View Full Version : Houston. I have a problem.
Lady Hobbs
05-06-2007, 10:08 AM
I went to bed at 1 AM and all was fine. Woke up at 4 AM to a leaking 29 gallon. Lost about 4 inches of water so far so will have to break it down. NICE! And wouldn't you just know it........it's the planted tank. MY CURSE.
Lady Hobbs
05-06-2007, 01:02 PM
Well, I have everything moved out of the tank, the carpet sopped up and put a bead of silicone around the bottom. Will let it dry and add another but I have to run to the store for more first. I can find no reason for this tank to start leaking and not even sure where the leak is coming from. Silcone is in perfect condition inside the tank but guess I will have to put more there, as well. :(
I will put my silver dollars in this tank since I'll be setting it all up again. They are suddenly getting very frisky. The tank should be larger for them but it will have to do for now.
I'm very happy right now that I don't sleep much. I'd have had a real mess had I nodded off for 8 hours.
2manyfish
05-06-2007, 01:37 PM
What a thing to wake up to!! I bet that got you going real good at 4 in the morning.....glad to hear that at least you could save everything. Are you going to put plants back in that tank? The reason I ask is because silver dollars will eat live plants....
You also might want to take the tank outside, fill it up and let it sit for a day or two just to make sure it doesn't start leaking again.
Aren't you glad that fishkeeping is soooo relaxing?? :ezpi_wink1:
hungryhound
05-06-2007, 02:02 PM
That sucks lady Hobbs, I think that your planted tank is cursed or that your house elf does not like aquatic plants. I think that I would cry if I woke up to 10 gallons on the floor. Good luck getting it resealed.
If you haven't already finished, you might want to consider removing all of the old silicone first before resealing. The old silicone may have somehow become separated from the glass, and by putting new silicone over it you might be just "duct taping" another pending disaster.
cocoa_pleco
05-06-2007, 04:14 PM
MAN, thats a pain. it sucks resealing tanks
A[Only Registered Users Can See Links.] sucks...that's one of my aquarium nightmares...
Terrible, yes, but could have been worse! Thank goodness you caught it when you did!
cocoa_pleco
05-06-2007, 06:15 PM
that would bomb if someone went away for a week and the tank leaked. Majpr nightmare
Lady Hobbs
05-06-2007, 07:31 PM
I said the same thing this morning. What if I actually left the house for a whole day or two? Yikes
I did see......after I added more silicone.....that new silcone on top of old doesn't always work well. Sheesh I sure as heck didn't want to dig out tons of silicone for one little spot so I'll see how this goes. And believe me, I will fill it up and let it sit for a few days. Naturally I will have to recycle it anyway. Let's see.......that makes about 6 times this same tank has been cycled.
When I went to Walmart for more silcone I was telling the lady there that I sprung a leak. She said it happened in the store just the other day to one of their tanks. She said she had fed the fish just half an hour before that and all was fine. Next thing she knew some lady was running up to her telling her the tank was pouring water.
I also picked up more fake plants since the Dollars are going in there. My plants are all jammed in the 10 gallon, floating, until I decide what to do with them. No big loose there one way or another.
Yes, hungryhound, this tank is cursed! But it could have been a whole lot worse. I would like to get one cup of coffee down in the morning before switching into panic mode.
cocoa_pleco
05-06-2007, 07:34 PM
I HATED re-sealing the 29g. All i did for 5 hours is scrape, scrape, scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,scrape,
xoolooxunny
05-06-2007, 07:49 PM
and scrape?
I do think he had to scrape. A little bit.
Seriously though, silicone can be very difficult to break from a well bonded surface.
cocoa_pleco
05-06-2007, 07:53 PM
it was torture. The easy part was getting the X-acto knife and slitting it down the middle, but taking the razor blade and scraping was a living torture. Finally when i though i was done, a stupid corner leaks on the opposite side. That one was easy, since the silicone hardly stuck at all
The key would be to remove ALL of the old silicone, lightly sand the bonding surface with maybe 200 grit sandpaper, and rebond new silicone. A difficult task indeed.
...sheesh...I'm tired just reading about it...
...I'd say time for a new tank...likely cheaper than buying all that silicone...
Silicone is cheap, the time involved is not necessarily.
crackatinny
05-06-2007, 11:29 PM
Sorry to hear that hobbs, after all the work you put into it, I agree with the comment on resealing the whole tank, how long before another seam decides to let go?
Exactly, and you never know if your reseal is complete if you are just covering up a bad one to begin with. Frustrating situation.
cocoa_pleco
05-06-2007, 11:51 PM
My actual aquarium-only silicone was 9$. worked quite well
Yeah, aquarium grade silicone is cheap indeed. The time involved is far more expensive depending on how you look at things.
Lady Hobbs
05-08-2007, 01:40 AM
I siliconed the beans out of it and it still leaked. Started over again and this time instead of spending all my time sealing on the outside, I just did the inside back seam. Tank has been filled up and running for 12 hours with no leaking so I'm holding my breath.
Had you removed the old silicone? That could have been part of the problem. Really good to hear its holding now though!
Drumachine09
05-08-2007, 02:05 AM
I was reading up on a sump filter and i found out that GE type 1 brand window and door sealent that comes in a big tube is aquarium safe, and less than half of the price than the fish brand sealent. Its way easyier because you can use a caulking gun instead of that stupid little squeeze tube.
Is it clear do you know? Good information to have.
Chrona
05-08-2007, 02:17 AM
Is it clear do you know? Good information to have.
You get it in clear.
EDIT: *CAN get it in clear
Drumachine09
05-08-2007, 02:18 AM
Is it clear do you know? Good information to have.
Yup, its clear. They also make it in black, which is also aquarium safe.
You need to get GE Silicon I : window and door sealant, which looks like this
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
Do not get GE Silicon II as it contains mold inhibitors which will poison your tank.
Its under $4 for a giant caulk gun sized tube vs a small squeeze tube for $7+.
Simply awesome information. Hopefully we won't have to use it too often, but great to know. Thanks for the research!
Drumachine09
05-09-2007, 01:40 AM
Simply awesome information. Hopefully we won't have to use it too often, but great to know. Thanks for the research!
It wasnt all me. I got it off another forum, but i figured i should share the love.
cocoa_pleco
05-09-2007, 01:58 AM
GE is aquarium safe. Next to the MARINA brand sealant, its excellent
Drumachine09
05-09-2007, 01:59 AM
GE is aquarium safe
Not all GE is aquarium safe. The only one i know of is GE I Window and door. A way to test is to see if it has the strong smell of vinegar. If it does, youre in business. If not, your fish will probobly not survive the toxins it secretes.
cocoa_pleco
05-09-2007, 02:01 AM
I believe its the original one thats safe, NOT 100% sure. Guide the smell gently with your hands, and if it "burns" your nose, do not use it.
Lady Hobbs
05-09-2007, 04:37 PM
If in doubt, you can use it for sealing the outside but use the regular tank silicone for the inside.
Day 3 with no leaks so guess I'm good to go.
Hobbs! Next thing you'll be building your own Monster Tank!
Chrona
05-10-2007, 12:39 AM
Hobbs! Next thing you'll be building your own Monster Tank!
Given Hobb's luck, I would advise against such a project, lol.
Jahosacat
05-10-2007, 07:48 PM
OK You now have me rearranging parts of my house. 3 of my tanks are on things that would be OK if there was a leak. One of the tanks is on a chest which also hold photo albums - and these are albums which are not copied onto CD's.
Glad to read that your tank is holding up to your hard work.
Thanks for the info about aquarium safe sealant - hubby now has the info.
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