Rebuilding a leaking tank

[jrgilles]

Hey guys, I have a glass 50 breeder sump that sprung a leak from the lower side at both the front and back of the glass.

I suspect it is leaking from both the side panel and the bottom. It looks like the side glass might even have moved out a couple hair widths, as the corner isn't flush (but maybe it was like that from the factory.)

Debating if I want to buy a new tank and transfer the baffles to it, or if I want to take out the baffles and try to reseal the whole thing.

What I'm wondering is, can I just take off the interior silicone, clean it, and resilicone? Or am I better off taking the side panel completely off the tank, and redoing the seam between between the pieces of glass?

If just redoing the exposed silicone in the tank is enough to fix this, it seems way easier than redoing the panelling. To get the side panelling off, I'd have to take off the top and bottom trim, etc. Debating if I want to fix this or buy a new tank for $159.

Would love some info from anyone who has done this kind of work/repair before. I would like some option that would make me feel safe from future leaks for a long time.

 

[Xtremedave67]

I tell ya, I personally would be gutzy and try to reseal it complete myself, but watch Craigslist as well, I am always seeing used fairly inexpensive 45-50G daily

 

[tamarindthai]

I tell ya, I personally would be gutzy and try to reseal it complete myself, but watch Craigslist as well, I am always seeing used fairly inexpensive 45-50G daily

take his advised,,,
send you pm

 

[Greyhound]

There is nothing like that NEW TANK smell!

 

[jrgilles]

I'm just wondering if redoing the inside seam will fix it, or if I will need to separate off the side and bottom and totally rebuild it. Trying to guage the time it will take and what my success rate will be so I can see if its worth it.

tamarindthai just pm'd me about one he has that is in good shape, so that might be my answer.

Would still like to know what the best way to go about this repair is though.

 

[rayjay]

I rebuild all mine when leaks appear.
I scrape down the whole tank extremely well with razor blades and then go over the "silicone" coverage areas again using multiple fresh blades so they are extremely sharp all the time. I then clean and scrub all silicone areas with white vinegar and the plastic scrubs meant for kitchen use, and finally clean it all with isoprophyl alcohol.
If any very thin, almost unseen film of silicone remains, you compromise the seal.
If I see any very minor gaps between the glass, I fill with crazy glue type gel first and let dry for a day before siliconing.
I get between 7 and about a maximum of 10 years between rebuilds on my tanks that range in size up to 90g.
If I were to find what I consider more than a minor gap in the glass, and for a long length, I would remove and replace the whole panel, but so far haven't had to do that in the last 17 years or so.

 

[krisfal]

If it were me I would repair, I have done this a couple times on 100g+ tanks. Really not very difficult. Getting the baffles out of the way sounds like it will be the toughest part of the job. As long as there is silicone holding the corner together (not just inside the tank rather where the end panel butts up to the front and back panel) I would just remove the old silicone inside and replace.