HELP!!!! Pinhole water leaks in silicone :(

[turbovr6]

I need some advise please!!!! I finally got my 150 filled up tonight. The tank is used, but I know the old owner and it was not leaking when he had it running 6 months ago. Anyway.... where the 2 pieces of glass meet along the side, there are 3 slow but steady drips. I am 100% there is no crack. It looks like the silicone has a few pinholes in it.
Can I fix this without tearing the entire tank apart???? I'll assume just putting silicone on the outside won't be enough???? I'm draining the tank as we speak, hopefully I can fix this soon.

Thanks in advance

[tmcgee]

Well if you can tell where the pin holes are in the silicone you can cut that portion out with a razor blade and then re-seal it with new silicone. Make sure you get as much of the old stuff out as possible. Go a little farther around the holes than you need to and make sure when you reapply the new silicone get a good seal over the old stuff as well. This should work as I did it for my 55 gallon. [acronym:570dac9219="Hope this helps (or) Happy to help"]HTH[/acronym:570dac9219]

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

It is better to remove all the silicone from the inside (Razor against each side to reveal clean corner) and redo the silicone with pure silicone (GE SiliconeI I believe).

If the silicone is developing cracks, it's better to redo the sealing joints (not the part that holds the tank together), otherwise you'll find youself tearing it down every so often to patch a small leak. (do it right the first time).

And Silicone doesn't stick to dried silicone, so "patching" will cause future leaks for sure.

[malkore]

You'll have to drain the tank and remove the old silicone and reseal. I can speak from experience that trying to patch it will not work at all.

At least yours was used. I had a new 15tall that leaked from day one.

[turbovr6]

If I do re-seal inside and out should I be worried that one day the whole corner may just give out??

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

You shouldn't have to seal the outside, typical tank construction involves joining glass with silicone, (butt joint), then sealing the inside with a bead of silicone (pressed into the corner). You are only redoing the latter, it offers structural backup, but it's not what primarily holds the glass together.

Also, I would take the substrate out, dry it right out and redo the bottom seals aswell, better to redo them all then have a bottom one go in a week when the tank is set up the way you want it.

[turbovr6]

I'm in the process of getting the tank empty..... anyone need 150 pounds of wet pool sand?

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

You can put it in buckets, or a clean rubbermaid tub/garbage can. It will only be holding it for 24 hrs. (Silicone needs to cure for 24 hrs)

[turbovr6]

everything is back together, sunday will be 48hrs, so I'll try to refill. if the tank was not level on the stand could that cause the seam to start leaking? The reason I ask is because this time I put 1/2 foam board between the stand and tank, and I noticed the front left corner was not sitting flush with the stand, and the leak was on the oppisite rear right corner.

Thanks again!