300 gallon LEAK

[tacosricos]

I have maintained a 300 gallon reef (LPS, softies, montis) in a friend's restaurant for the past 3 years. Day before yesterday, the tank sprung a leak, about halfway down on the front right corner. The tank itself is nearly a decade old, and by the time I came on the scene the silicone on the inside corners of the tank had mostly rotten away.

I had made my friend aware of the eventuality of leaking. We have all the livestock stabilized in a cattle trough.

SO HERE'S THE SITUATION:

We have the tank emptied. My buddy wants to take a crack at putting a new layer of silicone along the inside seems to buy some more time. Is this advisable? Could it extend the life of the tank a year or more?

He will not be replacing the tank should the leak continue, which is sad, because it has been a big part of the restaurant's history, but also understandable. If anyone has experience with big aquariums and leaks, or aquarium building in general, please drop me a line.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

You can not simply put a new layer of silicone on top of the old. Your option here is to drain and empty the tank, remove all the old silicone with a razor blade, wipe down the seams with rubbing alcohol, and reapply new beads of silicone to all seams. New silicone will not adhere to old silicone.

Even this strategy is a “maybe”, as there is also silicone between the panes of glass which you would need to completely disassemble the tank to properly re-seal. Personally, I’ve re sealed several small tanks (using method I outlined above), but I wouldn’t risk it when it was holding back 300g knowing the silicone between the panes is no longer integral.

 

[acro-ed]

The only way to properly reseal that tank is to cut the panel entirely off, meticulously clean it of all old silicone and reseal with new silicone. Putting silicone “over” the seam and not in between the edges where the panels meet will not work. You might get a few days out of that idea but nowhere close to a year.

Sorry to hear about the misfortune with that tank! I have a 300 also and I hate hearing these stories. Was it a marineland DD or something else?

 

[link81]

I would replace with a new tank. no doubt. The potential for the tank to fail catastrophically, possibly even on a guest is way to high.
remove it, replace with new. I'd be willing to bet it could be a tax write off as well. (capital improvements?)

 

[tacosricos]

Cool, thanks for the input everyone.

 

[joseserrano]

New tank, doing that patch work is way too risky, also if you are working on this tank, you can be liable if anything happens.