Duration of leak test

[ken55]

Hello again,

I'm going to do my leak test this weekend. I'm sure any major flaws will reveal themselves right away. It's the possibility of Minor flaws that concerns me. At what point can I presume the tank water tight? A day? Two days? A week?

As always, thanks for the advice.

[shifty51008]

I always tested my tank, and plumbling for a week before adding livestock. during that time I would test the diffrent equipment, what would happen in a power outage, microbubbles ect.

[saltysailor2329]

I tested mine with everything on for 48 hours and then added salt.

[ken55]

Mine is still in the garage for now. Mostly this is a two fold test. 1) make sure the tank is water tight. 2) make sure the home-made stand will support weight without collapse. If either of these go bad it is much better to happen in the garage. I'm still a couple of months away from livestock but thanks for the tip about running equipment at the same time. I had not thought of that.

[fpv930]

This is a good question. However, it will ultimately be left up to chance.
I purchased a used 72g bow front RR tank. It was running for 9 yrs prior to my purchase. I helped break down the tank with the previous owner. He never had any issues with the tank.
I took the tank home, clean with vinegar and bleach. I then re-sealed the sides of the tank due to the silicone being beat up from years of nicks from the algae scraper. I never re-sealed the bottom as it was under the substrate and looked to be in great condition.

After the system being up for about 6 months, the tank started to leak out the bottom of the glass. When I broke down the tank I found the silicone on the bottom had failed. :headwally:

What I am trying to say is... you can test and test again. It might hold water for 2 months or 10 years. There is really no way to know. If it holds water for a day or more then you should be fine to set it up.

[ken55]

This is a good question. However, it will ultimately be left up to chance.
I purchased a used 72g bow front RR tank. It was running for 9 yrs prior to my purchase. I helped break down the tank with the previous owner. He never had any issues with the tank.
I took the tank home, clean with vinegar and bleach. I then re-sealed the sides of the tank due to the silicone being beat up from years of nicks from the algae scraper. I never re-sealed the bottom as it was under the substrate and looked to be in great condition.

After the system being up for about 6 months, the tank started to leak out the bottom of the glass. When I broke down the tank I found the silicone on the bottom had failed. :headwally:

What I am trying to say is... you can test and test again. It might hold water for 2 months or 10 years. There is really no way to know. If it holds water for a day or more then you should be fine to set it up.
Sorry to hear that. It must have been very frustrating.