I have a leak and need sealant. Help!!!

[budsreef]

I have been having a problem with sand getting into the back chambers of my 24G Aquapod and I have found the cause to be that the caulking at the base of the the bulkhead wall has pulled loose from the plastic wall but not the glass bottom. I don't see anyway to fix it other than take everything out and recaulk it so my question is what caulk/sealant should I use? It needs to be able to adhere to both glass and plastic.

I am in a bit of a panic since I need to move everything to a 10G tank until I get this fixed. Luckily, I only have one damsel but also have two small xenias and a small mushroom frag and a cleanup crew of emerald crabs, blue-legged dwarf hermits, astrea and nassarius snails.

I think I can jam all the rock in the 10G and will just put the sand in a bucket leaving it covered with a little water.

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[frewl]

All-glass sells a black sealant. But if clear is alright with you then there is silicone 1 from GE. its pure silicone without any inhibitors.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

yes, make sure the product you use is intended for aquariums. They put nasty stuff in home repair silicone.

 

[jjw]

Walmart's pet/aquarium sections sells an aquarium sealant for under $6 a tube. Or you can use any silicone by GE that has Silicone I on it, not Silicone II. You can find some in Walmart's home improvement section too. Good luck!

 

[frewl]

GE silicon 1 it says not for aquarium use. But after some searching on the net. It is comparable(same company different labeling due to industrial sale) to the silicon used by aquarium manufactures. I found a thread where a person emailed All-Glass and the rep said that GE makes their silicon.

 

[budsreef]

Ok, thanks guys! I've got the tank emptied and clean. I need to let it dry completely so I'm heading for Walmart. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do to fix it since the silicone that is there now is still totally afixed to the glass bottom but is totally loose from the plastic bulkhead wall. I don't know why the silicone didn't stick from the factory so I'm not sure how to make sure it will stick now. I would think they applied it under the best of circumstances and I'll be redoing it under a little less than ideal. They only put the silicone on the display side so I will try to run a bead on the chamber side as well. Unfortunately, there's not much room back there.

 

[saltwater junky]

try to sand the wall where the glue will be going so it has a rough surface to stick 2

 

[jjw]

Yeah, ideally you should remove the old layer of the silicone using a tool knife or razor blade, then apply the new layer on clean, silicone free surface. I think I read it somewhere that new silicone layer doesn't stick well to older layers.

 

[budsreef]

Ok, I got Aqua -Tech Aquarium Sealant from WalMart. I did use a razor blade to get off all the old silicone and sanding the plastic to rough it up was a great idea. Unfortunately, I already reapplied the new silicone before reading that excellent tidbit. The directions say not to disturb for 24 hours and don't fill with water for 48. Hopefully all my creatures will last that long in their temporary homes.

I put the damsel in my 12G Mantis tank where I already had one damsel. About half of the live rock, all the crabs and snails, and the three corals I put in a 10G tank that had been empty. The rest of the rock and any crabs or snails that were hiding are in a 5G bucket and I dropped a powerhead in it to keep water flowing around it and to keep the water heated. The sand is in another bucket with just a little water.

 

[budsreef]

Thanks everyone for the quick responses!

 

[budsreef]

It was hard to do but I waited the 48 hours per instructions on the silicone. I ran a bead on both sides of the wall and it looks like it is a better seal than the original. I just finished up getting everything back in the tank although even with pictures I couldn't get the rocks back just the way I had them. I did lose my damsel while most everything was in a 10G. It was ok, yesterday morning but last night it was just a skull and backbone and by this morning even that was gone. Hopefully, everthing else will be ok and I won't have anymore losses. I haven't seen the brittlestars and sea stars yet that came in on the live rock, but I assume they will be ok. They went through a lot worse when I first set the tank up and brought the LR home.

 

[lorenk]

Sorry to here about the Damsel.

I need to get a tube...guess Walmart's my spot. I checked petland but they didn't have any.

 

[budsreef]

Thanks. I needed something in there so I went ahead and bought the fish that I had intended to get almost from the beginning, a Gold banded Maroon Clown. It sure looks pretty in there.

You really should put a bead of silicone on both sides of the wall and I would do the back wall first since it is so narrow it is sure to flex while you are applying it back there. I had to squeeze out a lot of it before starting so that I could bend the tube in half to make it a little easier. After applying it I put a plastic bag on my finger and ran it along the bead to make sure it was making contact. Just my 2 cents!

 

[justonemoretank]

Silicone does not bond very well to plastics. Silicone bonds much better to flat smooth surfaces such as glass.
Perhaps when your system was made they did not adequately wash off the residue from the plastic piece???
Good luck I hope that it works.

 

[frewl]

If you have a lowes nearby they have aquarium sealant. its the same size tube as the Aqua -Tech I think Dap or some three letter company makes it. The thing is its about 3 bucks. so it saves you some money and time if you have nothing else to get. I know when I go to Walmart I spend a a lot of time in a line.