Marcus McConnell
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2018
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 28
Hello every one. Been a while since I have posted. Got a question on if an older 55 gal tank is worth the effort of saving. The tank was my brother's roommates tank that he had set up for a couple years that he himself had already bought 2nd hand and was setup for freshwater chiclids. He ended up doing an emergency tear down since he left for work one morning and got a call a little later that there was a lot of water on the floor and the tank water level was low. He rushed home partially drained the tank till it stopped leaking them moved his fish over to his dad's house till he could fix the leak. Well he never found where the leak was on the tank so he never reset it up since. Since then he has give me the entire tank and setup minus the lid, and I have found where the leak is and it's not a bad sealing leak area but the leak was caused by the center upper brace for the tank breaking. When I leak tested the tank I did it in stages so I didn't stress out the tank incase it was a really bad leak that structurally compromised the tank. 1/4 full sitting for 1hr- no leaks, 1/2 full 2hrs- no leaks, 3/4 full 1.5 hrs-no leaks, 1 inch from top of tank rim 10min- lower back corner underneath trim leaks. I noticed the leak first but as I was inspecting the leaky corner I noticed the front and back panels were both bowed out 1/2 in from where they were supposed to be so I quickly marked with a sharpie what corner was leaking and drained the tank entirely. While it was draining I gave the upper rim brace a closer look and noticed the center brace had been meticulously cut out and at a first glance it looks like it's not supposed to have the center brace but I can see sanding marks from where someone has rounded the cut edge to match the rest of the inner brace lip. I ended up testing the tank a few days later with a temporary Jerry rigged 2x4 brace that held the top of the tank in proper position and did my leak test again mainly to narrow down exactly where in the corner it was leaking but even after being filled 1/4 if an inch from the top for 6hrs it never leaked, so I'm guessing that the leak was caused by the sides bowing just enough to pull the corner silicone just right to leak. I have found a replacement upper brace company so I can replace that with a new factory styled plastic glue on rim brace. I do plan on redoing all interior corner silicone, but is it worth taking the effort to remove the bottom brace and the back and right side glass and revealing it that way or will the new inner silicone be enough to stop the leaks and not structurally compromise the tank? I don't want to risk breaking any of the glass since a single replacement pane is more expensive vs a new tank I can get at my LFS. I already have the new silicone on hand and the new brace is only $18, $45 after shipping, and the tank is an old enought that a the vertical panes are only 1/4in not the newer 3/16in and the bottom is 5/16in. Any help and thoughts on the best way to handle this greatly appreciated.
