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sprung a leak-wet carpet

Omega

GPO
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Nov 30, 2009
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So I've had my 110 gallon running in my new place about a month now and woke up this morning to a leak. I had a plastic sheet like you put under office chairs to make them roll on carpet under the stand to keep water off during water changes and adjustments, so most of the water was caught by this but part of it seeped under and went onto my carpet. I think overall i only lost maybe 2-3 gallons. I really dont want to tear down the tank but this is an apartment and i cant afford to have damaged their carpet. Ideas/suggestions? I've dried alot of the water out and have a fan running on the wet part i can get to. I'm just worried about the area under the tank. The padding underneath the carpet is also damp. I have no idea how to clean it all..never had carpet in my life. Thanks for the help =]
 
Interesting. As many folks here know, I don't own a tank. But, I did *just* have a water problem in my basement and so I googled "dry a wet basement carpet and came to an e-how article which instructed:

-shop vac if you have it (I don't but we sopped up with multiple old bed sheets - it was not very wet).

- throw down some baking soda (can leave overnight then vacuum)

- line up a bunch of fans directly aimed at the floor

- ensure ample ventilation (open windows, etc)

- turn off any humidifiers

Mold can form in as little as 24 hours. Good luck!!
 
i soaked up all the water i could get to, then bought a "little green" by bissel its a tiny vaccume for cleaning stains but has crazy powerful suction and it was able to snag about half a cup of water out of the padding..every little bit helps. I have baking soda to sprinkle on the pad and carpet...interestingly enough i have yet to locate where exactly this water escaped my system
 
Look at the water level, your problem will be somewhere where it stopped. Do you have a sump? If you have a sump, check the return tubing to see if the tank overflowed rather than leaked but the sump would be dry or below the pump intake if this is the case).
 
Yes I use a sump, I checked the tank and it was dry all the way around and on bottom. I have the sump disconnected from the tank right now and i marked the water levels in both about noon, no change in water level with either. But I can't find anywhere the hoses would have been leaking. I'm baffled. I'm pretty certain the leak came from the sump I just cant figure out why it stopped leaking.

on the bright side..at least it isnt the tank.
 
If there is water still in the sump and the pump is underwater, then it is either not a blockage in the tubing OR it cleared. We get air trapped in our overflow pipe (there is a 90 degree elbow that causes the problem) and water will rise (I will never put only ONE overflow hole in a tank again). Once the air clears, eventually everything goes back to normal. Did you have a power outage? Fortunately, we have only found a few "wet spots" but it was a mystery for a long time AND I have tile floors AND the tanks are over an unfinished part of the basement.
 
Good additional thought Snowmaker, forgot about sump overflow due to reverse siphon. We lost a couple of gallons this way once. Fortunately it was while testing out the system. A hole higher up on the inflow pipes resolved it quickly.
 
i dont think i had a poewr outage and i dont keep the siphon low enough in the water to have sucked enough to overflow the sump. I just switched to a canister filter for now until i can test the sump for leaks..school starts for me tomorow so I didnt have time.
 

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