Tank leaked

[Timothy]

Hi everyone, I am new here so I'll give a run down on my system. I have 60 gallon "homemade" tank. I have lettuce and a tomatoe plant, 2 jalapeño plants. I have 12 talapia. I originally ordered 10 but the supplier added a couple extra "whoohooo score me meee" lol. Anyway  everything was going great! Then.... DISASTER I HAD A LEAK! Now the first thing your going to think is "that's what happens when these newbies try building a homemade tank lol but the tank is holding supper strong.. No I had a user error and accidentally knocked a value off of the supply line that's goes from the tank to the grow beds. I lost about 80-90% of the water before I realized and corrected the problem. Now I have a need to replace the water that was lost leading me to my questions. What is the best way to replace all the water that was lost? I know I shouldn't replace more then 25%,  right now there is about 5 iniches of water I the bottom of the tank. there is enough room for them to swim in but obviously I need more water. 

[Bob Wohl]

I've had this happen in the past and never had a problem replacing water. But maybe that was luck. Add a little at a time over the next week until back to full. 

[Bob Wohl]

Good to note, oxygen can be an issue here as well. I ran a air stone in my tanks in the past (250 gallon) to help when the temps got high so this wasn't an issue for me but less water == less air. 

[Timothy]

Sounds good Bob, thanks for the reply.

[David]

Just be sure to treat the added water for chlorine or chloramine as necessary (I use Prime) and be aware of any difference in pH. PH might need to be adjusted to avoid shock to the fish and death.

[Jeff S]

When I first started out all I heard was be very careful about water changes, pH swings, temperature changes ,etc.  I tried to follow directions but after battling ammonia spikes and similar water loss situations like yours I came to understand that barring oxygen loss it's hard to kill Tilapia. I've done 90% water changes several times and had no problems. Major temp and pH changes and they don't seem to mind. To keep this from happening again I can offer a few tips. If your pump is in your fish tank raise it so you can't empty the tank. If you're using a SLO make sure it can't siphon down the fish tank. Do away with any lower drains on the fish tank to eliminate accidental tank draining. Using these methods will insure you can't drain the tank again. I'd also advise (from experience) add an air pump if you don't have one and if possible run it from a separate circuit than the water pump so if one breaker kicks the other will keep the fish alive.

[Timothy]

Wow Jeff, that's awesome thanks for the info. I really appreciate that steps to keep from possible repeats on my part lol. I will make those changes. I did add an overflow tube so water can't fill the bed past a certain hight. but the more protection the best right. thanks again. I have been slowly filling the tank (about a bucket a day) and the fish are doing great and getting big. it's so cool watching them grow so fast.

[Jeff S]

As an example of Tilapia hardiness I recently pulled some fry out of  one tank and dropped them into a new tank with no problems.  I just made sure the water wasn't too cold and the pH was somewhere between 6 and 7.5.
Timothy said:

Wow Jeff, that's awesome thanks for the info. I really appreciate that steps to keep from possible repeats on my part lol. I will make those changes. I did add an overflow tube so water can't fill the bed past a certain hight. but the more protection the best right. thanks again. I have been slowly filling the tank (about a bucket a day) and the fish are doing great and getting big. it's so cool watching them grow so fast.