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Oh Snap - My Tank is Leaking!!!

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Let me preface this post by first stating that I picked up this tank in 07, were it was being used for land hermit crabs. It was a custom made 60 by 18 by 20 3/4 high tank with half inch glass....rimless....no euro bracing. When I say custom, I'm thinking a DIY homemade tank.....rather poorly done. I drilled the backside and put in a Glass-Holes 1500 overflow. Tank has been great up until recently.

My first indication of a tank leak was salt creep down the back corner edge of the tank. I had just moved powerheads around and having a rimless tank, I'm figuring it was just slightly spilling over the top. So I turned down those powerheads.

A second indication was my ATO running frequently.....and I attributed this to a change in ATO's from AquaHub to JBJ. My thought was that the reed switch in this new float switch had a hair trigger. I actually did a simply DIY in tricking the ATO to add more water....HERE.

Now this third one really got me thinking that something funny was going on. I went to do my bi-monthly water change and I always check my new salt, and then check the DT salt. I use this to tell me if my refractometer needs calibration. If the tank is not at 1.026, I recalibrate the refractometer. Well, the tank was at 1.025. I recalibrated the refractometer, and the tank was still at 1.025.

The clincher telling me for sure I had a leak was that first thing in the morning I get sun coming throught the side of the blinds, and it just so happen to be shining on the back corner of the tank. I could see a silvery look to the seam, towards the top of the tank. I immediately knew what that meant. Not the best picture, but here's that silvery corner:




What to do? The first thing I did was to use duct tape and taped the outside corner of the tank. But now I needed to stop the leak. I had water ready for a water change, so I took all 25 gallons out of the DT, lowering the level of the water below the leak point. After scraping off coraline and cutting out the old silicone, the area was wiped dried. Painter's tape was placed on either side of the corner, and a fast setting clear epoxy was used to fill the corner.




Before the epoxy set up, the tape was removed. New water was added and, the good news, it no longer leaks.

However, I'm not happy with this being a long term fix. I think I'm looking at replacing this tank. I'm bummed because I recently finished all the cabinetry and I don't want to start over with a different sized tank. So I need to find a tank with a 60" by 18" footprint....and off-the-shelf, it's pretty slim pickings. A quick search identified these stock, off-the-shelf tanks with my footprint:

Clear-For-Life 100 g (Acrylic) - 20" h
Seaclear 100 g (Acrylic) - 20" h
Top Fin 120 g (Glass) - 26" h
SeaClear 125 g (Acrylic) - 24" h
SeaClear 145 g (Acrylic) - 30" h
Marineland 120 g (Glass) NOTE: 60.5 x 18.5 x 25 5/16 (#11944)

With my other requirements.....no acrylic, nothing deeper than I can reach, and no behemoth overflows, this eliminates all the above tanks. So I'm most likely looking at a custom build. Anyone have recommendations?
 
Sorry to hear that Paul. Is it the seem that you pointed out to me a few weeks ago? A lot of people knock glasscages but I got to see a few of their tanks recently and they were very nice. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one.

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kschweer

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Wow Paul very sorry to hear this but glad you quickly got a temp solution in place. Glass cages would be the most economical choice. You can also look into reef savvy (expect a long wait and sit down when you read the quote), coast to coast is another option (again sit down when reading the quote) planet aquarium may be an option and miracles is another. Best of luck!
 

kschweer

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He is looking for a 125G tank. Anything other than glasscages will cost him a fortune. C2c will ask for a year's worth of mortgage. I have a GC tank in the basement and I love it. Paul has seen it :D
I agree and that's why I said sit down to read the quotes lol. Just wanted to throw out all the options available.
 

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
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Thanks for the comments everyone. It doesn't have to be 125g....ideally only about 21 inches high. Don't like the deep tanks were I can't reach the bottom.

Glasscages is a potential option. I've also looked at a couple sites that had costs close to $3000 for just the tank. Please!!! As I've spent the day kicking around ideas....even considering briefly a 75 gallon (four foot tank) with the last foot, building a custom cabinet to fill in the space. This certainly would be the least expensive....but not thrilled with the loss of space....and the look. I was really starting to like my tank/stand with it finally coming together.

My last thoughts, especially if I basically want what's there without spending my communion money, is to build my own. Thinking about trying the injection method of siliconing a tank...but still need to research. Assuming I could find a local glass shop, I think I could do this for about $400, with low iron glass for the front panel. It's the logistics of switching out the tank that scares me. I'll have to warm up my project management skills from years ago to pull this all together. But bottom line, it's all on hold, and I'm hoping my epoxy fix can hold this long, because I've got an upcoming wedding were daughter #2 is getting hitched.
 
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redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Thanks Marcus and Matt. FYI, the plywood link isn't working for me, but that's OK because I've watched loads of them when I was into freshwater and a member of MonsterFishKeepers. Not interested in plywood....because I don't trust the epoxy coat, and with the limited space I have the 1 1/2 inch thick walls take up too much space. I also question the cost difference....can't believe, when all is said and done, it's much f
different than a glass tank. Cost savings for plywood come when building big. I've always wanted to build my own, and this is my chance. Just need to find a reasonable glass supplier....ideally, local. Worst case, Glasscages supplies cut glass.

Thanks again guys.
 
Paul, an approach you can take is clean out the silicone from inside the tank. Don't go into the joint though. The silicone in a new glass rod like 1" by 1/2" into the corner and that should both seal it up and hold the corner well. Take a look at my build thread. My front corners were not leaking yet but very close to.

I had glass cages.com cut me the glass rods. I used black silicon and the look is not bad, just a wider front joint in black than original.
 
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