Reseal with pinhole puncture in seam

[iTread]

Hi,

I am thinking about getting a 220 gallon lemaar tank. it is probably 8 to 10 years old. For some reason, someone punctured the seam with a safety pin and it leaks throw this hole. If I reasealed it, would that work? I am just risking way too much with something like this?

 

[dantimdad]

if it's a pin hole you should be fine with a reseal. I have actually done it before when a kid did it to a 90 gallon turtle tank in a school It's still holding and that was 5 years ago (maybe 6).

 

[Mjrenz]

It'll probably work but, if it were me, I wouldn't risk it. The amount of damage that much water can cause to your home and the amount of livestock you could lose would be way more expensive than the cost of a tank that isn't 8 to 10 years old with a known leak

 

[CMO]

when you say reseal are you talking the redoing the entire seam or just filling the pin hole?

 

[iTread]

Well...I was thinking having it resealed. I don't have any experience in that, so I am going off what was suggested. It's a leemar eurobraced tank.
How often to people reseal their tank?

 

[dantimdad]

Where are you?

 

[cracker]

Are You sure it's just a pinhole? Ya did a fill test right?
Ok, how high is the pin leak?
I think I would pack it inside with silicone ,let it set/cure & fill test again.
Iv'e done this in the past for small leaks & it worked fine.

 

[iTread]

California...right now I am just going on what seller has told me. Trying to decide if it's worth the risk to move forward. im moving soon, so it would be easy to upgrade.

 

[cracker]

iTread , If your moving soon & still have the bucks I think I'd go with a new tank. However the one pictured has nice dimensions .
Hard call for sure.

 

[CMO]

Crystal Dynamics which I believe is the new Leemar is in Ocean Side. If you're local you might be able to get their help with the repair.

 

[iTread]

Ok.

Are You sure it's just a pinhole? Ya did a fill test right?
Ok, how high is the pin leak?
I think I would pack it inside with silicone ,let it set/cure & fill test again.
Iv'e done this in the past for small leaks & it worked fine.

did you do anything else to reinforce it? Build the stand in a way that suports??

 

[cracker]

No, I just spread a bunch of silicone & waited for it to cure.

 

[iTread]

to minimize risk...after all the resealing is done...what other steps can I do to reinforce the tank?

 

[jtl]

Here is what I would do. Carefully cut out the silicone on that seam, just the inner seam not the seam between the glass panels. Clean the old residue with 000 steel wool and Acetone. Then tape the area you are going to re-seal and apply new silicone. Remove the tape before the silicone sets up and you will have a nice new seam. You use the tape to control the silicone so seam doesn't get too wide, otherwise it will be as wide as your finger. This make for very nice professional looking job. The seam only need to be 1/16". A pin hole is not going to cause a structural failure, in fact I am a little surprised it didn't almost seal itself. Be sure to test things before you pay in case things are worse than you were told. Why would anyone stick something through the seam of a nice tank?

 

[jsvand5]

Here is what I would do. Carefully cut out the silicone on that seam, just the inner seam not the seam between the glass panels. Clean the old residue with 000 steel wool and Acetone. Then tape the area you are going to re-seal and apply new silicone. Remove the tape before the silicone sets up and you will have a nice new seam. You use the tape to control the silicone so seam doesn't get too wide, otherwise it will be as wide as your finger. This make for very nice professional looking job. The seam only need to be 1/16". A pin hole is not going to cause a structural failure, in fact I am a little surprised it didn't almost seal itself. Be sure to test things before you pay in case things are worse than you were told. Why would anyone stick something through the seam of a nice tank?

Agree. Assuming it really was just someone sticking a pin in it for some reason, the worst case scenario would be that the slow leak isn’t fixed by trying to patch it. It’s not like the tank is going to blow apart because of it.