My tank is leaking bad

[Bwiz123]

150 gallon tank is leaking all my fish r in two unestablished empty aquariums with there water I'm so worried I'm gonna lose my fish I could cry right now, will reselling it with silicon work if its just a seal!?

 

[Aski247]

If its just a bad seal then yes, nothing to sorry about. If its cracked... That's a problem. Have you found where the leak is coming from?

If its the seal, it must be dried for 24 hours, striped of the silicon, re applied, and let sit for. Another 24-48 hours.

I hope it's just the seal for ya.

 

[Bwiz123]

Still working on getting water out, hope for no crack reselling wont hurt the structural support if the tank

 

[Dragonwolf]

What Aski said. I bought my 55 used and I had to reseal it before I could set it up due to a leak in the seal.

IMPORTANT: Make sure you use 100% silicone with NO mold and mildew preventing agents. The stuff you buy at the hardware store is much cheaper than the "Aquarium" silicone and the 100% silicone at the hardware store is the same stuff.

 

[Dragonwolf]

Still working on getting water out, hope for no crack reselling wont hurt the structural support if the tank

No it won't hurt the structural support. I googled "resealing an aquarium" and watched a youtube video before I did mine. Of course, I had never even run a bead of caulk before much less resealed an aquarium. lol

 

[Aski247]

Yeah last summer I resealed a 55 that had a broken support bracket. So all the trim at the top and why I was at it I stripped all the silicon and resealed it. Never one problem.

It's tedious and time consuming. And you have to take your time and make sure the area is DRY and CLEAN of all little shavings/dirt/moisture. Other wise can cause air pockets/bubbles. Which over time can cause leaks.

 

[Aski247]

Oh and +1 to non aquatic silicon, as said no mildew resistance in it and you are good. MUUUUUCH... Cheaper.

 

[Bwiz123]

Ya I new about the silicone stuff, the correct type, just worried to lose my fish for stress and such. . Thanks for ur help guys, any easy ways to remove caulk?

 

[Dragonwolf]

a single edged razor blade scraper. And use 4 part water to 1 part rubbing alcohol with a rag to clean off any remaining silicone residue. Make sure you don't go between the pieces of glass. You are just removing the inside silicone seal. If you run the razor blade scraper under both sides of the silicone seal, it will pull up fairly easily and you can do long strips at a time.

Check out this youtube video HOW TO: Reseal an aquarium - YouTube

 

[frank98284]

Sorry about your leak NO easy way to remove the silicone i just resealed a 75 tall i got for free it did not leak before but the seals looked old it took about 4hrs to reseal use a razor blade scraper and will proubly have to change the blade a couple of time. How old is the tank might be a good idea to do a total reseal just a thought.Good luck I hope it goes well. I am on day one of my leak test 1/4 full then wait for 24hrs then 1/2. then wait 24hrs then 3/4 and so on.
I hope your fish make it through your reseal.
.

 

[Bwiz123]

I bought the tank used, I should have resealed I didn't because it looked fairly new silicone, well I'm looking now and it stopped leaking once I had 1/6 th the water in it, I would love to do a total reseal but I do t rly trust myself doing that,

 

[Bwiz123]

I don't see any blemishes or imperfections

 

[Reefer4eva]

It's not hard to do...do yourself a favor and go on YouTube and watch how others are doing it so at least your familiar with the idea.i would also do the whole thing rather than where the leak was.

 

[Bwiz123]

Ya I've seen videos

 

[Bwiz123]

Well all finished all fish lived 8 days in a 45 gallon tub



Cleaner than ever