Alright well I picked up a used 150 yeterday and the guy said it holds water but of course it doesnt. There is a leak along the bottom pane somewhere but I am unable to determine the location of it. Is it simplier to just remove silicone and reseal the aquarium or to locate the leak and repair? if locating is easier can someone please tell me how to locate the leak. If the answer is reseal can I just reseal one side or must I strip all silicone and reseal the entire bottom pane?
aquarium leak
- Thread starter blackhawkpowers
- Start date
Its a matter of playing the odds... its possible to fix the leak with a quick patch, but you might want to take advantage of the currently empty tank to do it in a way which is more likely to work the first time. Stripping the silicon out completely on the inside, cleaning up real good with alchohol and then reapplying would be the way to go. Otherwise the quick fix might only last long enough for you to get comfortable with a fully stocked tank.
Finding the leak usually means filling the tank and trying to narrow down where its coming from which can be hard with the water traveling along through a bottom edging. I have had luck with angling the tank various directions until I was able to isolate the source, but this can be dangerous on a tank the size of a 150 and I wouldn't recommend it. If you at least know which side its coming from, you can use a broad application of silicon, covering the whole side so you're sure to have covered the leak too. Otherwise, just do the whole bottom and plan of hiding the extra goop with some gravel or something. Even with the quick patch, you'll still want to do a preliminary cleaning with something like denatured alchohol.
Finding the leak usually means filling the tank and trying to narrow down where its coming from which can be hard with the water traveling along through a bottom edging. I have had luck with angling the tank various directions until I was able to isolate the source, but this can be dangerous on a tank the size of a 150 and I wouldn't recommend it. If you at least know which side its coming from, you can use a broad application of silicon, covering the whole side so you're sure to have covered the leak too. Otherwise, just do the whole bottom and plan of hiding the extra goop with some gravel or something. Even with the quick patch, you'll still want to do a preliminary cleaning with something like denatured alchohol.
redo the whole thing i did it with my 125 took about 2 days to redo then i waitied a week to test it i used all glass sealant costs more but at least i know its the real stuff
Alright well i'll strip it and reseal in the morning. Do I need to do the entire bottom pane or can I just do the side that is leaking?
remove all the old stuff from the inside dont go too deep to remove it from between the glass clean it with rubbing alcohol and reseal let stand for at least 48 hrs add water
do a search on here and google for a diy
do a search on here and google for a diy
alright fellas well this morning I stripped the tank. While stripping the silicone I am fairly sure I found the leak (not that it matters now) but under the silicone in the general are that it was leaking was packed full of sand in the joints. The tank was used as a reptile tank before so I assume the heat rock was located here and caused the silicone to do some funkiness and let sand under. Cleaned it with vinegar thoroughly, then rubbing alcohol. While it was drying I made my trip to Home Depot and picked up a new tube of 100% silicone some masking tape and a caulking tool.
End result: my silicone looks better than my other tanks! waiting for it dry now and in about another 36 hours will have water and fish.
End result: my silicone looks better than my other tanks! waiting for it dry now and in about another 36 hours will have water and fish.