How often does it happen?

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calpoly12

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 10, 2010
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Paso Robles, CA
How often do tanks break or leak? It's the worse case scenario to me. My tank is in my living room against a wall and if it broke I don't know what I would do. It's only my 90g thats in there but thats about 89.9 gallons more than I ever want to see on the floor. I do have stained concrete floors so there is no carpet to be ruined, hence why I'm not super paranoid.

Anyhow, what are some signs of tanks that are about to break/leak?
Silicon flaking on the inside,etc. ???

What can cause a tank to crack?
Huge temp difference in water when doing water changes, hitting the tank?

How much water is 90 gallons really? I know its not like some tanks on here pushing 5k plus, but is 90 going to do some good damage to the house?

It just seems to be that I see more and more tanks cracking/breaking and kinda makes me think hhmm is it worth it. O and no basement to put it in, Cali houses are lacking that in most cases :wall::wall::wall:
 
I had only two tanks that leaked but one of them was secondhanded from a petstore with very dry silicon sealant since it has not been used for some time.

Leaking is very rare in my case though. The other tank leaked as it turned 19 years old (in 2008) and there were times before that when I stopped using it to take a break from the hobby. I already had it fixed. It must have simply been waiting to give way since it happened seconds after my geophagus went berserk and smashed into the side glass spurting water all over to my horror.

In short, when a tank is not used for a period of time, check the silicon sealant to see if it peels off easily. That would indicate possible leaking.
 
I think it would be hard to even try to answer this. Aquarium breaks are very rare, there are 30 year old tanks out there still giving pleasure to their owners. But, an accident can take out any tank at any time.

Worrying about a tank breaking will take all the fun out of the hobby! Relax, don't stress it. If it happens, insurance will most likely help out :)

Good luck!
 
A tank that is seriously uneven can cause stress over time, and a possible leak/break. As previously mentioned, drying out silicone can cause leaks.

I bought a tank that had been in storage for years, so I scraped it down, and resealed it. However, I bought an even older tank (been in use since day-1) and have not bothered to reseal it, and it works like a charm.
 
Thx for the replies!!! Making my mind have some peace :) I was just thinking about another question...I live about oooooooo 15 miles from the "center of the san andreas fault. few years back had a 7.5 ,or so, earthquake and it shook the crap outta my house. Knocked down buildings and made a roof slide off a three story store that landed on two people.Luckily I wasnt in the hobby then. Anyway, there will eventually be another one and Im sure it will be bigger since we are long over due. The foundation on my house is solid as a rock and only lost one picture off the wall. How do fish tanks do in earthquakes?
 
Here are some pics I found. Before and after of the area that was most visibly hit. Was down right where the roof fell off about fifteen minutes before the quake hit.... The LFS is about three blocks from this point and they only lost one tank I believe. In my opinion they lucked out BIG TIME.

PICS are from Paso Robles.

level-4-is-in-the-back.jpg

quake_0680.jpg
 
Man you are going to get a wide range of answers to that question. But last year my friend bought a brand new 200+ gal tank and it sprung a major leak about 4 months later. The king of leak that only took the water about 60-90 minutes to run out. But the maker replaced it.
 
I too have wondered this....
 
Worse is if they explode and shards fly all over. I have seen it.
 
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