180g tank leak, and what goes through your head...

[jpelzer]

Woke up this morning, went to let the dog out, set my phone down next to our 180g turtle tank. Picked up phone, and it was damp. Oh no. Start investigating tank, and there's a small bead of water all the way across the front, and a tiny bit on the sides. Can't reach the back of this tank, as it's jammed in a corner. Failing seam? I bought the tank used a few years ago... I have large rocks in there resting on the bottom... Is there a giant crack on the bottom, just being mostly held in by sand? Who knows!?

Then my mind goes into recovery mode: where do I get a new tank? What's the cost? Oh damn, I drilled this tank myself, added overflows. A true reef-ready tank takes up so much space for overflows, don't want that. Custom tank? What's that cost? That much?! Well, maybe I should get a bigger tank while I'm at it. Hmm, I built that stand... Can I make it deeper? What can my floors handle? Where am I gonna put the turtle and his fish buddies while I'm doing this? Is my 1yo daughter going to be helpful?

Let me look at the tank again. Leaking faster! Well, I've got a 90g stock tank in the back yard... This is gonna suck!

Oh wait... There's a trickle running down from the bulkhead? Lemme just tighten that... Fixed.

Never mind.

 

[jpelzer]

 

[raccioppi83]

Lol as I was reading that I was saying to myself in my head to check the piping and everything to make sure it's secure.

 

[MadReefer]

Glad to hear an easy fix.

 

[Hawkeye]

That's an amazing tank. I'm surprised the turtle doesn't eat some of the fish at night.

 

[MadReefer]

That's an amazing tank. I'm surprised the turtle doesn't eat some of the fish at night.

It's odd Phil. My turtle tank when I had it would eat all the feeder fish but seemed to like two of them and never bothered them. One was a goldfish and the other a killi.

 

[jpelzer]

It's odd Phil. My turtle tank when I had it would eat all the feeder fish but seemed to like two of them and never bothered them. One was a goldfish and the other a killi.

My wife had had him for a few years before we met. Apparently he'd been mostly raised on pellets, with just a few feeders when he was tiny. He was in a 20g when we met, a 50g when we moved in together, and the 180g two years ago. The 180 is where we introduced friends. He definitely hunted them at first, but only for a few hours. Turns out fish are hard to catch, pellets easy, turtle lazy.

Here he is sharing: