Yesterday I got home from work (now regretting staying 2 hours longer than I needed to) and heard my fish tank making the noise that it makes when the water falls below the level of the filter outputs. It loses about a half inch per week to evaporation and I use that sound as my cue to to a partial water change. However, I knew it was well above those outputs and had no reason to, not just be low, but low enough to be making that much noise. I glanced over at it and it was probably 2 inches down. I looked around, the carpet wasn’t soaked, I opened the cabinet and it seemed okay…but the canister filter was at an odd angle, but everything seemed okay. After a few minutes of poking around I noticed my socks and the knees of my jeans were getting wet. Okay, time to get a better look. Grabbed a flashlight and really started looking. There was water pooled on the carpet behind the tank and the reason the canister was at an angle was because the shelf in the bottom of the cabinet had taken on water and sagged.
First thing to look for was a crack, nope, no cracks. No water dripping or pouring out. All the wires and hoses running down from the tank were dry. I finally found that the shutoff valve for the canister had a little drop of water on it. The culprit. I don’t know how long it was leaking for, it may have been over a few days, but it was about 5 gallons of water that I lost.
I sopped up what I could with a towel, but that was hardly anything. There just wasn’t 5 gallons of water to be found. Got a fan and dehumidifier on it. My fear was that the bulk of the water was under the cabinet, which I don’t have access to. This is the stand. That bottom ‘trim’, isn’t trim, it’s structural, so I can’t remove it. On top of that, my power tools were at work so I couldn’t cut the (non structural) shelf out. I did manage to put a small drill bit on a ratchet, make two holes, connect my air pump to some tubing and put that down one of the holes. I couldn’t see down the little tiny holes and the air pump doesn’t move enough air to blow out a match, but at least it got some air moving down there.
So, since yesterday I’ve had a fan and dehumidifier directed at/around the stand. I’m sure it’s helping, but you’ll still end up with wet socks if you spend more than a minute over there and it’s still pretty wet behind the tank.
Today, I grabbed a drill from work and popped a couple of 1.5" holes in the bottom. I was very surprised to find that the carpet under the tank was mostly dry. I figured it would by completely soaking wet. I mean, I understand the water probably got to the pad and subfloor, but still. Right now I’ve got the fan laying down over the holes and a couple buckets of damp-rid sitting under the cabinet. The dehumidifier isn’t running because it’s loud and annoying. I’ll turn it back on when I leave for work in the morning.
But after all this, I lost 5 gallons and probably recovered less than a half. And yes, I checked the basement. It’s finished in that area, but the drywall isn’t showing any signs of being wet.
Maybe I got lucky?
Maybe the first few gallons happened over a week and evaporated? Maybe most of it got sucked into the shelf in the cabinet, which is dry now.
Hey, as long as it doesn’t smell in a week or two, I’ll be thrilled. This carpet desperately needs to be replaced, but I’d like it to last a few more years. The roof is getting done first.
What probably bugs me the most is that someday when I get rid of this tank and stand (because I’m on a hiatus from the hobby), I’ll probably have a big black stain in the outline of the stand. Perhaps the next stand I get, I’ll attempt to find one that’s open on the bottom, but they are harder to find.
I was also thinking that I need to put a moisture alarm down there. Maybe that would have alerted me to the problem a few days ago, who knows.