Sprung a Leak

[Saltcreep]

Got two differents calls from home this morning just after getting to work. "Your tank is leaking and everyone is leaving". I ask "where's the leak', hoping to hear it's near the top. Nope, about 9" from the bottom of a 36" deep hexagonal. "O.K., pull the heater and filter, I'm on my way. This is one time I'm glad I drive to work. Made it home to Stittsville from Tunney's in about a half hour. By the time I got to it, the water was down about 2". On a concrete floor, so not a huge deal there. Scooped out the four nice, big angels and the Congo Tetra. Luckily, I have a nice community tank with some room to spare so they had a place to go. Drained the tank down to the leak and headed back to work. Not bad, I was back in the office by 10:00.

I don't know why I've kept that tank as long as I have except that I love the way it looks when it looks the way it should. Its depth makes it difficult to light without creating excessive algae, it's hard to keep clean, again because it's so deep, and I've always hated the way the seams were done. Pretty flimsy, IMO. It was starting to look really nice too. Four big angels and the tetra in a nicely planted tank. The cabomba was rooted and putting out new growth and the vals were doing well too.

Well, at least we've found a loction for the 50g we inherited last weekend. It'll be on the move tonight.

Anybody else have a hate on for these hex monsters? Maybe that's the problem, it's in the name, it's Hexed.

[PaleoFishGirl]

I had a 33 gallon hex tank that I bought used in Edmonton off a guy who had made it himself.  I loved it.  Had absolutely no problems. 

When I moved to Montreal I gave it to a friend (who promptly seriously overstocked it with cichlids... shudder...).  One morning she woke up and water started spurting out the seams.  I guess her cats had been picking at the silicone and once one split, they all went. 

[Saltcreep]

One morning she woke up and water started spurting out the seams.  I guess her cats had been picking at the silicone and once one split, they all went. 

That's what I mean by flimsy. I probably sealed the deal when I gave it a good cleaning yesterday. Scraped all the glass, rinsed the media and about a 25% water change. This was another tank that I 'inherited' so I have no idea what it cost but, I wonder if a more expensive tank would be built differently. On this one, two panes of glass with square edges are brought together at a 120 degree angle and stuck there with silicone. The two panes of glass touch only at their edges. If those two edges had been beveled to 60 degrees and then sealed with silicone, it might have lasted. This was a disaster waiting to happen.

[PaleoFishGirl]

Yup, sounds exactly like the one I had.  Maybe the difference is that I never cleaned it

I'm glad you got there quick enough to get things under control!

[PoisonJello]

       I had a 30g hex 36" tall, loved the tanks but my cat loved it more, she kept ripping all the silicone out, I redid the tank 3 times then said enough and had the cat declawed thinking great the tank will be fine, well it was for about a week..my cat got smart and used her teeth to rip out the silicone    I even tried putting thick card board down the seems to stop my cat  with no luck, so i redid the tank one last time then proptly sold it..the tank was just poorly designed at the seems

[Shouganai]

I really like the hex tanks for arboreal terrariums, but I never saw the appeal of them for holding water.  It just seems like more seams = more chance of failure.

What are you planning to do with that hex now that its leaky?

[PaleoFishGirl]

What is it with cats and hex tanks? Maybe Saltcreep was right and hex = hexed... was it a black cat?

I agree that they make great terrariums - then kitty can claw/chew all it wants.

[PoisonJello]

  siamese seal point

[babblefish1960]

siamese seal point

Had some of these years ago, they aren't cats so much as concentrated evil.

[PoisonJello]

actually only the siamese around this area seem to be evil (to much inbreeding i think) the one that was recking my tank was from local breeder (died few months ago) and was evil..even attacked a friends baby for crying, (baby got some mean scratches before i got the cat off her) anyway my other seal point is as pure as they come (not the apple head that is common around here) both his parents were show cats and if i didn't know better i would think he is a dog...friendly as can be to everyone , even pants like a dog when he rides in the car oh and he couldn't care less about the fish tanks 

there we go stealing the thread 

[Saltcreep]

I really like the hex tanks for arboreal terrariums, but I never saw the appeal of them for holding water.  It just seems like more seams = more chance of failure.

What are you planning to do with that hex now that its leaky?

Well, I really like the look of a nicely planted, tall tank. That was the 'plan' after all. So, I think I'm going to fill this sucker with tall plastic plants, a few decorations and a chunk of driftwood. Maybe a few of those glass fish hanging on glass floats. Once it all looks good, I'll pour in about 30 gallons of acrylic casting resin. Let a few bubbles rise up while it hardens and, Presto!, permanent aquarium. And, maintenance free.