New 180g Tank Overflow issue

[drosie]

Hey guys picked up a 180g tank second-hand. Dual corner overflows with 2 1in drains in each, 4 holes total. Tank failed leak test nearly immediately, turns out there is a leak from the tank into the right corner overflow at the very bottom. My first action is going to be to dry the area and attempt a repair. If this fails I have a secondary idea, I was debating using the other good overflow to contain the full siphon and open channel lines of a bean animal. Use the bad overflow as a the e drain of the bean animal and a return. This way the water will not flood my sump, I realize flow in that bad overflow will be fairly stagnant. What about creating a black acrylic top and making it like a cryptic zone with a low powered powerhead to provide some flow to it? Plenty of powerheads for flow in the main tank. Not looking to move massive water through the sump anyway. Would this work if the repair doesn't hold?

 

[Cooper2]

Take the time to fix this correctly and abandon the whole "Cryptic zone" idea. If your leak is internal meaning no water hit the floor during testing and your only issue is the tank water bypassing the overflow chamber and going down the drain before it breaches the weir slots...... then this should be a simple reseal with silicone. Be sure to use silicone with no anti-mildew chemicals meant for bathrooms. I'd also avoid the tube of "safe for aquariums" Aqueon silicone at any Petco. This brand is either just junk or 8 years old at every location.

 

[drosie]

Hoping the fix works, there is a large hole in the silicone and I have never really worked with silicone in the context of aquariums. I picked up lockitite silicone free of any mold inhibitors

 

[Mike Lemming]

Is the “leak” just between the display and the overflow? Not from the tank to outside the tank? If it’s only leaking water from the display to the inside of the overflow, I wouldn’t worry about it much. There will still be enough water going through the baffles to make the overflow useful.

 

[drosie]

Correct. There is a hole in the silicone between the overflow and the tank. No leak to the outside. I am only concerned in a power off/pump dead scenario that it will endlessly fill that overflow and drain down into the sump and overflow it.

 

[Cooper2]

Good choice on the Loc-Tite brand! Clean the area well with alcohol or even better use Acetone but don't create any puddles. I'd be stunned if your repair didn't work as the slight difference in pressure is working to help hold your patch against the hole. I'm also going to mention a product that could fix this situation when the tank is wet or filled with water. This could help anyone with a leaking tank or the aquatic time bomb known as RedSea reefer...hehe!

"Flex-tape"....yup, the stuff with the crazy ads on TV. I used this product to "throttle" an overflow by blocking a couple weirs. That piece of self-adhesive rubber sheet is still in the same spot 4 years later and Coraline algae loves it!... It's literally a purple square. I'd highly recommend keeping a roll in case of emergency and maybe even a strip over your siliconed repair.

 

[FishieBusiness]

Be sure the you clean the area multiple with high % alcohol. The new silicone will not bond well to the old.

 

[drosie]

Repair is done, hoping to leak test again on Monday after it cures and I get some time to actually fill it. Thanks for the help to all

 

[reefstarter]

Hope it works, but aren’t your overflow pipes coming up high enough that you can’t drain the tank?

 

[drosie]

They are, I was more concerned the overlow would endlessly keep filling until the entire tank drained to the height of the pipe and the tank equalized. That is more water than my sump could accommodate.