Fixing a hugely leaking aquarium

[Yingee]

Hey guys, I'm currently facing quite a huge crisis that my aquarium is leaking a lot and I mean a lot. The aquarium is a second handed one I got for my school aquariu m club. But it looks like it's leaking a lot. I had bought an acrylic board with 2mm of thickness and neutral silicone to fix it. The acrylic board is larger than the aquarium itself. So, can this be done as it's like leaking many and I'm trying to get more ideas on solving this crisis o else I'll be doome. Thanks to all reply!

 

[Yingee]

Well, except for throwing this aquarium away, are there any other ideas or I can just use neutra silicone with acrylic board to seal the bottom? Tq

 

[Rtc/tsn]

Well, except for throwing this aquarium away, are there any other ideas or I can just use neutra silicone with acrylic board to seal the bottom? Tq

If it’s leaking bad then you most likely won’t be able to reseal with a complete deconstruction of the tank and scraping off the old silicone just for it to leak again unless you do it perfectly but you could always use it as a terrarium or something similar

 

[Yingee]

Also unavailable if I use silicone to stick a new acrylic board on the bottom of it as i found out that it's the botto that's leaking really a lot

 

[Rtc/tsn]

Also unavailable if I use silicone to stick a new acrylic board on the bottom of it as i found out that it's the botto that's leaking really a lot

The new silicone won’t stick the the old so for a good watertight seal that’ll hold all around the tank all of the silicone would have to be removed. it’s not as easy as gluing an acrylic board to the bottom, if you use the wrong silicone it could poison the fish, if you don’t remove the old silicone it’ll lead to even more leaks. It can be resealed
But it’s time consuming and challenging especially if it’s your first time

 

[Yingee]

So I need to scrape off the old silicone and use new silicone with acrylic board to stick on it? Btw, i bought the one tht said for aquarium use.So can it be used?

 

[koipie doll]

Sounds like a good side project, but I’d get a new tank.

 

[tlindsey]

i bought the one tht said for aquarium use.So can it be used?

Welcome aboard
Yes
I agree with Rtc/tsn . The silicone looks bad around the bottom so placing anything under the bottom won't help stop the leaks.

 

[phreeflow]

Silicone won’t stick to acrylic

 

[duanes]

Silicone won’t stick to acrylic

Agree, acrylic is useless to try and use silicone on.
and some tanks just won't, or aren't worth fixing if they are not large enough.
I will fix a 125 gal, or try to fix larger ones, but anything smaller, is probably not worth the price (and time), of using a decent silicone that actually has tactile strength.
That said .....a few of my tanks have come apart at the seams over time, and a simple GE sealant just isn't good enough. to pull glass together, and hold.
I have a 180 that came apart at the seams because of an earthquake, I tried to unsuccessfully tried to seal it twice, 2 tubes of strong tactile strength sealant were over $30, and to disassemble and use a strong seal may have needed at least 6 or more tubes (without a guarantee of working).
After another tremor made the leak worse, I gave up and ended up buying a new/used similar sized tank.