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Fixing a leak on the seam of the tank.

sciencefiction

sciencefiction

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26 Feb 2013
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Hi guys. Unfortunately my 5f tank was pouring water out today. Fortunately it turned out the leak is on the seam near the top of the tank so I was able to stop the leak by draining the tank a few inches.

The problem is I just don't want to drain that tank and reseal because it's massive and I've nowhere to put my 50 fishes and all plants, soil and sand.

So my question is, is there anyway I can easily fix that, providing that the leak comes from the silicone itself. The silicone is actually about a cm thick and is between the glass sides themselves, not just inside. Please see the black silicone on the picture. The part leaking is where the black silicone on the picture is slightly thinner just above the water level.

cc2x.jpg


I wanted to ask, has anyone heard of the CT1 sealant? Here is a link and some info about it I got from that website.

http://www.ct1ltd.co...s-with-ct1.html

Well CT1 is not a silicone sealant but unique hybrid polymer formulation that is able to stick onto wet surfaces even under water making it the perfect sealant for sealing fish ponds, CT1 contains no solvents and is 100% V.O.C free so will not contaminate the water extremely fish friendly. There have been occasions when the fish have nibbled at the cured CT1 sealant with no adverse effect but with so many species of fish we cannot say that for all species.
 
Well, I have some aquarium silicone but it's dried out so I have to buy something. I am just not sure what to do. I think to purchase the CT1 above as it seems to work fairly well and fast from watching youtube videos and I don't need to dry out the part to be sealed. They've got different colours including a totally transparent one like glass, not whitish like the normal silicone. I wonder if applying on the inside and outside of the leak part would do?
 
I would be concerned as to why you have a leak, I assume the leak is new?
If that is the case something must be moving or deteriorating.
Silicone is a structural glue that offers immense lateral strength so I would consider a small, say 50mm corner brace silconed in place as well as a bead of silicone over the leak.
 
Yes, foxfish. That's a concern and it's a new leak. I only had this tank since January this year.
The tank is very old, possibly 7-8 years and I have no idea what had happened to it in the past. After looking very closely at it I think the part where the leak comes from has been fixed before from the outside as there's a rough piece of silicone over the old one. I checked all the other silicone and it's totally smooth like a manufacturer's job but this part has a rough patch line over the smooth one. If it's not that, then one day I'll wake up to worse stuff.

This is the only 2nd hand tank I ever got and I already have problems with it.:arghh:
 
Big clown said:
Id be looking for a new tank. I wouldnt trust the rest of the seams to hold at the very least as foxfish says some sort of extra strength down the entire length of seams the last thing you want is all your fish on the floor if it fails in a big way and the entire side comes off.
Click to expand...

Oh, god...I just don't have the money now at all. But that's totally possible and I am dreading it.
 
Big clown said:
You could strip the tank and rebuild it with the product you mentioned earlier but it dosent help with a temporary home for flora and fauna
Click to expand...

I wouldn't trust myself doing that at all. I am trying to think what to do. It's horrible and the tank was going great inside.

Do you all think it's likely the silicone all along the seam will give way if it's started? I know I am clutching on straws here.
 
Thanks foxfish.
The tank is braceless/rimless altogether, so worse scenario I guess as all it's held by is the silicone. That's the way the model is.
The silicone part where the leak is, is visibly thinner, like missing some of the silicone. See on the above picture where the plant roots are pointing at the silicone to the right side, that's the leak.....I just can't imagine how that happened and since it's a 2nd hand, it may as well have been like that from the start but I didn't pay proper attention when inspecting it. But I am totally not certain because I don't remember noticing anything, and it took around 5 months for it to leak.
What I am afraid is if it's the stand somehow giving way as it's old too. But it's the original stand that came with the tank.
 
Tearing of tank seams, especially at the top is can be due to the tank being placed on non flat surface. This causes twisting of the glass panes, causing silicone tearing at adjacent corners ie two adjacent corners are under compression and two under tension, the tension ones tearing.

My mate had a tank on a sideboard and the sideboard started deforming under weight of the tank. It was first noticed as a slight leak on front top right of tank. When drained down and moved there was a matching leak on top rear left of tank as well. Placing the empty tank on the sideboard revealed the top of sideboard was not longer flat having "dropped" due to leg collapsing on front right, causing bowing of the sideboard top. He removed (or glass shop did) & replaced the two silicone seams, built a proper tank stand (lots of 2x2), that was about 15years ago and tank is still going.

Or could just be poor silicone.
 
Big clown said:
Are there similar repairs on the other corners. Is it possible that the tank has had braces removes which caused the original leak and subsequent repair. Does the rest of the silicone look sound, are any other bits that look dodgy/starting to come away from the glass
Click to expand...

Not that I can see. It's just this corner area. Who knows if it has braces or not, but at the moment it doesn't have anywhere, including the bottom. It's an old Aquael tank model.
 
ian_m said:
Tearing of tank seams, especially at the top is can be due to the tank being placed on non flat surface. This causes twisting of the glass panes, causing silicone tearing at adjacent corners ie two adjacent corners are under compression and two under tension, the tension ones tearing.

My mate had a tank on a sideboard and the sideboard started deforming under weight of the tank. It was first noticed as a slight leak on front top right of tank. When drained down and moved there was a matching leak on top rear left of tank as well. Placing the empty tank on the sideboard revealed the top of sideboard was not longer flat having "dropped" due to leg collapsing on front right, causing bowing of the sideboard top. He removed (or glass shop did) & replaced the two silicone seams, built a proper tank stand (lots of 2x2), that was about 15years ago and tank is still going.

Or could just be poor silicone.
Click to expand...

Thanks Ian. So whatever I do, I need to get the fish and everything out of there. I can't be sure about that stand not being the problem, or the little legs beneath the bottom board, or I don't know.
Oh, my gosh. I wish that's not happening to me right now.
 
Same mate also broke a small tank he was given by not putting down any "sheeting" under the tank. Just placed the tank on kitchen work top and couple of weeks after filling noticed water leaking out. Traced to a small lump of gravel under tank breaking the bottom pane. Leant lesson why sheet of 3mm polystyrene is needed.
 
So I am going to have to patch the tank for now and prey it lasts for another while without making a swimming pool out of my place until I can afford to buy a new tank and stand. I still think it's possible that silicon gave way with the previous owner once before because I can see the extra line of silicone applied to this side on the outside over the old smooth one and being on the outside I was reading the water pressure can push it out again. So I'll try patching both inside and outside now.

If I have to empty the tank to test the stand and all for twisting and damage I'll be just getting rid of everything.
I checked online and it seems that's the way these tanks were made years ago, no braces but the bottom glass of my tank is extra thick 20mm, the sides 10mm. I ordered the CT1 sealant and try it on a partiallly full tank. If I have to put braces on top to give extra support I'll have to get rid of all my emersed tropical plants and I'd rather just sell everything and hope one day I can afford a larger rimless tank design.
 
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