Silicone gave out...

[WTM]

Well it's finally happened...

After several years of tank ownership, we have a tank that sprung an almighty leak (turtles have ripped the silicone out of the bottom edge of the tank. :evil:

Luckily it is the turtle tank, and not one of the fish tanks, and I've already left a message at Port Nicholson to give me a call about arranging to get the tank re-siliconed (not game to try DIY on this tank).

However, the reason for this post is that we simply do not have a spare tank big enough for the girl and boy, and I was hoping for people more experienced than ourselves to advise if we are dealing with this the right way.

They are staying in a carboard box for most of the day (i.e. dry docked), and once a day we are placing them in a tub with warm water and food, for 2-4 hours to ensure they can eat, rehydrate, and relieve themselves.

They are both quite relaxed about being out of the water, and do not appear stressed.

If our current plan is flawed in any way, please let me know, and any advice offered would be appreciated...

Thanks in advance.

[Aquatopia]

Do you have anything (even a bucket) that you can keep the filter going in ? or you will quickly lose your bacteria

[Mel]

Don't you hate it when something like this happens - hopefully you'll have the tank back up and running soon.

Do you have a bathtub? i'd just fill that up and put them in there. My brother had the same thing happen and had his 2 turts living in his bathtub for 1 month with a heater in there.

But someone else hopefully will let you know weather it's ok to drydock them

I don't think you need to worry about your filter - turtles are alot harder than fish, don't need to cycle a turtle tank

[Insect Direct]

Id be inclined to find plastic tub for them in the mean time, may take a few days atleast to get tank redone then couple of days for silicon to cure? otherwise what your doing should be ok.

Cycling a turtle tank is good. Prevents the algae probs you can get with out doing so, also keeps things more stable for the turtles. not a biggy but if you can try keep filter going thats great but its prob to late now anyway just keep up with water changes once setup again.

Baths are good but can be trouble. I was dropping some turtles off to someone recently and they pointed out to me there bath was stained (apparently permanent) from the fish they had in the bath for a month or so.. :lol:

When i was renting i put some in the bath while moving house....turtles pulled the plug and the heater i had in there melted nicely into the plastic bath woopsy.

[WTM]

Still no word from the glazier (but then I can be quiet on the phone, so should probably call again in case he couldn't hear my number).

Thats wat I was finking to Mincie.

I have a 100L Container here (used for moving fish once and thats it) if its big enuff. You can borrow that?

I may well take you up on that, but first I'd need to arrange a bigger car (only have a mx5 running). What sort of dimensions is it (high, long, deep)?

I intially was trying to keep the filter going, but once we realised the extent of the leak, it sort of went to the side, so by now I'd say it's gone off (am dreading opening it). That said we also have two fish tanks running, so can use some media from them to restart the filter.

As for putting the in the bath.... well let's just say i may trust my health to that hazzard, but wouldn't trust it with my turtles health :oops: :oops:

The irony is that they had broke their basking shelf the other week, so I had them outside sunning themselves when this all happened, and I'm certain they were laughing when we found the leak (I think the rabbits put them up to it).

Our biggest worry is the damage to the carpet... does anyone know if contents insurance cover tank leaks?

And thanks for tha advice guys, it's REALLY appreciated.

[DonnaM]

When I had a turtle tank crack, insurance covered the carpet people...with their big drying machines that had to be on for a week...they paid for the lights, plugs and adapters that were on the floor as all the water poured straight into them, paid for new tank, paid for new table top...as water seeped into wood and caused irreversible damage. And even the sheet that got filled with glass. Tho mine was caused by me having tank proped up at one end by the sheet, getting distracted as tank filling so it filled WAYYYY higher then ramp and I only had wanted a bit to swish around the side panels. Then I knocked bottom of tank with syphon and the whole bottom opened up with several pieces of glass in all directions. So was seen as an accident causing damage, so insurance covered. But in past I had a pond with plug in it in the conservatory. Turtle knocked out plug and insurance paid for the pump and heaters that burnt out...and new pond liner etc, so they do cover such things. Worth a try anyway.

Also I've used bath for turts with no problem. There is a new 'natural' product (Green Works) that I've used to clean bath as no chemicals and works really well. Dry docking is Ok, but it could slow them down a bit as its getting colder. Bath or Mystics container would be fine. Maybe day in bath and eve/night dry docked? Put a cover on your heater in bath or tub too Good luck

[darkfur]

if you need to clean the bath I'd do it with a paste made of baking soda. Old skool way. That oughta get rid of soap residue well enough for your wee fellas.