Tell if an inner seal is bad?

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Visionist

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
May 12, 2013
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I bought a used 35g with the intent to reseal it, the tank's silicone is stripped down now but as I was cleaning the glass with alcoho(and I used a little bit too much) I noticed a little bit seem through the bottom. Right around this area there does appear to be some hard water stains that I hadn't noticed before. Are the inner seals shot? or is this just because the inner seals are not supposed to be water tight? Id rather not tear the all the panels apart and build the tank over but I will if its just going to leak with a basic reseal.
 
Is the inner seal removed or not? If the inner seal is removed, and you found a leak, a proper re-seal will probably fix it. The inner seals are supposed to be water tight. They are extra insurance in case there are nay voids in the butt joints. A well built tank will not leak even without the inner seal. There are tanks being sold that have no inner fillet seal.
Whether the tank needs to be dismantled, depends on the condition of the butt joint in the area of the leak. There arer ways to place a patch inside the tank that will help ensure there will be no leak.
 
Is the inner seal removed or not? If the inner seal is removed, and you found a leak, a proper re-seal will probably fix it. The inner seals are supposed to be water tight. They are extra insurance in case there are nay voids in the butt joints. A well built tank will not leak even without the inner seal. There are tanks being sold that have no inner fillet seal.
Whether the tank needs to be dismantled, depends on the condition of the butt joint in the area of the leak. There arer ways to place a patch inside the tank that will help ensure there will be no leak.

The tank is currently still together, the only silicone removed is the silicone that lines the walls of the aquarium that you can touch. The structural seam is where the alcohol seeped through.
The dirt/hardwater buildup is in the corner area underneath the bottom glass(it can be scraped off if you reach up under the tank). The rest of the seams look fine
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If I see correctly, in the picture, there is both black and clear silicone. In general, re-seals are done to cover/prevent minor leaks. As long as the tank isn't in danger of having a seam split, there is no reason to take it all apart.
 
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