The seals were old and failing, the actual leak though was accelerated by a chip in the glass. When I pulled the leaking seal it pulled a piece of glass out with it and you could see where the seal ahead of the chip had failed about halfway then the chip finished it off. Locals reported these tanks being from early to mid 90s in our local store and this one had touch ups but no evidence of a reseal. I am fairly reasonably confident in the assembly of the tank, more cautious about the lower and upper seals that attach the glass to the bottom of the tank and the top trim. Overall this tank is of poor quality from the get go. Lots of chips at the seams that had to of been there from day one as the original seal cover and fit the chips.
Help me reseal this tank please
- Thread starter FahakaHome
- Start date
Wow! You've been busy; very nice! I'm amazed at the gap that is exposed at those corners when all the silicone has been removed. The fact that this tank was built and held water shows just how incredibly strong the silicone-to-glass bond is, as well as how tough silicone itself is once cured. Impressive.
Now, a question: You have laboriously cleaned out all those vertical seams of their original silicone and replaced it. You are planning on now re-coating the bottom wood; how will you do that? I suspect you will need to drain the tank and then give it at least a few weeks for the wood to dry out completely, in order to obtain proper adhesion of the epoxy. But what's the plan for the horizontal seam running all around the bottom panel? Specifically, how will you achieve a seal where the now-cured new interior silicone bead contacts the new epoxy? Can't just paint the epoxy up over the silicone, that won't work, at least not with any epoxy I have ever heard of. And you can't really rely upon laying another silicone bead on top of the interface because it will stick to the new epoxy but won't give proper adhesion to the cured silicone. This area looks problematic to me, and it's not just a spot here and a spot there; it's the entire perimeter of the bottom panel.
Now, a question: You have laboriously cleaned out all those vertical seams of their original silicone and replaced it. You are planning on now re-coating the bottom wood; how will you do that? I suspect you will need to drain the tank and then give it at least a few weeks for the wood to dry out completely, in order to obtain proper adhesion of the epoxy. But what's the plan for the horizontal seam running all around the bottom panel? Specifically, how will you achieve a seal where the now-cured new interior silicone bead contacts the new epoxy? Can't just paint the epoxy up over the silicone, that won't work, at least not with any epoxy I have ever heard of. And you can't really rely upon laying another silicone bead on top of the interface because it will stick to the new epoxy but won't give proper adhesion to the cured silicone. This area looks problematic to me, and it's not just a spot here and a spot there; it's the entire perimeter of the bottom panel.
I may not of described what I am trying to accomplish effectively. The bottom is wood with plastic/epoxy coating. The leak was years of use after the leak started and being a lfs on concrete they just topped it off. Stand isn’t rotted but will need sanded down, fully assessed and repainted. Not a problem. The area I am wanting to pond line is the exterior side of the bottom panel. It has started separating from the wood and I want to peel it off and pond line just to keep the wood from rotting.
So the damaged/rotting wood is exposed to water from outside the tank, water that already leaked out? Gotcha. I still kinda sorta think that with all the effort you have put into this job, it might have been wise to re-coat the interior of the wood before re-siliconing. But if that interior sealant is intact, you should be good.
Lol, been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
Start a new project...find out as you progress that the problem is worse and the solution is more effort and expense than originally thought...continue to expend effort and money on something that keeps reminding you that you might be wasting your time...but you've already done so much that it just seems logical to forge ahead...but you are tempted to take a short cut here or there by this time, which further endangers all the previous effort...
Gotta keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best.
Start a new project...find out as you progress that the problem is worse and the solution is more effort and expense than originally thought...continue to expend effort and money on something that keeps reminding you that you might be wasting your time...but you've already done so much that it just seems logical to forge ahead...but you are tempted to take a short cut here or there by this time, which further endangers all the previous effort...
Gotta keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best.
Yeah again i am not super concerned about the tank. Just the more I work on it the more I see it’s gonna be a strange setup overall/don’t have the space to sump it or run strong filtration in it. It will be a 5-10year tank most likely though. Haven’t been a forum guy in a long time but once it is moved into the fish room and setup I will start a “fishroom” thread in the journal section and keep everyone updatedLol, been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
Start a new project...find out as you progress that the problem is worse and the solution is more effort and expense than originally thought...continue to expend effort and money on something that keeps reminding you that you might be wasting your time...but you've already done so much that it just seems logical to forge ahead...but you are tempted to take a short cut here or there by this time, which further endangers all the previous effort...
Gotta keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best.
Here is the bottom. How would you recommend to clean this up and seal it off from future damage?
Sand, deck cleaner scrub, and then what to seal?
Sand, deck cleaner scrub, and then what to seal?
Kittie hair body filler might do it for the voids/rotten wood. Id think like with a regular style wood/epoxy/fiberglass tank you want the outside or bottom to be able to dry out and not trap water in the wood itself by sealing it off on the outside layer.
