RESEALING RIO 190

I purchased a used Rio 190. Unfortunately, after filling I've discovered a leak in the front seal. It was only two-thirds full when I viewed and the leak was above the waterline.  Long story, but seller is not admitting liability.  Surprise!

Anyway, now I have to reseal it. Could someone please advise me on how to go about it please?

I'm presuming it's Juwel Rio? Juwel sell their own sealant on their website and if it were me it's what I'd purchase. If you can see where the leak is and it's only small then I'd clean it thoroughly, make sure it's completely dry and just add a small amount of sealant where the leak is. If it's a larger area then you might be looking at removing all the sealant on that seam and re-sealing the whole lot. It might be worth going to Juwel's website to see what their advice is. I've always had Juwel tanks and I find them to be well made in general (although the older versions of the Rio 180 has a dodgy brace bar that's well known for failing) Juwel are very good at customer service though

Hi Akasha

Thanks for the reply. I've ordered marine sealant in transparent and black. The hole is not massive, but water does spurt from it. There is also a pinhole beneath it. I was hoping to just use the transparent to plug it, but have heard this doesn't work because it won't stick to the original sealant.

Regards
Helen

Hi, yeah I'd heard that too which is why I suggested getting the same sealant it's been sealed with at manufacture. Thankfully I've not had to re-seal any of my Juwels but I've had to re-seal one of my clearseal tanks and I know how fiddly it is. Making sure it's completely clean and dry seems to be the real key to re-sealing, then leaving it to cure for a good 3 days aswell I found. The instructions said 48 hours but I left it an extra day to be sure.

Does it give you any info on re-sealing on Juwel's web-site? If you are worried about the best way to go about it for a definite seal it might be an idea to drop them an email. I know of someone recently that had a problem with a Juwel light unit, he dropped them an email and they got back to him with an answer with 24 hours

Hi Akasha,

I plugged a leak in a clearseal tank without removing old silicon and it held for the two years I had it. My only worry with plugging it is how long willthe repair last?

I may contact Juwel for advice. The sealant I've ordered is Bond-it HA6 which has excellent reviews.

Thanks for your input.

no problem, sorry I couldn't be more help but I think asking the experts at Juwel is probably the best idea. It's a big tank so it needs to be right. Shame you couldn't get anywhere with the seller - cheeky so-n-so (the seller - not you lol)

It can take hours to fully reseal a whole tank mainly because of all the old stuff that needs removing.

You don't need to fully dismantle the whole tank.
If you think the tank structure is intact (not about to burst at the seams in a major way). You can probably get away with just resealing the inside, that way, the existing integrity of the tank isn't disturbed.

Use a razor blade to take away old sealant.

Take your time, time wise it's 95% preparation and only 5% sealing.

It can get quite messy, my advice would be to use masking tape at both sides of the join and find some curved tool / section of pipe to smooth the sealant run down. Then carefully remove the tape in such a way as to leave a nice clean edge. Then... keep your fingers off!!

It's tempting to just make it a bit more 'perfect', but often the more you fiddle, the more you wish you'd just left it alone.

Rinse well with water after 2-3 days as Akasha says. This will give time for the sealant to bond and strengthen.

That should stop the leak. If it still leaks, you need to ask yourself if you'd be able to do a whole tank reseal, as that takes a lot more work and you might even fracture, chip or crack the glass in the process.

If you do a fairly solid internal reseal, you should get years out of it.

Hi Deans_Angels,

Thanks for the reply. All you've said has been noted.

The majority of the tank seems sound.  The leak is in the front right-hand corner of the tank. You can see air bubbles in the seal around the position of the leaks. There is a pin hole leak and a more substantial leak. There has obviously been some water ingress into the air bubbles as I can see algae in there. There is also an air bubble in the left-hand corner of the tank, but this is not leaking as yet.

I think I should deal with both corners at the same time.  Is it necessary to remove the whole of the seal, or can I just remove the portion that's affected.

I have a video of the leak,  but I can't remember how to post it.  Help please.

Here's a link to the video:
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/tnnwt8tc4tvtd9k/AADlCaLuNX9GZt-0baRvnn3ha

I can't paste more than one link at a time, so there'll be several posts.

Air bubble in right-hand corner:

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/lby3coiqyzxm8q4/AAA7k0wmWvLCoGPseThxp-5ma

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/0vwpdoliazg03tf/AACFwhLSVixpXHZdLlJbhVTLa

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/4aay6dumry54gg3/AABcbuZr2b7oUbUEIMrDDTbpa

I have viewed the video and seen the photos.

On the right hand side, the wear seems to be more to the left of the joint. On the left hand side the wear seems to be more to the right of the joint. That, to me suggests that the damage is more 'internal'.

Of course, the wear to the right has penetrated right through, but the front pane isn't hanging off. The existing seal just can't cope with the 5 or 6 inch head of water pressure above the leak (in conjunction with the stress the glass and seal have been put under to get the water to that level).

You have options... it's your choice how far you want to go:

i) just try to repair the section that seems to be leaking, or

ii) just strip out each front vertical 2 front corner like | and | or

iii) just do all verticals 4 (front and back), or

iiii) The thing is, while you have the tank cleaned, and stripped with the correct sealant and the razor blades out, it makes sense to do the entire internal seals 4 verticals and another 4 runs to make a square around the bottom. You'll then feel comfortable knowing that it should be fully watertight and it should last you some time.

Once the tank is full of lovely fish, the last thing you want in 12 months time is the water to breach the remaining old seals that you didn't fix, because it will be a lot more stress dealing with the fish and a wet wall / floor and going through it all again!

The better job you make of it now, the lower the future risk will be (it's not that much more work) and it also protects against any bad fix history (e.g. if someone used the wrong type of sealant).

Hi Deans_Angels,

Thanks for the advice.  I assume if I want to completely reseal I will have to do it all at once. No good removing old seals and resealing half one day and the remaining half the next? Would I apply sealant to one place then smooth?  Or would I have enough time to apply to all seals and then smooth them? I assume applying then smoothing immediately would be the correct way to do it as sealant instructions say to smooth within 2 minutes of application.

Many thanks

Internal Reseal:
You'll most likely find, once you start taking the old sealant off the inside it makes a right mess. So I would remove all the sealant that you intend to replace, clean tank as well as you're prepared to clean it, let it dry, apply your masking tape (if you intend to use it 50p at Wilkinsons), then get the sealant out if you're in a patient mood.

You'll need a sealant gun to express the sealant. I use a metal one, which can be a bit tricky when working with glass. I understand there are plastic ones, but I've never used one of those. The gun allows you to lay a length of sealant along the length of the join.

When you start sealing, you don't have to do the whole thing in one go. You can walk away if it's not going right and come back to it in a day or two. What I wouldn't advise is going back and forth between removing sealant, cleaning and resealing. Your new joints are likely to become contaminated / compromised and it will take a long time to work around the newly completed bits.

I've not worked with that particular sealant before, but really, when you've got the tank in a good workspace, everything is very clean, well prepared and positioned, resealing doesn't take more than a few minutes. I'd be confident of applying it all then smoothing the whole thing, but I'm a handy sort of person, so it's all quite effortless. Everyone is different, so just do what works for you.

Complete Reseal:
If you're doing a complete reseal, that is, removing all the old sealant entirely so that you're just left with panes of glass (where there is no longer any structure to it), then you need information on 'tank building' rather than resealing. Tank building needs other considerations, which I haven't included in my posts.

Good luck!

Hi Deans_Angels

No I'm just going to remove the internal sealant, not the sealant between the panes, so the structure will still be in tact.

I have all the necessary tools, it's just the confidence and experience I'm lacking.  Lol.

I would normally ask my hubby to help, but he's not best pleased having a fish tank in the house again, especially after it's leaked all over the living room floor.

I'll dry the tank this week and start to remove the internal seals and clean.

Thanks for the advice thus far, but I may need more help in the future!

endlessendlers wrote:...it's just the confidence and experience I'm lacking

You've probably been putting toothpaste on your toothbrush for years, it's much the same skill.

Oh, I do hope so. Lol

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xkwvehs8761plf3/AACShYP94S6CorE5YJ3qgHJPa?dl=0

Ok, so I've finally plucked up the courage to remove the old internal seals. They seem to be quite easy to remove, apart from in the very corner. I don't know if this is a good thing or a sign that they were likely to fail at any time.

The link above shows what I've done so far.  I've yet to clean with distilled vinegar, but I'm happy that the remaining pieces of silicone are loose and will be easily cleaned off.

Please look at the pics and feel free to leave any comments you may have.

Looking good.

The corners can be a bit tricky, mainly because that's where it seems to be the thickest and hence, stick the best. Just try not to scrape the glass much as you 'dig in' to it, very steady on the corners, even if it's tough going.

When working with a blade, try not to twist the blade if it's in a gap because, if you get good leverage, you risk damaging the glass.

Get as much off as you can in the 'L' shape of the join, but don't be tempted to dig deeper.

When cleaning up, there may be watermarks which are hard to get rid of. I don't have any tips for these, I've tried lots of vinegar on one of mine (even gave it a good soaking) but it didn't improve things that much (though I think the marks could have been caused by marine water).

Looking good, take your time at this stage. The cleaner your join, the better the seal will be. Keep up the good work!

Hi Deans_Angels,

Thanks so much. I'm not rushing.  It'll take as long as it takes.  I want to get this right the first time.

I'm surprised at how little silicone keeps the panes of glass together.  It's obviously very important that I do this correctly because there's going to be alot of strain on these joints.

I'll keep you posted on progress,  however slow.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uk9ya9ahrromc15/AAB6XDmTewsL436EyQO51wFma?dl=0

The link above shows pictures of how the tank looks after removing all the internal silicone. The last picture is of where the air bubbles had been and you can still see a couple of bits of cloudy glass where they were.

I'm now going to clean with distilled vinegar and leave to dry before taping and resealing.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xkwvehs8761plf3/AACShYP94S6CorE5YJ3qgHJPa?dl=0

Ok, so I've finally plucked up the courage to remove the old internal seals. They seem to be quite easy to remove, apart from in the very corner. I don't know if this is a good thing or a sign that they were likely to fail at any time.

The link above shows what I've done so far.  I've yet to clean with distilled vinegar, but I'm happy that the remaining pieces of silicone are loose and will be easily cleaned off.

Please look at the pics and feel free to leave any comments you may have.

The original seal was black and 5mm wide from each corner. Do I use black or translucent sealant (I have both) and is 5 mm sufficient?

Yeah! I'd use a sponge, to try and pic up all those little black flecks, rinsing the sponge out often (to make sure the bits aren't just pushed from one place to another). It's nice to work with clean materials.

I think you might be promoted to chief tank restorer at your house

Given the choice, I'd go with black for a show tank in a living room, because it's a more modern look.

How much sealant, I will tell you in my next post, just working it out...

Dean