My dads 80g is leaking ? i think

Ever day for the last 4 days there has bin a ton of salt on the bottom of my dads tank and only on one side anyways today when i was cleaning it i found a leak in the silicon.

What should we do now ? the tank has 13 fish now and 6 cleaner/blood shrimp and more corals to count ?

I could maybe take the shrimp and cuc and maybe 2 or 3 corals if i have room but thats it.

what should we do ?


Is there anyway to re silicone the tank with live stock ? it leak is at the bottom so i can take out water and do it.

 

you can try sealing it fron the out side with some silcon and some duck tape it wont be a perfect fix but its worth a try. if its small enogh you can try super glue

the only other way would be to empty out the tank

 

The only proper (and not doomed to eventual disaster) way is to empty the tank an reseal it. This will require a minimum 3 days to empty, reseal, and allow to cure for 48 hours before adding water back into it.

Other methods mentioned may or may not buy you time to prep a proper transfer and repair. In my experiance water is the most persistant and damaging substance on earth, and once it starts leaking won't stop until properly resealed.

 

I agree, The only proper (and not doomed to eventual disaster) way is to empty the tank an reseal it.

 

mighty putty! hahaha sorry yeah drain and seal with silicone

 

Agreed with the above. a leaky tank is hard to patch. the water exerts more forces than you would think on that tank. In addition, new silicone does not seal or bond well to old silicone. you best bet is to remove everything from the tank, completely drain it and then remove all of the silicone you can get a razor blade to. you could only do that one side, but you are this far, might as well do it right so you know it is done well. remove all the silicone you can get a razor to being careful NOT to damage any of the silicone between the edges of the panes of glass. you wont have to redo those. once you have it 100% silicone free which will take you a few hours and some elbow grease, then wipe it down with Acetone, then wait 5 mins for it ot completely air out then wipe down all the areas to be siliconed with rubbing alcohol to make sure you have no hand oils or any residue on there. once that is done, I would recommend taping up the glass so that when you spread your silicone with your finger, you can get a perfectly straight edge. I have also heard those caulk corner tools they sell at home depot work well too for making a perfect corner. anyways, put on some disposable rubber gloves and lay you a small bead around teh bottom of the tank, then do the 4 upright corners. take your finger or tool and smooth it out to form a nice neat seal. if you did the tape method, pull that tape ASAP so it wont cure on top of it. wait 48-72 hours for it to cure then wet test it with fresh water. if it holds, then you can put it back into service. Its not a hard fix, just take your time and it can be done. I just finished replacing one of the end panels on a 225 that was broken. it came out perfect and I used the black silicone.

 

What do i do with the live stock ?

 

if you dont have another tank, I would suggest some rubbermaid totes and your tank water w/ powerheads. you can get several but if you dont have enough powerheads, and can fit it all in one tub, you can get a small stock tank from a farm supply store.

 

Or if you have a reputable fish store near you that you like you could always ask them if they could babysit them for a while, because your looking at more that a couple of days to do it properly, more like a couple of weeks or more.

Once you take the fish out you have to put the rocks and sand into buckets to keep them wet and viable. Clean out the tank, scrape all the old silicone off completely, reseal it, let it dry, refill with rock sand and water and wait.... because your going to have a cycle no matter how you look at it, which means you will have to wait.

 

I respectfully diaagree. dont think he will have any cycle at all. maybe a little spike due to stirring it up. if he just keeps everythign submerged, then where is the death of the bacteria? its 3- 4 days Max out of the water. i would say on a 90 it is 2-3 hours of teardown and cleaning, then an hour or two to get all silicone out then 30 mins to reseal it. if he gets all that done on a friday night, he should be putting fish back in monday afternoon.