How to repair a fish tank.

salisbury a d

salisbury a d

Member
A friend of my father, gave me a 40 gallon aquarium but I have to fix it. He did not know what to do that is why I have it.
I need to redue the seems.
How do I get the glass apart, once apart is there a glue that I have to use to put the glass together or do I just use silicone sealer.
Also Can you buy new plastic braces. The one on top looks like it needs to be replaced. Or is it not worth it.
Thanks
Adam
 
joez

joez

Member
Are you sure you need to totally disassemble it? If you only need to reseal it, the process is very easy.
 
salisbury a d

salisbury a d

Member
Not sure if it needs to be taken apart I have to find the leaks first.
What process should I follow for fixing the leaks.
And Can a get a new plastic brace or can I make one. The one on top is sort of in rough shape. If I can, where can I get it, if not what can it be made of?
The dimensions are 30L, 12.5W, and 18H.
Adam
 
broncofish

broncofish

Active Member
Fill it up with water very very slow. Keep checking for leaks. Make sure that there is no water spilled any where around the tank, or else yo will be second guessing yoursel(is that the water I spilled or did it leak?) After finding where it is leaking from, buy some silicon and reseal it, wait for 48-72 hours and check again. Then water test it for 1 week. If there are multiple leaks on one seem, then pull that whole seem out and redo it. They are pretty easy to cut with a razor.
 
overanalyzer

overanalyzer

Active Member
plus you want to make sure you clean all the old silicon out before you re-seal the area. Make sure you getthat out then reseal. I have done it on several tanks and it is fairly easy to do - but the key is to fully water test it for a week or more.
Not sure on the plastic braces - I would just highly recommend NOT removing it!!
 
joez

joez

Member
since the tank isn't that big, just start by stripping all the old silicone off. A razor works well for this.
Then go to HD and get some clear silicone sealant. Put a nice thick bead down the seams. It should come out white, and when it is fully cured it will be clear. Make sure you do this in an area that is dust free or atleast not filled with anything that the silicone can trap in it.
It'll take about 3 days to cure to the point where I'd test with water.
GL! :)
 
broncofish

broncofish

Active Member
JoeZ I am going to have to disagree with you. Pulling out silicon that is fine, and replacing it yourself if you have no tank building(or repairing) experiance is just asking for problems. Also unless your lucky enough to live by an HD that sells aquarium safe silicon I would not recomend buying from them. Petc0 and LFS's sell the AGA manufactured stuff for like $7 a tube. We do have an ACE hardware that sells big tubes of it also for $24, but I have never seen it at lowes or HD
 
joez

joez

Member
hmmm...I guess I just got lucky at mine then. I figured aquarium safe would be everywhere since I got it at mine. Sorry for that.
I do feel that having a lack of experience for this sort of thing isn't too bad of a quality. Laying a bead of sealant is very easy to do, imo. Just have to practice on some 90 degrees before hand to get a good method down.
I've been wrong before, though! :)
 
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