Someone, please...help me! I put my own divider in my terrarium to separate water from land. After a couple days, I noticed a leak. I pulled everything out, sealed it up with a new sealant, let it dry (possibly for not long enough), and now -2 days later- I see the water is leaking again. -_- Any ideas? Help!
CANNOT. STOP. LEAKAGE.
- Thread starter ShaneOSullivan
- Start date
where on the tank is the leak? if its high up just lower the water and cut out the silicone and reseal and let dry for a week. if its on the bottom i would take what ever inhabitants are in the tank out and place into other tanks or large plastic storage bin if you dont have. i would drain it down and reseal the entire tank. or atleast the entire seem the leak is coming from. use rubbing alcohol on the seems before silicone and make sure your using a product safe for aquatics. i only use aquatech aquarium sealant but GE makes a product most people now a days are using.
This would be the third time I have to clear the thing out and re-seal. I guess I should ask this question... The tank bottom is glass, and the divider is plexiglass/acrylic. Is it even possible to seal glass to plexiglass? Is that my problem?
never tried, but im sure i could. maybe ruff up the acrylics with sand paper were you want to seal it. lay down a fat bead of silicone where you want the divider to sit and place it on the bead. then run a bead on each side of the acrylic where its meets the glass a rub it in with your finger using long continuous strokes along each seem. let it cure for 7 days. that should do the trick
Ok, the water leaking out of the tank itself? or just getting past the devider?
If the tank itself is leaking you need to re seal it if the "patch job" isnt doing the job.
If the water is just getting past the devider then you need to make sure the devider is a snug fit into the tank and has even edges on all sides so theres not much of a gap, then put your divider in and run a bead of silicone along the seam where the glass and divider meet (where the glass and divider make a corner basically) then smooth it out with your finger (same way you would to reseal a tank). Do this on both sides of the divider and you should be pretty well water tight.
If the tank itself is leaking you need to re seal it if the "patch job" isnt doing the job.
If the water is just getting past the devider then you need to make sure the devider is a snug fit into the tank and has even edges on all sides so theres not much of a gap, then put your divider in and run a bead of silicone along the seam where the glass and divider meet (where the glass and divider make a corner basically) then smooth it out with your finger (same way you would to reseal a tank). Do this on both sides of the divider and you should be pretty well water tight.
Guess I'm starting over... I literally did all of that the first AND second time I sealed it up. Well, I'll just do it all again. Haha, thanks everyone.
Yes it can, i have done this in frog vivs before. Just make sure its a snug fit and rung you bead of silicone and smooth it out with your finger as stated and it should work.
If you want a lil more in depth description, just read a tutorial online about building a tank, and seal the plexi to the glass the same way they seal the glass to glass joints in an aquarium build and it should work.
Also make sure you are using 100% silicone...this is important because alot of caulk shrinks when it cures and can leave tiny lil gaps, and can also be toxic to your critters. So 100% silicone is an absolute must.
If you want a lil more in depth description, just read a tutorial online about building a tank, and seal the plexi to the glass the same way they seal the glass to glass joints in an aquarium build and it should work.
Also make sure you are using 100% silicone...this is important because alot of caulk shrinks when it cures and can leave tiny lil gaps, and can also be toxic to your critters. So 100% silicone is an absolute must.