Life's Betta With A Fish

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Graceful-Lily

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Thank you so much Draco Draco for responding.

On the betta fish forum, I was told that the ghost shrimp won't survive the cycling process anyway and that I should start with the snails and/or guppies.

I still have to wait until the silicone and light get here before I can do anything. I ordered it a few days ago and it should be here by Tuesday next week. I just want to reseal the tank and get that out of the way before I think too deeply on anything else.

The reason why I wanted the gravel is because I love the way it looks aesthetically. I'd love a pink tone gravel but I'll see once I get there.
 

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I tried running an aquarium in Coronado as a way to keep my cats entertained, but I didn't have the knack for it... no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't keep it sparkling clean like some aquariums I've seen, so I donated everything (including the fish) to a school and let them deal with it. Like Dirty Harry said, "A good man always knows his limitations..." And one of my limitations is that I can't keep an aquarium sparkling clean, no matter how many water changes I make, LOL. 😿
 

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If you really think it needs to be resealed, then you need in person help from someone who's done it before, otherwise disaster will strike, sooner or later (usually sooner). Aquarium safe silicone is expensive and all of the old must be removed. Big Al's stocks it, if you want to go that route. If I were you, I'd keep the hood and buy a new, bare tank for the tank part. This would be economical. Is it a standard sized tank? Then you could resell the old tank as is to the reptile community.
 

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If you really think it needs to be resealed, then you need in person help from someone who's done it before, otherwise disaster will strike, sooner or later (usually sooner). Aquarium safe silicone is expensive and all of the old must be removed. Big Al's stocks it, if you want to go that route. If I were you, I'd keep the hood and buy a new, bare tank for the tank part. This would be economical. Is it a standard sized tank? Then you could resell the old tank as is to the reptile community.
I was thinking that too. If I remember correctly, resealing a tank is a big freaking deal, not like caulking the bathtub. If you have a local aquarium store, ask there if anyone has experience with resealing. But if it's currently holding water, I wouldn't worry even if the silicone looks ratty. The stuff that holds the glass together is the important part.
 
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Graceful-Lily

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The silicone is worn out almost completely.

I already ordered the silicone online off of amazon.

There is no hood, just a glass top. I won't be able to find a 35 gallon for that price again.
 

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I'd keep an eye on facebook market place (if you're on facebook) or other local buy/sell. I am always seeing aquariums for sale. I'd rather buy another than to reseal.

as always, if buying used, sit the tank outside and fill with water over night to test for leaks
 

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Yes, cancel the silicone order and get your money back! W Willowy is right. I'd sell the tank to someone who keeps snakes or lizards and keep an eye out for other deals.
 

Willowy

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As I understand it, silicone does not stick to silicone, so you have to get every little speck of it off, sand the edges, and totally rebuild and reseal the entire thing. Which seems like quite an undertaking.

It's hard to say for sure what should be done because every aquarium forum has people saying "reseal it, it's super easy!" and others saying "I've kept hundreds of tanks for 50 years and never resealed even one and never had a leak!" and still others saying "never reseal, my tank exploded!".
 
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Graceful-Lily

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Okay, I cancelled it. I'm going to inspect the tank further and see if it's as bad as I think it is.

It also had a weird glass piece at the bottom so it would probably be impossible for me to seal anyway.
 

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How cool - setting up an aquarium is quite an undertaking but fish are so awesome. I currently have a betta named Whiskey Kara + an apple snail in a 10 gallon aquarium and both are happy.

I added live plants to my aquarium which I love, but be sure to clean them so you don't deal with snail transplants. They are awful to deal with.
 

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I don't suppose you have Black Friday sales there ;). I just saw that the Top Fin kits I linked to are 50% off on BF.
 
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Graceful-Lily

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$152.99?

That's a lot. I already spent $100 collectively so far.

With tax (x1.13) that is $172.87. Way too much.

I don't use Facebook and never will. They disabled my account without reason and I can't get back in or make a new one. I use Kijiji whenever I want to buy secondhand anything.
 
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Willowy

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Did the tank come with a stand?

The 20g kit is "only" $115-ish, if you aren't attached to the idea of a 35g-ish tank. And a 20g is big enough to have fun with.

You can pick through everything it came with, get what you want, and sell the rest on Kijiji, probably make most of your money back. That is, IF you choose not to trust it. If it's been holding water this whole time and doesn't get damaged in transit, I'd probably trust it. There's always some risk with having a tank full of water in your house, but one that's been holding water for years is no more of a risk than a new untested tank.
 
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Graceful-Lily

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Okay, I just filled it up to see if it'll leak. I should have done this from the beginning but I thought jagged and torn silicone meant "needs resealing".

Okay, so betta forum is saying that the seams of the tank are the most important and the excess outer layer inside has nothing to do with the structural integrity of the tank.

I'm going to Big Al's today to ask questions and look at inventory.
 
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Graceful-Lily

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I checked on the tank and it's near useless. The water has soaked right underneath all of the silicone and it's just about leaking at this point. 😔

Update: So, I noticed that there was water underneath the black rim... you know on the top of the tank? That plastic black boarder... Anyway, noticed water under it, pilled it up and it completely came off. Under that was a thick and uneven layer of silicone. Now, the inside silicone? That's started to peel off. It came off so easily in fact, it's as if I wasn't even fully adhere to the glass itself. I'm currently draining out the tank as we speak. That amount of water in a seemingly unstable structure is giving me anxiety so I'm going to go ahead and empty it now.

It seems like he tried to reseal the tank and fail miserably. It's not leaking through the glass but the silicone is coming off. I'm looking for another tank but at this point I just want to not bother with any of this. Had no idea it was going to be such a headache.
 
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Willowy

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But it's not leaking? As the people on the betta forum pointed out, it's the silicone in the joints that matters, not the extra stuff squished outside of the joint.
 
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But it's not leaking? As the people on the betta forum pointed out, it's the silicone in the joints that matters, not the extra stuff squished outside of the joint.
The silicone on the inside is coming off now, it's as if it wasn't fully tacked onto the glass. I checked the seam and nothing is coming out of it. Still seems air tight to me. But I'm not sure about the bottom, it would appear that water is leaking out of the bottom. I'm going to drain the tank and check.
 

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Can you try looking for a new tank on amazon or eBay? You can get a glass tank and buy the components separately. As others have said, you could sell the tank you have as a reptile tank.

I got my betta tank from Walmart for $30 I think and it came with everything except for an aerator which they don’t need anyway. It’s just 5 gallons but for one betta and a snail that’s just perfect.

Fish keeping can be stressful to start but it’s so much fun watching my little guy and he’s so smart!
 
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