Have you ever resealed a bow front tank?

I think my tank has a slow leak. I am a little (by little I mean very!) concerned with this though as it's a bigger job than I feel confident with. I don't even know where the leak actually is, not that I suppose it matters as the whole strip will need replacing.

If you've done this before, how did it go? Was it just like a regular tank? I have limited time to do this in as the inhabitants are cramped in the emergency/qt tank which is ridiculously insuffcient. This whole thing is really upping my stress levels! The glass is so thick.. The tank so heavy.. The silicone must be spot on..

 

Th only bow-front I patched was an acrylic 2.5 gal. bow-front. However, I've heard it helps, when working with larger tanks, to silicone a piece of acrylic over the leak. That way the water pressure doesn't press on the silicone seal as hard. Because my tank was so small I just used 100% silicone. I hope the leak fix is successful!

 

Thanks gemstone!

I took your advice and got a small off cut of plastic sheeting to test the silicone but it didn't adhere. I dismantled the tank, took it outside, couldnt see the leak, refilled it to see where the leak is, still no leak, and now it sits. I'm not sure if it was me just overfilling it the other day that caused the water trickling. I don't want to undo all the seals if it's actually ok!

 

Lol, no need to undo seals, they don't generally hurt anything. Hope you figure out soon whether or not the tank was leaking! Oh, and as for not adhering, a) you want something that isn't flexible, b) put down silicone, put acrylic on top, put on more silicone so it is glued in place and sealed in silicone. also makes it less likely it'll come off gravel vacuuming or something.

 

That's brilliant! Encasing it in silicone would exactly do the trick. Thanks for the tip!

It's still sitting on the verandah with no water to be seen. It must have just overflowed. I hope.

 

Hello EverythingZen,

I hope your tank isn't leaking Sometimes new silicone will not stick to old silicone for very long. Patching doesn't always work compared to resealing the entire tank.

Ken

 

HI Ken, thanks.
I'm suspicious again that there is a leak, so I've drained it and will reseal the whole thing. There was fresh water pooling under the verandah, so I'm not going to take chances. And resealing the whole lot is what I will do. I think my trip to Canberra to get some fish is going to need rescheduling!

In the meantime, I have to dig out some fresh blades. Joy, cutting old silicone rates up there with visiting the dentist, or cleaning bathroom grout. Annoying and essential. Grumble....

 

ok, glad you caught it before disaster struck!
too bad about the trip to canberra, but hopefully the job will go quickly and without unexpected difficulties!