Is my silicone failing?

[Raysreef3]

A little background- This is a Red Sea 425xl bought just over 3 years ago so just out warranty. The only issue is the left side of the front, the other seams are fine including the bottom which is where I have read about most failures.

 

[KrisReef]

I hope not.

The picture is not easy to interpret what you mean or are concerned with. I have read about folks who have had seam failure and I have acrylic tanks to avoid these issues.

 

[WestMI-Reefer]

Looks bad to me. I see algae in between the panels where silicone is supposed to be.

Red Sea is gaining reputation for major tank failures (search this forum to find countless nightmare stories)

I would empty this right now and contact the manufacturer, but they aren’t replacing these tank typically. Check your stand as well. That’s actually where the failures are coming from, they sag in the middle which puts stress on the seams leading to failure.

 

[SpyC]

Looks more like aggressive algae scraping hitting the silicone

 

[brandon429]

Spy

great call I had my copy/paste button ready

we expect front panel middle seam issues in the pattern events, that's alongside the tank/nice detail find. I have no idea how that impacts seam integrity for any tank

 

[KrisReef]

I withheld judgement to see what others might see (and post) as the last thing I want to do is offer a wrong opinion where a catastrophy is lurking.
I also see what @SpyC & @brandon429 observed, and still recommend that you plan to upgrade to an acrylic tank where it seems that seams don't fail that often.

I will also add that I have an acrylic tank that has had a leak/seam failure at the external overflow box. Of course it popped unexpectedly while I was traveling. My significant other came and patched it while my wife stood by in panic after she had tried some miracle underwater tape for leaks that Lowes recommended. That tape was hell trying to remove so I could brace and rebond an acrylic piece over the stress crack and stop the leak. The tank is still running, and it has another fault on the front corner panel that I noticed many years ago but have not bothered to fix. I mention all of this because acrylic does fail, but not as often as silicone ime. If you are worried about a tank I find it is impossible to enjoy a thing properly under those kinds of circumstances. The hobby has too many in tank issues with animals and plants to compound that with worry over a seam, imo.

I still hope it doesn't break and I hope you find help from the posts above, No one likes a tank fail story.

 

[MnFish1]

A little background- This is a Red Sea 425xl bought just over 3 years ago so just out warranty. The only issue is the left side of the front, the other seams are fine including the bottom which is where I have read about most failures.

View attachment 3128768 View attachment 3128769

The areas that I see (unless I'm misinterpreting it) - are areas where someone has gotten silicone away - due to a scraper, etc. I don't see any areas between the glass, etc - that are a problem - unless you could perhaps post another post with an arrow? There are several areas IMHO - where the silicone edges have been scraped away - which should not be a structural issue. That said - send the pictures to RedSea customer support. They will answer your question

 

[Raysreef3]

Thanks for your input to everyone so far, I’m attaching a short video to show the issue to make it more clear, I am going to drain just be safe

 

[PigPen84]

It doesn’t look good, but it looks like scrapper marks to me

 

[MnFish1]

Thanks for your input to everyone so far, I’m attaching a short video to show the issue to make it more clear, I am going to drain just be safe

Unfortunately - some users (myself included) cannot see videos of this type on R2R. a post to YouTube would be better