90 Gallon Leaking

[Navigator]

Well. The saga of my 90 gallon set up continues. I finally (!) got the stand fixed as the base on it was a bit warped and heavily shimmed to level, so I replaced it - the base was level and the tank was level and the world was a great place until I got all the water in the tank. It leaks. It doesn’t leak when it’s half full, like it has been for about a month, holding my 60 lbs of live rock (half dry, half premium) but as soon as I filled it to the top, the next day I had salt creep up the front right corner that was about 8 inches wide and 4 inches high.

Is it worth trying to re-seal a tank of this size or will the pressure of the salt water just blow it out again? Anything I've seen on articles indicates that big tanks shoudn't be resealed. If I do get it resealed, can I DIY, or should it be taken to a professional – or should I just wait for Big Al’s Boxing Day Sale, or a fellow CanReefer sale? I’m just a smidgen frustrated.

Yes it is worth to reseal the tank but you should reseal the whole tank I have done this many times. Any used tank I have ever use I have resealed it remove all surface silicone. If you know where the tank is leaking and can find the whole try and get some of the silicone out of the area between the two pieces of glass I have found that in allot of cases the glass on the bottom will have more space between the glass and the sides. So if that is where the leak is you should have an easer time of getting some of the silicone out. If the leak is on one of the corners then it will probably be hard to get some out. Don’t worry. There is always good better best, good way to do job just redo all seems and use tape on corner beads as when you smooth them with the proper corner tool you will be left with a nice looking seem. Next remove the tape and silicone the bottom seems I do not worry about the tape on this part as I will not se it unless you have BB you can make it look nice by using the corner tool again. Let dry and cure fill with water and sit for 48 hours. When you drain wipe all silicone seems, they may get a slime buildup on them and I don't know if it will harm your tank or not but I get ride of it. The better way is the same except you groove out as much of the old silicone in the entire joint that you can and try and get all the way through where it is leaking. When resealing cut your silicone tube closer to the tip to produce a smaller hole so you can get in to the corner better as you will have to use more pressure and get the silicone into the grove you made you do not want any bubbles. Apply the same amount of silicone as you normally would. The best way is too dismantle the tank entirely and clean and reseal all surfaces.

In all cases you need to get all silicone off where you have scraped it off and clean it using vinegar it is an acid be carful it will bleach and eat cloth slowly so wash any cloths you use right away. On one of the forums someone said to use acetone it will clean the silicone off the glass better but I would not recommend it as it can get into your reef tank and do who knows what. It may etch the glass where it is applied, I don't know.

Bill