High Tide Aquatics

Need advice on leaking glass sump

musclebenz

musclebenz

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While out of town I received a call stating my glass sump was leaking water all over the floor. The leak appears to have stop but has about four inches of water remaining. The questions I have are:

  1. Do you reseal the glass sump or replace it?
  2. If I need to replace it how to remove the sump since I have one of those setups like a Redsea where the sump is under the tank. If I remember, when I installed it, the middle support bracket where the doors meet was removed to install the sump into the cabinet. Now that the tank is full, do I have to drain the tank, remove that support bracket and remove the sump?
 
I would fix it temporarily by getting the sump dry, then putting reef safe silicone in the leaking area today. Next, pick out a long term replacement. If you are in this for the long haul, then pick the right sized acrylic sump to fit with any bells and whistles you want. The tank does not need to be drained to take the sump out, but it does need the overflow and plumbing empty, so you will need to relocate some water. I recommend the large brute trash cans.
 
Is this a Red Sea, or other professionally made sump? Or something done with Petco $1/gallon tanks? If it's the later, just replace it.
If it's a professionally made sump, i.e. not cheap to replace, you could reseal it, but depending on where the leak is that may not be terribly feasible. Silicone has a nasty habit of not bonding to old (dry) silicone, so you'd have to scrape out all the old silicone and replace it, which in itself could be a chore and a half depending on baffles and ability to actually have enough space to work. Then you'd <s>need</s> want to have it properly cure which could take weeks. Not saying it's impossible by any stretch, but may very well be more trouble than it's worth, depending on the size a few hundred can get you a replacement acrylic sump.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Is this a Red Sea, or other professionally made sump? Or something done with Petco $1/gallon tanks? If it's the later, just replace it.
If it's a professionally made sump, i.e. not cheap to replace, you could reseal it, but depending on where the leak is that may not be terribly feasible. Silicone has a nasty habit of not bonding to old (dry) silicone, so you'd have to scrape out all the old silicone and replace it, which in itself could be a chore and a half depending on baffles and ability to actually have enough space to work. Then you'd <s>need</s> want to have it properly cure which could take weeks. Not saying it's impossible by any stretch, but may very well be more trouble than it's worth, depending on the size a few hundred can get you a replacement acrylic sump.
Click to expand...
It's a professional made sump
 
H2OPlayar said:
I would fix it temporarily by getting the sump dry, then putting reef safe silicone in the leaking area today. Next, pick out a long term replacement. If you are in this for the long haul, then pick the right sized acrylic sump to fit with any bells and whistles you want. The tank does not need to be drained to take the sump out, but it does need the overflow and plumbing empty, so you will need to relocate some water. I recommend the large brute trash cans.
Click to expand...
I like the idea of temporarily sealing it and replacing with an acrylic sump for the long haul
 
+1 on silicone in corners only working short term.
Fix temporarily, and replace.

You might want to investigate a bit why Sump failed.
It is likely it was just poorly built.
But there is a small chance that the stand is out of alignment.
If your floor was not level and you did not shim properly, you can get a twist in the stand.
That would cause stress on both sump and display tank.
When you put new tank in, make sure it sits nicely and totally flat in the stand.
Not with one corner a bit raised.

+1 on checking stand for water damage, especially if MDF.
 
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