mling November 12, 2007 November 12, 2007 Guess I have been lucky since this is my first tank (glass) leak in over 20 years ! Problem is I have no clue what to do. It is a slow leak at one of the seams of my 50 Gal FOWLR, like a tear drop every 3 seconds. It is about 6" from the bottom of the tank. Discovered it late last night when we returned home from a weekend trip. Lucky for us, it must have started just a few hrs before we got home since that was not much water damage. What I have done to stop to leak is to reduce the water pressure at the leak point by taking out about 60% of the water. I've applied some glue on the leak spot ( the Hot Gun plastic stuff used for arts and crafts, only thing I had at 11:30pm ). Obviously this is a temporaryfix. What do you do with such a leak ? I guess some kind of silicon glue to have to be used. Is there one brand that is better than others ? Can I just drop by home depot to get a Silicon based calk ? Do you have to glue both the inside and outside of the tank ? Thanks in advance for any advise.
davelin315 November 12, 2007 November 12, 2007 Hi Mike, I would avoid using the hot glue, it will only melt the silicone and provide a very poor bond (it will actually slip right off the glass when it cools). Get aquarium safe silicone and reglue the entire edge. You will need to strip off old silicone. That said, if it's leaking, you may want to consider replacing or re-sealing the whole tank. Who knows what else might be happening... with this in mind, how old is the tank and is it on a level stand? These two factors could influence what decision you make.
mling November 12, 2007 Author November 12, 2007 Hi Mike, I would avoid using the hot glue, it will only melt the silicone and provide a very poor bond (it will actually slip right off the glass when it cools). Get aquarium safe silicone and reglue the entire edge. You will need to strip off old silicone. That said, if it's leaking, you may want to consider replacing or re-sealing the whole tank. Who knows what else might be happening... with this in mind, how old is the tank and is it on a level stand? These two factors could influence what decision you make. Hi Dave ! Thanks for the quick response. This tank is old, 13 years old and is on a level stand. Yes, I know it has probably out lived it's usefullness. However, I am planing to move in the next 6 months. That is when I plan to upgrade the tank to a 100G +. I have heard horror stories of tank moves and won't want to do it if I don't have to. I am also toying with the idea of combining the FOWLR and Reef in to a real biggie with LR seperating the fish that won't get along. So looks like I will start patching the outside of this tank and hope to will hold till I move. Is the stuff at HomeDepot generally Aquarium safe ? Do I have to care if I am only sealing from the outside ? How is your 300G coming along ?
yauger November 12, 2007 November 12, 2007 Hi Dave ! Thanks for the quick response. This tank is old, 13 years old and is on a level stand. Yes, I know it has probably out lived it's usefullness. However, I am planing to move in the next 6 months. That is when I plan to upgrade the tank to a 100G +. I have heard horror stories of tank moves and won't want to do it if I don't have to. I am also toying with the idea of combining the FOWLR and Reef in to a real biggie with LR seperating the fish that won't get along. So looks like I will start patching the outside of this tank and hope to will hold till I move. Is the stuff at HomeDepot generally Aquarium safe ? Do I have to care if I am only sealing from the outside ? How is your 300G coming along ? Use GE I silicone, it is 100% silicone without the additive for mold and what not... They have it at homedepot for $4 a tube, if you buy the All-glass silicone your gonna pay $12 a tube and you can if that at most LFS... I suggests using the GE I silicone though because you might go through a couple of tubes resealing an entire tank... For a tank that size though I would buy an new tank because they don't cost that much and you can maybe add a closed loop!!
davelin315 November 12, 2007 November 12, 2007 300 is filled with tap water to test out the closed loop (the 1st one). I need to add on the 2nd closed loop and drain the tank of the water (there's a bacterial bloom in there right now). I can then finish plumbing it to the sump and it's ready to rock, at least as soon as I can get 300 gallons of RO/DI water in it...
txaggies07 November 12, 2007 November 12, 2007 Good luck! You sound much more calm then I would have.
treesprite November 13, 2007 November 13, 2007 I have been very fortunate to never have a leak, but I've had bad dreams about such things. I would probably be in a panic if I found my tank leaking.
Rascal November 13, 2007 November 13, 2007 (edited) So looks like I will start patching the outside of this tank and hope to will hold till I move. My experience in patching leaks with silicone is that it doesn't work if you try to do it wet. In other words, if there is still water pressure on the leak the water will work itself through the newly applied silicone and leak again before it cures. Hate to say it, but I think you are going to have to drain the tank down to the point of the leak while you patch it, and leave it that way at least long enough for the silicone to begin to cure. Edited November 13, 2007 by Rascal
xCGx November 13, 2007 November 13, 2007 I've read that an unlevel tank can cause it to leak. Would checking to see if the tank is level do any good at this point? Maybe worth a try.
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