I've sprung a leak

[Shirts]

Last night, the seal on my 72 gallon bow started leaking in the front bottom of the bow front tank. It was a slow leak and could have been very terrible if I wouldn’t have been home. Unfortunately, now I need to fix of buy a new tank. Luckily, I had a spare 20 gallon tank around to save the fish, but I lost 1 possibly 2 fish in fiasco.

Does anyone have experience resealing a fish tank? If any one does and would be willing to help me reseal my tank, I’d happily help and pay for your time to reseal mine. (The sooner the better) I live in Vienna VA.

Otherwise, I’m in the market for a new 72 gallon bow front tank.

On a slightly separate note, in shuffle of moving my fish to the 20 gallon tank, a plastic decoration fell over and my bristle nose pleco swam into the hole on bottom. What would you all do to get the fish out? At this point, I can’t think of anything except hoping he swims out on his own or getting a saw out.

 

[F8LBITE]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Don't get another 72 bow. They are known to leak. Petco's $1/gallon is going on. You can get a 75G for around $50. Or try craigslist.

 

[londonloco]

I second the thought of getting anything but a bow front. I had a 72g bow spring a leak on me, bottom right.

 

[Shirts]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Don't get another 72 bow. They are known to leak. Petco's $1/gallon is going on. You can get a 75G for around $50. Or try craigslist.

Thanks for your thoughts. I'll be on the hunt for a new tank and stand.

 

[Shirts]

I second the thought of getting anything but a bow front. I had a 72g bow spring a leak on me, bottom right.

I love the bow front, but maybe it's not worth it. Leaks can ruin your day.

 

[FishEggs]

Best thing to do is re-purpose tank to a reptile friend and get a new one. Not worth the time or risk to reseal it.

 

[Frank Cowherd]

If the leak is in the curve, it could be hard to repair. But if you want to try, you have to empty, clean and dry the tank. Then clear the area where the leak is of as much of any old sealant as you can. Then fit a piece of glass or acrylic that fits the curve and is about an inch wide. SO a curved piece of glass or plastic that is an eight inch thick or so, maybe two or three inches wider (longer) than the leaking area and an inch or two wide. You want to glue this down with silicone glue. You want to have as thin and as complete a layer of glue as you can get. In other words a thin layer will work better and is stronger than a thick layer.

As for the pleco, if you clamp the object above the water line, he will find his own way out. It could take an hour or so or less. That is how I get plecos out of caves when I need to. There is no way I know to pull them out.

 

[JLW]

I'm going to +1 the whole "Don't Reseal" thing. I get several e-mails a week asking about resealing leaking tanks. I will not do one. I would not do this one. To do it right, you really, really need to completely disassemble the tank. Anything else is asking for trouble. Remove all the old glue, and then put the tank back together. Chances are, you will break the trim trying to get it off, and they're hard to replace and expensive (they're easy to do, its just hard to get them). You'll have to reglue all eight seams.

What you'll be left with, when you're done, is a tank that doesn't quite look as nice, and could start leaking again any day. Bin it.

 

[dlfn1]

I resealed a 40 breeder about 6 years ago. It took a little bit of time, but it wasn't too bad. Had no trouble with it after the reseal.

 

[Thai]

Resealing a non leaking tank i have no problem doing, resealing a leaker? Better to repurpose for reptiles or junk it. A leaker means the bonds between the panes are bad, a rebuild is needed not a reseal. As others have mentioned though the 72 bows are notorious for leaking, junk it

 

[Shirts]

Thanks for all your thoughts. I will repurpose it or bin it.

 

[Wet Sleeves]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Don't get another 72 bow. They are known to leak. Petco's $1/gallon is going on. You can get a 75G for around $50. Or try craigslist.

Which Petco has the 75G? I thought they stopped selling them

 

[Devin Gibson]

Which Petco has the 75G? I thought they stopped selling them

No Petco has that....they took 75 gallon,and 40 gallon off the list...both are 50% off not a dollar a gallon

 

[F8LBITE]

Which Petco has the 75G? I thought they stopped selling them

All Petcos have 75G 50% off. Just call around to make sure they are in stock.

 

[stany]

Saw the $1 per gallon today at the Annandale store with no size limit.

 

[Devin Gibson]

Saw the $1 per gallon today at the Annandale store with no size limit.

They didn't have a size limit because they don't carry anything over a 30 gallon....

 

[stany]

I stopped in today for dog stuff and the sign now say's up to 29 gal. I looked and did not see anything on the floor over 29 gal,

 

[Robinhud]

I bought a 75 gal. from Laplata MD. right before christmas and was told I got Lucky the only store they knew of that carried 75's was Lexington Park MD. store. I did get mine for 1$/gal.

 

[Devin Gibson]

I bought a 75 gal. from Laplata MD. right before christmas and was told I got Lucky the only store they knew of that carried 75's was Lexington Park MD. store. I did get mine for 1$/gal.

2016....you will not see it again until maybe black Friday or Christmas maybe

 

[CSnyder00]

HOT had tanks on sale. My friend looking for a 4' tank got a new 75 with glass hoods for $100.