question on leaking tanks or other tank failures

[Captain Ron]

I just purchased a 37 gallon tank and stand. Tank is 30"W x 12"D x 22"H. I live on the 2nd story of an apartment. I am worried about leaks now and in the future. I have decided to fill the tank with tap water in the garage and leave it there filled for a week to check for leaks.

From what I gather by searching the forums, tank leaks can happen at any time, even months or years later, not just when you first fill the tank with water. Is that true?
If my tank were to leak, would it start off as a slow leak (less than 2 gallons per day) growing to a larger leak (1 to 5 gallons per hour) hours or days later? Would water shoot out of the seals or just ooze out? I am thinking of putting a drain pan on my stand and placing the aquarium inside the drain pan, and hide a reservoir (large enough to hold the full 37 gallons) connected by tube to the drain pan. I would hide this reservoir behind the couch the tank is next to. I figure this way I can sleep easy without having to worry about a leak damaging the apartment even if I am away on vacation.

In summary:

How do tanks fail/leak?

Would a drain pan extending 1 inch beyond the bottom edges of the tank be sufficent or should it extend out 2 inches or more? Will a lip of 1 to 1.5 inches high on the drain pan be enough to collect the leaking water?

-Capt. Ron

 

[Bifferwine]

It would start out slow. Just a drip here or there. You probably wouldn't even see the water -- you would see a trail of salt where the water evaporated away. I think putting in a secondary containment unit would be overly cautious. The vast majority of us have never experienced a tank leak -- and the smaller the tank, the less likely a leak is. A 37 gallon tank is pretty small. It's still a good idea to do what you are doing and leak test all new tanks.

 

[FishyReef]

I think you are more likely to have a leak from a sump/return lines failing than you are from the tank itself. That said, a few things you can do to prevent a leak from the tank is (a) test the tank (which you are doing), (b) make sure the tank is placed on a level surface and make sure it is level on all sides (if its not, you can shim it), and (c) epoxy your rock into place so that you don't get a rock slide which could crack your tank. As for preventing leaks from your sump/return line - I'm still working on figuring that one out ;)

 

[guarda]

In summary:

How do tanks fail/leak?

-Capt. Ron

Catastrophic failures ime are usually from older tanks that have been filled, then sat around empty and unused for some time. I'm sure heat and temp changes come into play as well. Non-level tanks are also very dangerous.

I live in a litigious-happy condo in NYC and when I upgrade from my 20gallon into something bigger I'm pulling up my floorboards and dropping a few of those big, shallow rubbermaid buckets under there. Gonna drill some drain plugs into my laminate as well.