Emergency Emergency

[Montaquelaveist]

Okay guys so my sump can apart at the seems and I took it down my tank was out for about 15 hours lost a few fish think they were sick but my question to the group is I know that they say to let the sealant dry for 48 hours but I don't have that kind of time I don't have a backup and my fish were bugging out so I put the sump back together and let it dry for 12 hours am I looking at any problems for the fish the sump is holding been checking it every few hours and no leaks my main concern is will the glue continue to cure and will
I harm the fish please help

 

[tacson]

If you want bring your fish to one of frag tank .. I'll hold it feed them till you fix your issue ..

 

[Montaquelaveist]

I appreciate that offer but I would have to tear my tank apart to get the fish out the tank my concern is will the sealant still dry

 

[House of Laughter]

is the sump made of glass?

House

 

[Montaquelaveist]

is the sump made of glass?

House

No it's made of plexi glass

 

[Pseudo]

Silicone does not bond acrylic together and your sump will fail again. You must use and acrylic solvent like weld-on 16, 3 or 4. IF you used any of those products the sump would be ready to use in a few hours. On the tube of silicone it says does not work on plastics.

 

[Montaquelaveist]

I did put it back together with acrylic cement what I'm concerned about is I also ran a bead of aquarium sealant down the corners I just want to know if it will still cure while under water and two will it harm the fish

 

[Mark2480]

I built a ato reservoir that holds 15 gallons using Weldon 4 hours later my son filled it with water thinking I had finished it the day before and it didn't leak so we hooked it up to the tank and it's been fine ever since so I think you should be ok if it hasn't leaked yet.

 

[TimberTDI]

Why can't you throw a heater and powerhead in the tank while waiting for the sump to cure?

Steven

 

[Montaquelaveist]

i have three MP40w running and a heater and the water clouded over and the fish started acting erratic but my question still hasn't been answered lmao i just wanna know if the aquarium sealant will still cure while under water thats my main concern its not leaking but i can see that its still not fully cured

 

[KathyC]

I did put it back together with acrylic cement what I'm concerned about is I also ran a bead of aquarium sealant down the corners I just want to know if it will still cure while under water and two will it harm the fish

The acrylic cement dries very quickly.
I wouldn't much worry about the silicone at this point, your fish will be fine. In the 12 hour period it would have dried to the touch on the side where the water is.


I too am also curious why you didn't add a power-head and heater to your DT while this was happening??

 

[cmantis]

I wouldn't think so. I would do as suggested above and just run the DT while it fully dries.

 

[NYreefNoob]

No it wont really cure under water

 

[rexdenton]

You can run activated carbon to help adsorb volatile organics coming off the cement. You may want to change it a few times as it will also be adsorbing soluble organics builing up in the reef. Activated carbon is quite effective for doing this sort of thing, but it will saturate.

 

[Montaquelaveist]

thanks for all the help guys so to answer the question about the DT i have 3 powerheads and two heaters it didn't help. as for the sump i checked it and all seems well and a friend of mine said that the sealant will dry it will just take a longer time but as long as the outer layer was dry to the touch i was told that it would be ok so again thanks for the help my fish are starting to recover had 3 losses but overall everyone is fine