Best way to stop a leak & reseal the top of an aquarium

[vince32]

Hello All,

I need some help here. I am trying to figure out the best way to reseal a tank. I have a 200 gal tank that is leaking from I believe the top of the tank. I'm not sure where exactly where the leak is around the top. Does anyone have any ideas of how I can find the leak? What I want to do is try to repair it myself before I find a pro. I'm thinking I can either strip away the existing seal, or try to place new sealant over the existing seal. I'm not sure which is the best, or easist for that matter. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Vince32

 

[sweatervest13]

There are established ways to reseal a tank. I have resealed a few, and I searched on Youtube for some ways to do it. The basics are, you need to completely remove all of the silicone from the inside of the tank using razor blades. You want to make sure that you get it all, because new silicone will not stick to old silicone. But you also want to make sure that you do not remove the silicone in between the panes of glass. Then you will use isopropyl alcohol to wipe the seams to make sure that they are super clean.

After that it is just reapplying new aquarium safe silicone. I like to tape an outline of where I want the silicone to be so I get cleaner seams. let it dry (I would recommend going a day or two longer then the manufacturer suggests JIC), and leak test.

Make sure you watch a few videos to get the hang of it. It really helped me get the confidence to try this DIY project.

 

[sweatervest13]

Just to add... This is an all or nothing kinda job. You have to remove all of the silicone in the entire tank and reseal the entire tank (again not the inside of the panes, the silicone that is sandwiched needs to stay). SO even if the leak is in the top of one seam on one side of the tank... You have to reseal the whole thing.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Resealing a 200g tank is a three man job. I hope that you have some friends to help you.

You will have to cut off all the old silicone - patch jobs are meant to seal it up temporarily until you can empty the tank and make accommodations. Rubbing alcohol or clear nail polish remover works for cleaning glass really well. Pay attention to how the glass is put together before you take it apart completely. You will have to put silicone on the edges and put it all together, tape it in place and use some metal 90* angles to clamp on the side of the tank top to hold everything in place. You should have multiple squares to check the tank for square all all times. Before applying silicone inside the seams, check for square. Keep it as square as possible! SQUARE! Then apply the seams and smooth it out with your fingers. Work in a well ventilated area, silicone can really mess with your head after a little while.

Moving that much heavy glass around is a chore - so you better have some help doing it - and preferably people that halfway know what they are doing. Best of luck!