Tank Leaking!

[pacman]

Got home from work yesterday afternoon to find a small pool of water around the bottom edge of the tank. It is a slow leak (at the moment) that appears to be coming from the bottom of the left hand side at the front of the tank.
Tank is second hand and I've had it about two or three months. Fortunately, although I have plants in it there are no fish in the tank as I'm still cycling the filter.

I plan on draining down the tank and placing the filter and some tank water into a spare smaller tank to hopefully maintain the cycle process and try to save some of the plants.

Once the leaky tank is empty I will clean it right out and try to identify where the leak is coming from. Then see if I can attempt a repair or whether it would be better to bite the bullet and buy a new tank...

With it being a second hand tank I have no idea how old it is and if it's worth the risk of a repair or not.

 

[Matthew Lee Newell]

you can puchase gold label pond and aquarium sealer,,
it comes in a pressureised canister so you can literaly seal the leak with water inside,
its good stuff!

 

[Bebobb]

I would get regular aquarium sealant and just smear that over the leak. It is water tight because that is what they use to build tanks.

 

[helterskelter]

I seen this a few time and it's commonly just condensation from the hood running down the side of the tank, if the hood sits inside though it cant be that.

 

[Geoff1991]

As silicone wont bond to silicone. Id say do it properly, empty the tank and cut all the silicone away from the side that has the leak and re-seal. Some people suggest re-sealing the whole tank but i dont know whether to suggest that or not.

Hopefully rabbut will find this thread as he seems quite knowledgeable on this sort of stuff.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

I have.... every time this happens..... just put some silicon sealer on the tip of my finger and smeared accross the suspected leak area (under water on the inside)..... Worked for me..... & did not affect the fish at all.

 

[helterskelter]

I have.... every time this happens..... just put some silicon sealer on the tip of my finger and smeared accross the suspected leak area (under water on the inside)..... Worked for me..... & did not affect the fish at all.

Ditto i dont this too and even repaired a crack with water and fish with no problems but it's not advised

 

[mike os]

agree, it is only necessary to remove old silicone if ther is a structural issue, for most small leaks all you are doing is plugging a very small hole & rubbing silicone into the hole is sufficient.

if you need silicone pm me...

 

[pacman]

Thank you for the replies, much appreciated.

I have drained down the tank, cleared it out moved it outside and refilled with water to try to find the leak.

Mike os, thank you for your offer. I do have some sealant (Soudal Fix All) that says it is environment friendly, no solvents, halogens, acids or isocyanoates, that should be ok to use?

Thanks again all.