Jestersix

resealed seams...good to go?

phishphood

phishphood

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So my 40L had a nice very very slow leak, yadda yadda. Emptied and cleaned it. I scraped most of the old silicon off, cleaned the glass, and resealed the inside seams. NOTE: I did not totally dismantle the tank and put it back together. But all the inside seams now have new silicon on them. 24hr leak test outside showed nothing leaking. I'm still slightly hesitant, but what do you guys think? Am I good to go?
 
I say go!

No guts no glory! (... but maybe a drier floor)

Besides it's probably better you didn't dismantle the panes of glass, as those silicone points are mostly for strength, gooping the corners is fine for keeping water in the box.
 
What Mike said, mostly.

If the old silicone was holding up fine except for a pinhole leak due to damage or a thin spot, you should be good to go. If the tank was starting to split at the joint or had structural problems, and you just plastered over them without fixing the root problem... you may be back here at square one in a year or so. :)
 
Thanks guys.

Yeah, Mike & Jess I know the silicon between panels is the strength. I'm just worried a little because water coming out of the box = one of those seams is not completely solid through and through. Ideally in the next year or 5 I'll upgrade to a brand new tank (for once) and won't have this worry in a while.
 
FWIW I have done exactly what you have done on an old tank with a pin hole leak. I used it for another two years with no issue then took it offline.
 
Does it matter whether I resealed with the RTV stuff or whatever it is vs GE I? (referring to strength capabilities, not any possible microbial effects)
 
Guess I could always just reinforce with a square plexi rod siliconed in the corners? Or add eurobracing on the top and double up the bottom?
 
If the new silicone is stuck to actual glass as opposed to the-remains-of-silicone-past, I'm betting you'll be fine. The stuff is tenacious.

Putting rods in the corners is not gonna be pretty - siliconing a strip of glass to the top of each short end of the tank should be doable though.
 
It's on actual glass, no worries there. I think I might go with the eurobracing idea. At the very least, it's somewhere I can store more tank-related crap.
 
A reason for the pinhole leak... (and I'm just throwing out a wild guess) is because to get proper spacing and the correct amount of silicone to hold the panes together often they'll put spacers (ok, by often I mean it depends upon who made the tank :D) which are little tiny pieces of acrylic or something between the seams. Now the problem is if the spacer is too large not much silicone needs to be removed for their to be a hole for water to leak, now this usually won't make any difference to the strength of the tank, but water will find a way through any opening if it's there.

I wouldn't bother with trying to reinforce anything unless you removed it. The silicone should hold fine, assuming you let it cure properly as opposed to "hey I just finished lets fill it with water and test it", and if you had a leak you'd have seen a leak.
 
Mike I've seen commercial product of glass aquariums and no spacer was used. Acrylic, for sure, glass, never heard of it being used (commercially)

edit: wait, I have seen it once on a glass tank, but just once
 
I think it was a Leemar I saw with it... when I saw it I thought it was very odd (and dumb)
 
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