Hole In The Wall

[IC Casey]

Okay, so the work tank has a rock wall and a small, dime sized hole has appeared on it. Now, I'm aware there's some kind of fish-safe putty or something I could use to patch it, but does anyone know what kind or have any experience with it?

The hole is about halfway down the water line, so it'd be at about 50% capacity to get it dry (another reason I would like to get rid of the loach soon so I can deal with this).

[mrsadler]

sorry not sure

[Haiven]

What about silicone?

[Trippy]

What r u trying to patch ? The tank or the pipe ?

[kewlkatdady]

i'd suggest silicone...

[IC Casey]

What r u trying to patch ? The tank or the pipe ?

It's actually a rock wall background that my brother built out of something akin to concrete (not sure what it actually is). There's a layer of some kind of buffering material behind it, in between the rock and the glass back of the aquarium. Anyway, there's now a hole in it I want to patch. Like a small chunk out of the rock wall. The tank has water and 5 fish in it.

I think this might be the stuff (or may work for this application):

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=3962

or this:

http://www.theaquariumsolution.com/?q=node/180

I just wasn't sure if anyone had any experience with anything like this.

[flamenco-t]

hahaha LOL..go to home depot. Go to the glue section and get yourself a waterproof marine epoxy. They are aquarium safe. Don't be fooled to buy aquarium specific product for double than the standard shelf product.

You can also use superglue gel. I used superglue and epoxy all the time..

stan

[AndrewH]

I agree the stuff from the home improvement store will be cheaper by volume, but you might not need the sizes they offer. Stan what is the smallest size you can get in the epoxy? Is it a 2 part epoxy?

The stuff in the links you posted should work just fine. The directions on the package should tell you exactly how to apply it, but I would recommend draining the tank well below the area (say 2" minimum below if possible) then let it stay that way for a couple of days before attempting the repair so that the rock wall is dry (or as dry as can be), then let glue/epoxy completely cure (per the manufacturer's directions) before refilling the tank, which might take 5 minutes to 72+ hours.

Depending on how low you need to drain the tank, you might want to temporarily move the fish to a tupperware tote or something until the repair is finished (I think some 2 part epoxies are a little toxic before they're 100% cured - which might not be the case for marine epoxy/glue).

[IC Casey]

Yeah, I'm lucky in that we don't have a LOT roaming around in there, so there's not much to kill, but the big issue will be the pleco and the loach. Water will have to be lower than 50% for a few days. I can remove some of the rocks and some of the substrate (which I plan on changing out anyway), but setting up a home for those two (whom I can't even safely net) may be a feat.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. I'll figure it out.