Need some help Sprung a leak

Dalesreef

Non-member
Well found a leak in the bottom of the front pane of glass in my 250 gal .

Not sure what to do ????
Should I buy another tank or should a brake it down and try re sealing it
I've never re sealed a tank before.

Has anyone had success doing this and what's the best way? Looking for advice asap it's a very small leak but going to get bigger SOON :eek:
Thanks
 
OH NO !!! personally I would get a new tank . re-sealing a tank is kind of tricky from what I understand . everything has to be super clean for the silicone to stick and bond
 
oh, man, i'm sorry. what a nightmare. anything i can do to help, let me know.

might be able to plug it temporarily from the inside with some two part epoxy?

it might buy you some time to switch over to a new tank setup.

-Mike
 
That big of a tank and I'd be getting a new one...... I'd never be able to sleep at night!

Sorry to hear - good luck
 
If the tank was water tight to begin with than your problem is not the tank but the floor on which the stand sits and / or the stand.
The silicone is NOT designed to be the main structural component of the tank, it is there to take up minor forces exerted by water pressure and provide the sealing between panels of glass.
You could reseal the tank (get some good RTV silicone, clean everything really thoroughly and reassemble the tank; this is easier said than done on most tanks or you could get another tank.

On a large tank expect the entire process to take about 1 week of time in between taking the tank apart, cleaning, drying, reassembling, curing, testing.

The reason this happened is because the bottom panel lies on the flat so it tends to bow under water pressure if not supported properly and uniformly all the way along it's length, the vertical front panel is basically behaving like a piece of glass with the thickness equaling the height of the tank. so the silicone ends up supporting the pressure of the water column; it's not designed or suitable for that.

regardless of the way you decide to go, If you don't want to deal with this again, make sure that the top of the stand is still perfectly flat after a load equal to the mass of the full tank is applied to it. that is particularly difficult if you're dealing with older floors designed under more relaxed deflection standards or if your stand is one of those flimsy (but nice looking) thingies that are so popular nowadays.


Good luck, and, if you need any help housing something while you deal with the issue let me know, I can house a couple of things for a short period.
 
Thank you for all the replies and messages

But have good news the tank is not leaking after further inspection I have found out where the water was coming from its actually coming from the the top of the tank from the wave being a little to much every now and then I get a little trickle of water coming down the back corner and it is filling up the top of the bottom trim

Thank god its not the tank itself
:p:D
Thanks
Again
 
woop woop !!!! good deal . I have that happen now and then too . I don't care if I get the floor wet down here though lol
 
Back
Top