Silicone seal failing?

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J

juneblood3

Gambusia
MFK Member
Feb 11, 2010
511
2
16
Double Rainbow
tank is a 8x2x2, used and Ive have it setup for a few months. It holds water fine but these seams have been bugging me and havent changed since I first bought it. should I be worried? there is a little discoloration at parts, and small bubbles(not to worried about those). What worries me the most is the discoloration and that it looks like it is breaking down. Its been there since I bought but was just wondering if anybody else experienced this. Thanks. :popcorn:

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the discoloration is gunk/algea getting under the silicone, that and the missing chunks says time is taking its toll.

BUT it could take years for any leaks to develop. if it were me, i would reseal.
 
Yeah thats about time lol i would do it to save you some money lol Reason for that is because if that leaks your screwed let me know if you have any questions i did a reseal on my 155gallon and its holding nicely
 
My 150 looks exactly like that. I'm not sure if that extra on the edges matter or not. I would think the actual silicon in the joints is more important. I'm setting up another tank soon and will be shutting down my 150 at some point.

Is there a tank expert in your are that you can talk to? Maybe you LFS could point you in the right direction.
 
Definitely looks like time to reseal. I've done it a few times and it's easier every time. The most time consuming part is cleaning and scraping. After that, it's gravy.
 
I wouldn't be too worried about it. Missing pieces is time taking its toll. Yours doesn't look to bad though. Let's remember that some discoloration of silicone is caused by different chemicals that may have been added to the water. (previous owner)?
 
it will go 20 years like that. the actual primary seal looks perfectly intact.

what is coming off is just the excess. it has no effect on the actual seal.

most of my older tanks I used to have that went 15+ years with no reseal looked 1000x worse that that by the end.

you are years and years away from having to do a reseal based on the pics.
 
thanks for all the responses guys. This is exactly the input I was looking for. Ill keep an eye on it but leave it for now. When I move in a year or so im going to have to take hte tank apart anyways.

12 volt man - i was just going to send you a pm. While searching the forum on glass tanks and them failing you were in almost every thread. lol.
 
haha thats probably because I know many people seem to think that a tank will fail after a few years with no reseal.

I have never had a tank fail (touches wood) and never resealed.

I have had several tanks go almost 20 years before I sold them with no reseal.

now, the catch being that my tanks were all purchased new and not drained and filled, they pretty much stayed full the whole 20 years.

the point being that often over time the outer edges of the silicone can come off via pleco rasping and algae scrubbing, but that doesn't mean the tank is at risk of failure.
 
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