Tank resealing needed - guess why...

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thbrewst

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I'll save the details for some other time when I am not on zero sleep, but the short version is my 175 bow front got a leak sometime yesterday and I spent all night moving the livestock and emptying the tank. Good times....

Now that the tank is empty I don't see any damage so I gather it just got a leak in the seal. Do the local fish stores do reseal jobs or should I just do it myself? I'm fairly accomplished with a caulk gun but not sure if it a bit more elaborate than that. Is their a 'tried and true' process someone can point me to?

On top of the leak the carpet got quit wet about 24 inches around the aquarium. Trying my best to get it dry but likely looking at having to get that area of carpet replaced. Luckily I have some extra that should be enough. Any carpet drying tips I should be aware of?

Got the livestock back in the Rubbermaid shanty town. Figure they will need to hang there for at least a week. Any tips here are also appreciated.

Guess it happens to everyone sooner or later...
 
You can rent a carpet cleaner and just have it suck up water. Usually you can get carpet dry fairly easily it's the padding that is a pain. I feel your pain, I just had it happen to me as well. Hopefully you can find someone locally that does it. I did some searching and there really isn't anyone who does glass tanks anymore since Fish scales is no more. There are a ton of videos of how to do it yourself, from the videos it seems simple enough. I am contemplating trying it myself as well. Good luck.
 
Remove the old silicone without cutting inbetween the plates of glass. Clean it with denatured alcohol or something similar(old silicone residue needs to be completely gone). Mask 1/4" ob both sides of all seems. Caulk with 100% aquarium safe silicone. Smooth the bead with a plastic spoon. Remove the masking tape. Let it dry 48hrs. Viola you have nice straight leak free seams.

The hardest part is making sure all the old silicone is gone as the new silicone will not adhere to it.

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What he said^

Im doing this to my 200g sump this weekend as well. But you can do it with your finger, just dunk it in soapy water to get a good smooth seam. Taping works nicely for a clean edge.

Oh and to find the leak, put the tank on paper towels and fill it up and watch for the wet spot.
 
Also you should do this outside. The fumes will be pretty bad. If you do it in a garage leave the door open and use a fan to circulate air.

Safety first.

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Ive got an industrial dryer for drying carpet if you need to borrow it. Had a few water issues in my time. Everything has pretty much already been said for reseal job and all spot on good advice.
 
I am in the hotel business. We have quite a bit of wet carpet. Everyone is right, getting the pad dry is the biggest challenge. It is best just to go ahead and pull the carpet up and dispose of the pad. It shouldn't be too hard to do, it is usually tacked down around the edges. Pad is inexpensive to replace and easy to do yourself.

The carpet may be salvageable. Use a wet dry vac to get as much of the water out as possible. Then if it stops raining in Atlanta, set the carpet outside to dry where there is plenty of air circulation. It fairly easy to reinstall as well if all the tack strips are down and the carpet has been cut to shape.

If your subfloor is wet, rent an industrial fan. You can rent them from Home Depot $23/ day.

If you can't get the carpet completly up, the fans have a clip on them. Lift up your carpet at a doorway and blow the fan underneath the carpet. Find another area to lift up so the air can escape.

Good luck.
 
To get water up...suck up the excess with a wet vac. Then put multiple fans on floor and turn on full guns. It will take a couple days but it wil evaporate. I have nylon carpet on top of concrete and it always dries.

Is fish scales completely out of business? I thought he was just out of the club but still doing tanks.
 
JohnIII;758656 wrote: Remove the old silicone without cutting inbetween the plates of glass. Clean it with denatured alcohol or something similar(old silicone residue needs to be completely gone). Mask 1/4" ob both sides of all seems. Caulk with 100% aquarium safe silicone. Smooth the bead with a plastic spoon. Remove the masking tape. Let it dry 48hrs. Viola you have nice straight leak free seams.

The hardest part is making sure all the old silicone is gone as the new silicone will not adhere to it.

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Click to expand...

I know that Im new here but I have been doing this since '88. Think about it. The leak IS between the glass. If you just caulk back over the leak, you are just putting a 'cap' over it. If you want to fix it right and fix it permanently, you need to separate the panes, remove ALL the silicone, reseal between the panes, THEN caulk the inside. If you dont want to tackle that, load it up, bring it 90 miles south of ATL and I will be glad to reseal it for you. I build a lot of tanks and believe me, that is the way to go. New silicone does not like to really bond with old silicone. It all needs to be done at one time.
 
tobyte1;759166 wrote: I know that Im new here but I have been doing this since '88. Think about it. The leak IS between the glass. If you just caulk back over the leak, you are just putting a 'cap' over it. If you want to fix it right and fix it permanently, you need to separate the panes, remove ALL the silicone, reseal between the panes, THEN caulk the inside. If you dont want to tackle that, load it up, bring it 90 miles south of ATL and I will be glad to reseal it for you. I build a lot of tanks and believe me, that is the way to go. New silicone does not like to really bond with old silicone. It all needs to be done at one time.
Click to expand...

Heck of a first post! LOL! Welcome!
 
tobyte1;759166 wrote: I know that Im new here but I have been doing this since '88. Think about it. The leak IS between the glass. If you just caulk back over the leak, you are just putting a 'cap' over it. If you want to fix it right and fix it permanently, you need to separate the panes, remove ALL the silicone, reseal between the panes, THEN caulk the inside. If you dont want to tackle that, load it up, bring it 90 miles south of ATL and I will be glad to reseal it for you. I build a lot of tanks and believe me, that is the way to go. New silicone does not like to really bond with old silicone. It all needs to be done at one time.
Click to expand...

It would be good if you came around here a little more. We could use a guy like you.
 
RedStang;759167 wrote: Heck of a first post! LOL! Welcome!
Click to expand...

That made me laugh. LOL I tend to agree with him but yeah, could have maybe been a little more diplomatic about it.

But yes, welcome. I may want to get to know you. I can think of all kinds of things you could make for me. :yay::yay::yay::yay:
 
rdnelson99;759171 wrote: That made me laugh. LOL I tend to agree with him but yeah, could have maybe been a little more diplomatic about it.

But yes, welcome. I may want to get to know you. I can think of all kinds of things you could make for me. :yay::yay::yay::yay:
Click to expand...

Let me be clear. I was laughing because I applaud how direct he was, not at his advice! Just thought it was a heck of an entry into our little club! :thumbs:

Always good to have more experience not to mention skills!

So, tobyte1, wasn't trying to call you out or anything. Absolute props for giving a care about post count.
 
tobyte1;759166 wrote: I know that Im new here but I have been doing this since '88. Think about it. The leak IS between the glass. If you just caulk back over the leak, you are just putting a 'cap' over it. If you want to fix it right and fix it permanently, you need to separate the panes, remove ALL the silicone, reseal between the panes, THEN caulk the inside. If you dont want to tackle that, load it up, bring it 90 miles south of ATL and I will be glad to reseal it for you. I build a lot of tanks and believe me, that is the way to go. New silicone does not like to really bond with old silicone. It all needs to be done at one time.
Click to expand...

This does make more sense to me. I have done smaller tanks. On a 170 I would probably do as you suggest. thanks for correcting me.

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Hey guys, I didn't mean to offend anyone or step on any toes. I have just seen too many 'repairs' that led to bad things. I am a firm believer that if you are going to do ANYTHING, do it right the first time and you wont have to do it again. So far, I like this forum and would like to be able to contribute to it. I have been 'lurking' for quite a while. When I saw this post, I figured that I might be able to help the OP. I have about 30 years of composite fabrication experience. I ran an acrylic fabrication business for 10 of them. Now, I do acrylic fabrication and tank building at my home shop.......
 
tobyte1;759188 wrote: Hey guys, I didn't mean to offend anyone or step on any toes. I have just seen too many 'repairs' that led to bad things. I am a firm believer that if you are going to do ANYTHING, do it right the first time and you wont have to do it again. So far, I like this forum and would like to be able to contribute to it. I have been 'lurking' for quite a while. When I saw this post, I figured that I might be able to help the OP. I have about 30 years of composite fabrication experience. I ran an acrylic fabrication business for 10 of them. Now, I do acrylic fabrication and tank building at my home shop.......
Click to expand...

No offense taken. Nice to have a pro onboard

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tobyte1 we are glad to have you on board. :-) I am sure if you have been lurking you have noticed that most of the people here are like a quasi family. Which means, we have pretty thick skin for the most part and don't offend easily. Now, how about a posting some threads of your set up and some of the tanks you have built. We would love to see them.
 
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