can probably fold in half to double the thickness. Not sure if it will hold water, but that's probably the cheapest route I can think of. Thicker 6mm plastic is about $25, which I'd guess would hold up better. Not sure if it's fish safe though.

 

[justarn]

+1 ^ insert a liner in the tank, cheapest way although not pretty it will work and all filtration heating ect will be in situe... good luck.

 

[greenbud]

Ok well now that I have had a night to drink half a bottle of wild turkey and play some boardlands 2 and kill some stuff in the virtual world. My heads clear and its time to come back to the problem and start fresh.

Step 1
Is going to be to watch the tank and see if it stops leaking at a certain level. I put some clear tape on the glass so can mark it every 12 hours and see if it hits a point that it stops at. if this point is high enough I may be able to buy some time for a month and go with the temp pond setup.

Step 2
I have set up my largest dehumidifier as close to the point that seems the wettest as I can get it. I need to dry out as much as I can and get an idea as to if the wood has been structurally compromised or not.

Step 3
setting up a temp home for them. After reading a few threads today about others in similar problems like mine. The pond liner and cement block setup sounds good and cheap and I can use the pond liner in the spring to make a rain catch for my chickens.

any thought you all have on this would be greatly appreciated

 

[Gill Blue]

can you run the tank at that lower level? do you even want to? I'd be concerned with the insect damage and rot making it structurally unsound. something like that can give out with no warning, and the way I look at it, you've been given a warning with the leak.
if at all possible I'd get something to put the fish in, then worry if you can repair it or not.
some extra fans would help get the moisture into the air for the dehumidifier to remove it.

 

[hemiboo]

I agree with more fans to dry the area. If its insect damage its probably not a small area. You will probably have to replace a large area, requiring a tank tear down.

Maybe next time try to add fiberglass yo the outside to seal out moisture and potential pests from inside and out. I plan on doing a plywood tank in the future. I think I will just seal in and outside so I don't have the heartache and headache.

Good luck hope everything turns out well for you.

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[spiff44]

I keep a stack of 4 65gallon "HUSKY" trashcans on hand for this purpose... emergency tanks when needed. Hole-bottom buckets with media from other tanks and a submersible pump is the emergency filter.