Resealing aquariums

[esoxlucius]

I'm not about to reseal any tanks, and i'm hoping not for a long long time either so this isn't a thread about me asking for advice how to do it.

It's common knowledge that if you have a leak in your tank, even a relatively small one, that it is best to bite the bullet and strip the whole interior silicon out and replace with new. This is because new silicon dosen't adhere well to old silicon and so where you have the two meet you are likely to develop another leak over a period of time.

This is where a thought occurred to me. Surely with modern materials and science etc etc this really shouldn't need to be the case. I'd have thought in this day and age that there would be some kind of bonding gel, glues, additives, whatever, that would mean that you could put new silicon side by side with old silicon and they'd bond just fine.

Does anybody know of any research or testing being carried out on this subject, maybe a product's already in the pipeline for imminent release. It just seems odd to me that no progress, that i'm aware of anyway, is being made concerning this age old problem.

 

[ReApEr666]

Its really not a big deal to reseal a glass tank... just stripping the inside is "the easy way out"... i drove over an hr. to reseal a friends 265 once...only took me a cple hrs to strip the inside and reseal it for him. Tanks still holding close to 10yrs now... people are just lazy and scared to try anything these days. If u keep fish for the long haul...resealing a tank is just part of the game we play. Look into "hutton brand" gold label aquarium and pond sealer... it does what ur talkimg about and even cures underwater... best silicone ive ever used. question is do u want a "bandaid" or to actually fix the problem.

 

[Akeno071]

. Surely with modern materials and science etc etc this really shouldn't need to be the case.

Its not too difficult to make one, but its far more difficult to make it aquarium safe. That's probably one of the main issue with this I would think at a glance.

 

[fishdance]

While silicon doesn't stick to silicon, you can still patch over the top of old silicon as a "cover" if you understand what to are doing. Water pressure pushing new silicon into a hole can seal.

To answer your other question, polyurethane sealants (PU) will stick to old polyurethane and these are being used more and more often now instead of Silicon, especially for commercial or public aquaria. Stronger, paintable, flexible depending on what specs you seek. Some are not UV tolerant.

 

[pops]

once a tank is leaking? its not a reseal its a rebuild. IMHO.