Por-15

[cwccartier]

Does anyone have experience with their tank repair kits?

I need to clean and seal my tank but Im not sure what route to take.
Considering using Vinegar to clean the rust and then purchasing just the tank sealer, or just sacking up and buying the whole repair kit. Thoughts?

[LeeGS550E]

Does anyone have experience with their tank repair kits?

I need to clean and seal my tank but Im not sure what route to take.
Considering using Vinegar to clean the rust and then purchasing just the tank sealer, or just sacking up and buying the whole repair kit. Thoughts?

The one time I used it, it turned out great. I would definitely use the full kit, though. If you're going to spend the money on the sealer, you want it prepped right, so full kit is the way to go. As you put it, sack up!

[pete]

The one time I used it, it turned out great. I would definitely use the full kit, though. If you're going to spend the money on the sealer, you want it prepped right, so full kit is the way to go. As you put it, sack up!

+1, did the full kit on my 450 tank and it did the job real well.

Just make sure if you put some rocks or washers or whatever in to shake around and get the lumpy bits out, make sure they're small enough to come out easily... took me more time to get the last couple out than it did to shake the lumpy rusty bits out...

Also, make sure you follow the instructions 100% to the letter, and when you're drying it out, if you think it's dry, keep going... you wanna be 1000% sure the inside of the tank is dry before applying the liner.

I taped a hair drier to the filler hole and ran it on and off for something like an hour to make sure it was dry enough.

[jwhelan65]

I highly recommend, just be sure and take your time and complete every step as directed.

[bluewool]

Whats worse than a rusty tank? A rusty tank with the liner falling off because corners were cut. Use the whole kit. It works great.

[Nessism]

The kit only comes with a quart of phosphate solution, which isn't enough to properly derust a tank. Chuck Haun posted a link to this stuff the other day which seems much better...http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051

Add the phosphate and a package of aquarium rocks. Shake the crap out of the tank every hour or so and rotate it though every possible angle. To properly derust a tank it can take several days.

Some people use nuts and bolts in the tank to scrub the metal but in my experience this isn't adequate because the pieces are too coarse; the tank will develop a chalky phosphate layer on the metal which should be scrubbed off before lining.

BTW, there are tons of threads in the archives on this subject so please perform a search to gleen as much info as possible before starting.

Photos below show some tank plugs that are easy to replicate. It also shows the phosphate layer I mentioned. This photo shows AFTER the metal was scrubbed with the aquarium rocks. The entire tank had a layer sort of like it shows at the top of the filler neck. Removing all the loose scale is recommended before lining.

Good luck