300 Gallon Plywood Tank Leaking - Best way to seal? Pics!

[cvermeulen]

2 shop lights with 4 peices of yarn holding them up. And a blue barrel filled with lava rocks and 4 floss pads for that extra bio load and mechanical filtration

Yarn? duuuuuude.

I like the lava rocks idea. Everyone seems real hung up on bio media but all my tanks run a mix of 3/8" gravel and crushed coral for bio, and it seems to work just fine. Only crap part is it's heavy as sh...

 

[chefjamesscott]

lol yeah I'll admit it's not exactly easy on the eyes. Kind of an abomination to plywood tanks visually. I did screw up the center support there and I was actually going to put a metal brace between the two bolts opposite of each other across the center piece of wood there to take care of the way its held in place..

Looking at that tank I am thinking a few thoughts, none of them bad

First what i would do is one by one take out the screws and then put them back in with a good rubber gasket like the one on the inside of a garden hose on both the inside and outside of the tank, with washers to flatten them even more so getting a good seal, coat the screws with a marine grade epoxy so that when you retighten the bolts you have a double seal let each cure and you should be good to go.

Second since your tank has that rugged look, I would take some pipe straping and run it around the top and bottom of your tank to add extra strength but all add to its look of roughness then I would do the very same for the ends.

Third I would most definitely replace the top wood braces with metal as I would see that as a totally weak point, a good solid way since you have the frankenstein look already is some really long lag bolts sealed the same way as above

For what it's worth i like the inventiveness of your tank

HEY IF IT HOLDS WATER DONT MATTER WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE

What fish did you have in it

 

[ITHURTZ]

Ya I dont have a problem with lava rocks, for 2$ you cant beat a big bag. And ya heavy, its bending my corian piece its sitting on.

 

[chefjamesscott]

That tank is ugly, especially the way the bolts are sticking out, it looks overkill too. throw that thing in the trash and just build a better one.

Dude that comment just plain SUCKS, don't suppose yall got a spare grand or two to give to him to make the new one to your specs of whats acceptable

 

[tcarswell]

Holy crap dude, that thing should be in the ghetto DIY thread. Part of your problem could be the nuts only engaging your pane dividers by a sliver of metal. The other part could be that silicone is not great for sealing to acrylic, unless it's just forming a gasket (you're using it to seal around the bolts, and hold pressure that way.)

Taking the bolts out one by one and resealing MAY help, but probably not because new silicone doesn't stick well to old silicone. If you want to "do it right" take that whole front panel off and throw it in the garbage. Make a new one with a wide enough center pane divider, and reinstall your windows with NEW bolts, using a modern adhesive like DOW 732 or that 3M marine adhesive that actually sticks to acrylic and stainless steel, instead of regular pure silicone.

what kind of bolts are those?

Hey now play nice with the ghetto stuff. He is asking for help.

 

[cvermeulen]

Hey now play nice with the ghetto stuff. He is asking for help.

Er... see post #8.

 

[tcarswell]

Er... see post #8.

Fair enough. I stopped reading at post 7 go figure

 

[necrocanis]

I think the tank would look great with a new front on it. Just make the center brace wider and do away with the bolts altogether. If you do go with the bolts use those smooth fronted bolts and put the heads on the outside. If you are worrying about them sticking out on the insid just saw them off to the nut. I bet if you make that center brace wide enough to cover where those center bolts are you'll be fine. I actually like the stand alot, and it wouldn't take much for the tank to look awesome as well. Good luck!

 

[ITHURTZ]

No bolts for acrylic on a liner? your nuts, thats asking for a leak

 

[basslover34]

No bolts for acrylic on a liner? your nuts, thats asking for a leak

He's not... for once... there is another thread in DIY where a woman from Canada did her liner tank without... ended up looking awsome... I'll see if I have it saved on my other computer when I get home... Just about to leave work and can't be bothered with it right now