Resealing leaking tank?

[Reefer508]

I have an old 150 tall mixed reef that has been running for over 15 years. Well, this morning it sprung a leak in one of the seams. Was about to jump in shower to leave for the day when I noticed it leaking. I was lucky enough to have started up a 55 in my cellar about 3 months ago and to notice it leaking. So I've been moving corals and fish all day, tank is 2/3 drained and wife is out to LFS to get sealant. Anyone have tips or advise. Should I redo all the seams? How long to cure? Is it worth fixing or should I look into a new a tank?

 

[reefstarter]

I would get a new tank . I tried a re-seal just recently . It may hold water ( my attempt ) but came out ugly as hell lol. good thing you had a back up . was thinking of running water through my other 210 just in case of something like this

 

[cilyjr]

You can reseal. Get good silicone. Remove all the old stuff. People will tell you have to take it apart and redo the silicone holding the glass together. You don't HAVE to but you could.

I resealed a 75 for my sump about 8 years ago.it's still fine. I just got out all the silicone except what was sandwiched between the glass.
Ya have to get the other stuff REAL good. Then make a continous bead with the new stuff. Tape either side of the area where the silicone will be applied. And again I cannot stress enough remove all the old stuff and get to bare glass as silicone doesn't bond to old silicone as well as it does to glass

 

[Reefer508]

Thanks for input guys. I have the tank empty now and got some Aqueon silicone aquarium sealant. Gonna start to clean and prep the glass. Also started pricing new tanks

 

[s_kelley]

Man that large of a tank and been going all those years, I think I'd be looking for a new tank. I've tried to seal a tank before and even tho it held I was always worried about it. W a new tank you'd be good to go, enough to worry about in this hobby

 

[JohnK]

You can reseal. Get good silicone. Remove all the old stuff. People will tell you have to take it apart and redo the silicone holding the glass together. You don't HAVE to but you could.

I resealed a 75 for my sump about 8 years ago.it's still fine. I just got out all the silicone except what was sandwiched between the glass.
Ya have to get the other stuff REAL good. Then make a continous bead with the new stuff. Tape either side of the area where the silicone will be applied. And again I cannot stress enough remove all the old stuff and get to bare glass as silicone doesn't bond to old silicone as well as it does to glass

I'm probably one of those people you speak of

You can reseal the tank, but you have to ask yourself what condition is the silicone that actually holds the tank together in considering that it has let go in at least some part of the tank? Resealing won't do anything to fix any structural issues if there are any.

 

[cilyjr]

I would not do it on a rimless tank that's true.