Found a puddle in my fishroom

[lilscoots]

Got home today noticed my 125 had water on top of the bottom trim...and a puddle on the floor underneath it.  after looking a bit I found it had sprung a small leak in the seam about halfway up the side.  The tank has roughly 20 fish in it all 3-7".  Had nowhere else to go with them, so I headed off to TSC to get a 100 gallon rubbermaid tub figuring that's the cheapest option I can get immediately.  So, fish are in the tub 125 is drained, and I now get to cut apart the tank and rebuild it.

My question is, can I simply cut the butt seals and remove just the font panel (the leak is in the joint between the side and the front panels) reattach it to the sides and bottom, then do a reseal on the entire tank inside fillet?  Or, Do I need to cut it completely apart (all the panels) and rebuild it from scratch?

[Super Turtleman]

I would just remove the silicone and reseal the whole thing. Let cure and test. I wouldn't take the tank apart unless I absolutely had to.

[Bremmon]

New silicone will not stick to old silicone...It might not leak at first, but eventually it will leak again... you have it apart, you might as well do it right.

[Ron]

... you have it apart, you might as well do it right.

x2.

How well would you trust whatever old silicone you'd left behind?

[lilscoots]

any tips on removing the trim without breaking it?  It's an old tank, the trim is thick, one piece, no braces... all of my other attempts to remove trim without breaking it were failures.

[danielratti]

A thin putty knife and patience

[Super Turtleman]

New silicone will not stick to old silicone...It might not leak at first, but eventually it will leak again... you have it apart, you might as well do it right.

That's why I said remove the silicone and reseal the tank. All the silicone off, new silicone for the whole tank. Not hard to do...and I'd do that before I removed the glass completely. I've done it twice on 6' tanks and they're both doing great a couple years later.