Resealing Question

[Jynxgirl]

I am in a position where I can not put any more money into my system. My spouse is tired of it :( Which I guess I do not blame him, its been very very expenisve the last few months.

He doesn't want any more damage to his house, any more fishes being fried, no more fish heart attacks of expensive fish, no more damsel's killing expensive fish, no brand new heater going on the fritz after I lost so much stuff when the tank leaked and lossing most of my corals that had made it throught hte leaking incident just a few days before ..... etc etc etc.

If this tank leaks again, well, I am gong to be in a lot of trouble.

I need to decide if I should reseal and how big of a risk this is, or if I should just bow out and either get a much smaller tank (I will miss having tangs :( very much!!) or just give up completely. I dont like either of these options really.

Anyone have information on how long it lasts, how to reseal and make it not leak in six months (which I keep reading happens), or any thoughts???

Its a 180 gallon tank. Boy was that alot of water on my floor :(

[caferacermike]

The best resealings are done with the panels completely apart. It really does not matter how much sealant you put in the corners of the tank, it is the super thin layer between the panels that does all the work. If you cannot take it completely apart and do it the right way, I wouldn't risk it. That is a lot of water.

It is an unfortunate part of the hobby, this decision making part. I'd say it is ultimately up to you and what you are willing to do.

[erikharrison]

Do the whole thing... A couple of days, and you should be good.

[SACoastie]

I read somewhere with resealing that large of a tank you should wait at least 3 weeks for all of the sylicone to completly cure before placing that much weight on it. Recommend a professional reseal it. Sorry to hear of all your misfourtunes and best of luck in the future.

[Ram_Puppy]

i personally would not risk it w/ a 180. a friend & i tried it on a 100 tall.. and narrowly avoided a disaster, and we did it right, all it takes is one weak spot and your leaking.

I do know how you feel jynx, I had to back off my 120 cube last year and start a 30 gallon instead... but you know what, even though i had to give Richard my tang, and the system is much smaller, I am also really happy with it!

[rocketeer]

I just replaced a cracked panel in my 240 gal. It was alot of work but so far the results are good.

I built a temporary stand in my garage to do the work on and to test on. I didn't want to water test in my house. I oriented the broken panel toward the garage door hoping that if there was a blow out, it would all go outside.

Removing a panel takes alot of patience. I used single edge razor blades and scraper blades. Don't pry on the glass. I've heard of people using thin wire with some success. If ten minutes goes by and you are farther along than you were before, keep going. You'll get there eventually. I think it took me about eight hours.

Before re-glueing, the glass has to be perfectly clean. They say new silicone will not adhere to old silicone. Scrape it with a razor blade then clean it with paint thinner. I used denatured alcohol next because it dries without a residue.

I glued it with GE RTV 108 from Grainger. The tube doesn't say 100% pure silicon anywhere on it but I've heard of somebody building 20,000 gallon aquariums with it. You've got to glue it without bubbles. I put a thick fillet inside to make sure it doesn't leak. Don't make it too think though. This silicon will only cure to about 1/4 inch deep.

Without resealing all inside edges, it's impossible to not have a new silicone to old silicone joint that extends from the inside of the tank to the outside of the tank. Some people will say you must redo all inside edges. I decided to believe the people who say new silicone will stick to old silicone good enough to make a seal. I only ran a bead about eight inches over the old beads near the repair. It's been about a month and so far it's holding water. I put a glob of new glue right on some old glue where I could pull on it and it seemed to bond fine after two weeks.

I let the whole thing sit for two weeks to dry. I put 1/8 inch of water inside because I heard that high humidity will accelerate the curing process. I thought it would never dry. I was starting to worry about my glue choice.

After water testing for 24 hours I moved the tank back into the house.

All together it took me a month and a half. Much of this time was spent doing research and making my temporary stand flat and level. This kind of work is not for everybody. I was very nervous about the outcome after so much effort. I've read about many failures.

Just consider my experience as one data point when considering how you will move forward. DIY is lots of work but not impossible.

There are some pics here:

http://www.maast.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=23840&pos tdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Jack

[Jynxgirl]

Thank you everyone, especially Jack. I am going to get it pulled out and start to try to fix it this week. If it doesnt work, at least I tried. I have read the best luck is letting it cure the longest and then once water is in it, do not let it be without water again for any length of time. I have been reading, reading, and reading. I had originally purchased the 60 gallon cube tanks from a lady who had a tank leak previously and her husband said he was done, and if it happened again, they were getting a divorce. I don't know if its that bad, but its nearly. But, I am still going to try :D

I have a 40 gallon breeder that i am going to move my fish into for the time being. I know they are tired of being in my sump/refugium area. They are starting to get skitish because no one looks at them I am guessing?? My hippo is really bad and will not come out if I am bending down in front of the sump. It makes me sad to see them being scared like this. They can not go into the 100 gallon because I am having a hard time with keeping the temperature down. I do not have the tank on timers. I turn the halides on for a few hours, then turn them off again, then on again, then off again. Its an all day chore to check the temperature. I think my fish would go crazy with the lights coming on and off like that. Any suggestions? Anyone have 250's on a 100 gallon? How high up? right now they are sitting on four by fours... so like six inches off the water. I am giong to work on getting something made that will hold them up a bit higher. I want to do that tonight. Suggestions on height appreciated.

The stand. I hear/read about the need of it being level alot. Its an oceanic stand. It did get wet, but it was a pretty fast trickle and I think was only going for about six hours or so before it was empty and no longer had water on the wood. How do I make sure its absolutly level?

[caferacermike]

I wish you the best of luck. Be very careful with the trim, it will break easily. Unlike Jack's tank your trim pieces help bind everything together. It is full of silicone and difficult to remove. Jack's tank does not have any of that pesky trim to get in the way.

If you decide to break the trim to remove it you might pull off what is called Eurobracing, that is how his is built. It will involve siliconing in place a trim piece about 4" wide all the way around the top of the tank.

If you decide not to go forward or if it still leaks in the end, stay in touch with me as I am willing to buy the tank as a Tortoise home for my girl's tortoise. Since it lives in a dry place it won't matter.

[SACoastie]

I'm sure I do not need to tell you this, but PLEASE water test it outside or in a garage. I would hate to see you end up like I once did.

[Ram_Puppy]

yes, and water test if for more than a couple days... the tank me and a friend resealed, we thought we did a bang up job, and it held, for a month, before the front panel started seperating and it was shooting a stream of water 5 feet out onto his oak dining room table... that could have been a real tragedy... lucky we were there!

[matt]

I would certainly make one last ditch effort to find a good used 180 to replace yours, then reseal yours and sell it, or just sell it as is. You'll be saving yourself a huge amount of hassle, and you'll have a much better livestock survival.

[rocketeer]

A month !?! :o

Jack

[Ram_Puppy]

yup.. a month, i was shocked, i figured if it held for a week it would have been good for years to come.

truthfully, I don't know that I will ever put a non-brand new tank inside a house again, if it has sat for any large amount of time w/o water in it, it's good for being in a garage as a sump or refugium or something.. but thats it... after so many disasters I am scared as all get out about flooding.