Sump has a leak in corner

[Jynxgirl]

My sump has a leak in its corner. Its acrylic. Its about halfway up the corner side which is 18 or so inches tall I believe. Can I drain it and just fix it in place?? :( If not, I have to drain my entire tank, remove 250 lbs of rock, and move my stand/tank forward to remove my sump from the back :( Man, I have the worst luck in the WORLD. Also, can I buy something locally to use to fix it?

Jill

[coraline79]

I would drain it in place, dry the spot, apply weldon 16, let it cure and then refill.

[engwife36]

yep, thats the way to go.

[Jynxgirl]

Where do I find weldon ? Is that something I can get at lowes or hd?

[Fin-Addict]

Regal plastic is were you can buy it. There is also weld-on #3 if you want to make sure you will not have this problem again , you might want to use both. Good luck! Let me know if you need help. Felipe 319-9765

[matt]

Uhh, sorry to be the voice of bad news here, but if you have a leaky seam you might have to remove the sump from the stand to fix it correctly; it depends how bad the leak is, and much more importantly, if it's going to get worse. I would not use weld-on#3 for this; that's actually about the worst stuff to fix a crack like this. (sorry Felipe!) I also would not use weld-on#16. It's not really cement at all, just solvent thickened with acrylic resin. Instead, you need weld-on#40, which is a 2 part catalytic acrylic adhesive. It's really good stuff. You can mail order it from a place called "craftics" or something like that in Albuquerque. No place local usually has it, and if they do, it's often past the expiration date.

You would try getting the area REALLY DRY, for several hours. Then mix up a little #40 and apply it to the seam on the inside, maybe cementing a little acrylic patch over the area. The patch is really more to hold the weld-on #40 in place, as you'll be working on a vertical surface. If it's just a little leak you might get lucky. The only problem is, usually acrylic seams, if they're good to begin with, never "start" to leak. So a new leak in an old seam indicates that you might have some structural problem with the sump. Not necessarily, but it's something to check out.

Hopefully you'll take my advice, get the right cement, and have good luck fixing it. I have alot of experience working with acrylic aquarium equipment; not to take away from the previous posts, but I'm pretty sure about this one. The #16 might work, but it would never be as strong or permanent as the #40 repair.

[Jynxgirl]

Thank you. Its a very small little drip out of the seam. It leaks a drop about once every 30 seconds. I have to order weldon anyhow so I want to order the best that is going to fix the leak.

Jill

[Jynxgirl]

I ordered weldon 40 the other day, but I think I have bigger problems after looking at it more today. I have the water drained to about six inches. I pushed on the acrylic and the entire end bent in with hardly any pressure. So the seam is completely gone. I can put my finger nail thru the acrylic to the inside of the sump. The acrylic panel is not attached from about four inches down from the top to nearly the bottom seam. How do I fix this? :(

Jill

[hobogato]

sent ya a pm.