Sprung a leak...

[IJC]

... an extremely slow one thank god. I've recently been getting a small amount of salt creep coming from the trim at the base of my front glass panel. By small, I mean it grows by no more than 1mm per day.

I can see were the silicone has peeled away from the glass a little, and I suspect that is the source of the leak. I've checked to make sure there is no water dripping down the glass at any point around the tank (I've had that scare in the past), and it's not that.

I have a couple questions for the group:

1. Anyone had a similar problem? It's slow enough that it might never develop into a real problem (not really that comfortable with this tho).

2. Any way to fix this without removing everything and drying the tank out? I've got all the usual critters, including fish, a clam, hard and soft corals, and a magnifica, which I don't really want to subject to a long period of life in a rubbermaid bin.

3. Anyone know how much an 18x18x36 corner-drilled tank runs these days?

Thanks

[Tangman]

you could try Aquascape epoxy, it sticks to glass and can be used in the water, plus it's purple too...hehe!

[BCOrchidGuy]

My recommendation would be to drain the tank, move the livestock to another tank, clean up the silicone and the surrounding area, re-silicone it and hope for the best, OR purchase a new tank. To be completely honest, I think a repaired tank should never be used as a display tank, a sump or mixing tank or a QT but repairs just aren't reliable IMO.

Doug

[IJC]

Thanks for the advice. I think I will probably end up buying a new tank. I think any kind of "wet" solution, would be very temporary at best, and at worse I could just make it leak even more.

Any suggestions for buying a drilled tank?

[04scoobysti]

I just had the same problem, salt creep on top and bottom on all 4 sides ( it was manageable and wasn't in danger of releasing water, then one day the creep was like an inch a day so i replaced it an upgraded the tank the next day. Sorry, im not local so i can suggest a place to go or even a price range... but new tank all the way!

[BCOrchidGuy]

As to how much a new tank costs, one local store sells a 45 gallon 36 inch tank for $95

Doug

[IJC]

$95??? Assume that's not drilled. I was expecting $500 plus for a reef setup. I live in a condo downtown and I'm just not set up for a major do-it-yourself.