Finding and fixing a leak

Gordonious · 03-26-2007, 01:38 AM

I bought a 30g oceanic sump at That Pet Place’s(LFS) tent sale that was used and returned in less then a day. It was marked as leaking and figured I might be able to patch it up. I almost came in the threads yesterday bragging about the great find I had made because I filled the tank in my drive way and it appeared that that was no leaks. Well I brought it inside last night and filled in the basement and let it sit over night. Turns out it leaks about one gallon, if that, every 10-12 hours.

I can not find where it is leaking to begin with. Around the side of the glass on the bottom near the trim it is wet on one entire side. Should I just strip all the glue and reseal it? If so what sort of glue should I use.

veriann · 03-26-2007, 04:09 AM

look at the state of the silicon job, silicons shows pits , smudges or air bubbles where its not bonded correctly. use news paper to pin point the area over the short term if you cant find the visual clue, might be able to get away with a re-seal without stripping the old stuff. Once its dry & clean of course.
Products i'll leave to your counter parts.

Gordonious · 03-26-2007, 11:05 AM

Thanks veriann. That is one of the big things I need to figure out is what products to buy that are reef safe. Anyone else going to chime in? And as far as the silicon job I think in an all-glass aquarium it may have been much easier to find the spot, but unfortintly oceanic didn't do the best job with this one and there is several areas that are suspect.

Jon

Gordonious · 03-26-2007, 10:58 PM

If I need to reseal it, is it 100% nessary to take the tank completly apart and remove the glue between the peices of glass? If I scrapped all the glue off the inside used some alchol to scrub it down a bit and then put it thick around the inside then water should never get between the glass... right?

Jon

**CarmieJo** · 03-27-2007, 08:09 PM

I haven't resealed a tank since the 80's but I always cut the silicon away from the inside of the tank but left it inside of the seams.

Gordonious · 03-28-2007, 04:24 AM

Thanks Carmie. I think I am going to try to do that first and if doesn't work I'll have to take it apart.

If any one else has had experence doing this chime in as well. I like hearing from people that have gone through this in the past.