Need help fixing 75 AGA

[snowbear]

Well, I messed up, I think. I bought a 75 gal AGA from an lfs who had it for resale after warranty replacement for the last owner. (originally sold Feb 2002). I was told it has a minor leak in one bottom corner. Fixed that, and for good measure, I put an overlapping, thickened layer of silicone on the other 3 corners. Built a stand for it while I waited 48 hours for it to dry. I then dumped a 5 gal bucket of H2O in it. Well, 2 of the "other" corners leak badly and on those corners, the side seams also leaks (at least as far up as the 5 gal of H2O reached). Is it even possible to fix this tank? Do I need to take the frames off and cut all the glass apart and re-seal everything? That seems like a pretty overwhelming task!! Would it maybe work to just cut the silicone from inside, leaving the tank assembled, and re-sealing the inside seams?

 

[jjboods]

You might be able to scrape away the silicon and reseal it and have no leaks. But...before you get started...might be better to fix it completely now. Can you return it to the LFS?

 

[snowbear]

I'm going to ask them, but since I knew it's history before I bought it, I think I'm stuck with it.

 

[jjboods]

You knew about one leak...not two others. Threaten them with this site. I'm sure they won't want bad publicity.

 

[snowbear]

hehehe! I'm going to ask nicely, 'cause somehow I don't think this board would make a lot of difference. So far, all of you are FAR, FAR away from here and not likely to buy stuff for much more than you can get them at home!

 

[snowbear]

Any other opinions as to fixing this thing? Has anyone ever tried to repair a tank this big? Did it work?
Thanks

 

[witecap4u]

I did a 150. cut it all apart, and redid everything. Looked like crap cause the silicon started to set before I got it smoothed, so I left it together and redid the inside seals. That was two weeks ago, its been full of water in the garage since. The hardest part is cleaning the glass. Also, you need to smooth the silicon right after you put it on, do a seam, smooth it, pull off you masking tape, and do the next seam. If its a fairly new tank, you might not need to pull it apart, the silicon between the glass is what holds it together, mine was old, that is why I redid the whole thing.
Good luck, if you have any questions, just ask.
cs

 

[snowbear]

That's encouraging!
It is a fairly new tank, but obviously it has a bad problem. I've stared cutting the silicone from the inside, but I'm kind of afraid to pull it all apart 'cause I'm not sure I would be able to get it back together all square. Dang. So much for trying to save a few bucks (cheapest new 75 I could find was $450. Don't usually see used ones, that's why I jumped on this one.

 

[jjboods]

75 for $450????!?!?! Must be one of those 24 karat gold tanks I keep hearing about!!! LOL! An AGA 75 with built in overflow and plumbing kit should be no more than $300 new. I got one used for $100!

 

[jbeck]

I just bought a brand new 75gallon for $110 with 20 year warranty from the LFS.

 

[benj420]

If a new one is $450, how much was the one you got? If I could save a couple of hundred bucks, I would have probably done it too. Your attempt to seal the corners would have probably been my first attempt too.
I've never done it before, but here's my .02:
I think next I would try one of the following:
1) Leave existing silicon in place and put a cover coat over the top of all of it, extending further than the original.
2) Complete tear down & reseal.
The reason I wouldn't scrape the insides out is because I think that the inside portion needs to be firmly bonded to the skinny piece that is between the glass to be able to stay in the corner. I think if you scrape and then seal, it may work for a while and eventually come loose when you least expect it.

 

[snowbear]

Thanks for all the help, guys. It Worked!! . After much reading, finally getting a reply from someone at AGA and even after considering your suggestion, benj, I didn't do a complete teardown. I read and was told (and found out when I was removing it), that silicone bonds very well to glass, but not to itself. So I went with cutting out the old silicone from the inside seams and making sure every little bit was off the glass and left the stuff in between the glass. Besides, I was WAY too chicken to attempt to get the old frame off without damaging anything. Anyhow, let it sit for 72 hours and was SO confident I had a good seal I filled it up inside the house! No leaks!! Woohoo! Thanks again for the help. And benj, if it turns out you're right and this seal fails before I move into a bigger tank, I will admit to your superior knowledge and buy you a beer if I ever meet you in person

 

[benj420]

Hahaha, Well, for your and your floor's sake, I hope I'm wrong. I would take AGA's advise over mine any day.
If it really bonds well to glass, I would think that after 72 hours of not leaking, it probably won't. I wonder what made it leak in the first place.
Is this the one with scratched glass?

 

[snowbear]

Hey, benj! Nope, this is not the scratched one - it's the almost new one. When I cut the old silicone out, I found the along one whole bottom seam, there was a very thin layer of silicone with even thinner spots in it. When I re-did all the seams, I gooped it on pretty thick. Doesn't look perfect, but so far so good! Only got one response on my opinion post and I'm picking up the other setup Saturday so I guess I'm on my own. I'm thinking I would really like to go with the thicker drilled tank, but those scratches are pretty bad - kind of like those annoying cracks across your field of vision on a car windshield. Well, I guess I'll decide Saturday if I can live with 'em!
Later!

 

[benj420]

Is the scratched one drilled? What does the back look like? Could you turn it around so the scratches are in the back? I did that with my used 55. It wasn't drilled, so all I had to do is tape the background on the other side.

 

[snowbear]

Yep, the scratched one is drilled in the back and the scratches are on the front I'm pretty much leaning toward using the one I repaired and keep my fingers crossed it doesn't leak again. I'll try to keep the other one around for a couple weeks before I sell it in case there's a problem. This one I'm buying comes with a bunch of fish. A couple of them are HUGE!! It also comes with about 100# of LR, bunch of mushrooms, a small coral that looks like a Xmas tree, a cleaner shrimp, 2 skimmers, a sump and a few powerheads and pumps. I'll probably try to put together a package with the stuff that's duplicate along with some of the fish and sell it.