Tank seal is starting to break

[HouseHouse]

is this a sign my tank is starting to leak?

 

[UncommonSense]

I’m sorry to say that this is a relatively advanced sign of seam failure…

Your best bet here will be sourcing a 50-150g stock tank or other large water holding container to temporarily house your livestock and rock, before draining this tank and proactively taking it out of service as soon as possible!

I would not recommend waiting until you have a new tank to transfer livestock, I have seen seams looking much better than this fail completely within 30 days… time is of the essence here, and the lead time for a new tank is simply too long to guarantee that you won’t end up with many gallons of saltwater on the floor!

 

[MrPike]

I agree that it’s important to make plans soon on replacing that tank and finding a temp solution if that’s not something that can be done fast. Looks like Red Sea tank? I recognize it by the failing seam.

 

[1ocean]

yep the seam is failing..you could empty it and reseal it if you know how...
If you never did it before I would not attempt it on a main tank...

 

[UncommonSense]

I would not attempt it on a main tank...

I would not attempt to “reseal” any rimless tank…

The fillet of silicone on the tank interior is primarily there for cosmetic reasons, aside from protecting against over-enthusiastic scraping…

A 4’x2’ Viewing pane has roughly 400bs of hydrostatic pressure on it at all times when the tank is filled… if the structural glass:glass silicone seams have started to severely peel, nothing stops them from suddenly “unzipping”, ripping that fresh “reseal” silicone straight in half!

 

[Ocellaris123]

Just curious what brand tank is this? And yes that seal is failing

 

[petcellar]

I agree that it’s important to make plans soon on replacing that tank and finding a temp solution if that’s not something that can be done fast. Looks like Red Sea tank? I recognize it by the failing seam.

Agree need to be fast.

I moved too slow.

 

[PharmrJohn]

I had a similar situation several years ago and only let it go 2 days before getting all of my livestock out into whatever I could find to hold them until I purchased a new tank, upgraded my stand and swapped out. It was a huge pain in the butt, but necessary to avoid a potential flood.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Even a few cheap kiddy pools or large stock pond/tank can hold what you need to till new tank.

 

[slingfox]

You can get 100gallon or larger plastic feeding troughs from your local hardware or Tractor Supply store. These are commonly used to feed livestock on farms and are great large storage bins for fish.

Search for “Rubbermaid stock tank” on Tractor Supply and you’ll see they are on sale now. These do not go on sale often so good them to pick one up.

 

[WalleyeGuy]

Even a few cheap kiddy pools or large stock pond/tank can hold what you need to till new tank.

Stock pond. The kiddie pools are too shallow and flimsy . Tractor Supply has stock tanks that will work. I have a friend who uses them in the garage to overwinter koi and they are rugged and will work in the short terms for you. FYI, these stock tanks I often see being plumbed out and used in Marine/Reef fish store for use as large sumps to hand many large tanks at once :)

 

[Biokabe]

Just one thing - assume that your fish will be in the stock tank for an extended time and set them up with everything you need to support them indefinitely.

So keep (most) of your rocks in the stock tank with them, water movement, set up lights over it if possible, sand if you have any sand sleepers, and a basic mesh cover to keep everyone where they should be. Plan to do water changes on your regular schedule, and if possible (probably won't be, which is why I say "if") plumb it into your sump.

 

[Freenow54]

is this a sign my tank is starting to leak?

That is good to know its advanced I would not have guessed. Luckily its not at the back .

 

[RobertK]

You can drill those stock tanks too if you want to install a sump under it for a longer term solution!