265 (280, 72x31x26) sprung a leak!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
S

SvenRhapsody

Feeder Fish
Feb 12, 2008
3
0
0
Georgia
Hi everyone,
I think this is my first post to mfk though certainly not the first one I've read. I acquired this tank about 2 years ago. It leaked, and I hired a local fish store to help me patch it ( I know, I know, even knew then, but this is a decent if only salt water store)..

I guess my first mistake was thinking that you can repair/patch/reseam a tank this size?

At any rate I've had it full of water for 2 weeks now(It took me a long time to get all of the eqpuipment together), slowly adding accoutremants. I have some wood in her slowly sinking, 60lbs of sand, the sump, some lights, etc. I was only waiting on the lights, and some larger heaters. I have seriously resisited putting my fish in there (it was diffcult but fortunate).

I have 6 Satanoperca daemon that have been living in a 75, and the last couple of months they've started beating the **** out of each other so I've been waiting to transfer them to this large tank. This has pretty much put a standstill on that plan, but I still need to move these fish.

I just priced out the tank I had at glasscages.com, and it's sitting around $1400 w/ delivery. Anyone got any better ideas? Is ther a better place to buy this tank? The stand has tanks above it too so I can't vary the size too much though I would if it made enough of a difference to obviate the cost of the stand. I could always rebuild the stand if I found a good deal on the tank. Should I look at acrylic?

I would really appreciate any help at this point. I very much need to upgrade these S. daemon, and I had been planning this upgrade for quite some time. Thanks for any help.

Sven Rhapsody
 
You could always see about resealing the entire tank. Putting fresh silicone on the whole thing. This would be the cheapest way to go, even if you paid someone to do it.
 
I tried to have that done originally, but couldn't find anyone willing to do it. I finally found that one LFS that would do it, and that guy just placed silicon over the old. He was "sure" it would hold skeptical though I was. He didn't tell me that was all he was going to do until he was out at the house, and getting started. Where do you typically look for someone to reseal a large tank like that?
Thanks
 
Do it yourself, it's super easy, just a lot of work.
 
Get the aquarium sealer in the caulking tube and use a caulk gun or your hands will die with a tank that size. My method that has worked on up to 55s at least is to take a safety razor and remove all of the old silicone on the inside, wipe it down with as high of a percentage of rubbing alcohol as you can obtain(acetone would be okay, you've gotta let it sit 48 hours anyway after sealing, but if you use acetone, do it outside) then run a good solid bead. Pay special attention to the corners.
 
id call your LFS there and have a few words with their resealer guy before i did anything else, you might be able to get it taken apart and resealed for free if you are persuasive enough
 
Thanks for the tips guys. So you think it's reasonable to just clean all the silicon from the inside while leaving the panes intact, and held by the silicon between the panes? Then reseal with a nice fat bead?
 
The first 55 I did this way was done eight years ago, in continuous use and still holding.
 
I had to reseal my 265. It was a pain, but well worth it and cheap too. cost me $2 for razor blades and maybe $20 for silicone
 
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