Seal From The Outside Or The Inside?

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AlitaConejita

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Hi All,
 
Yesterday was a bad day for my 5 gallon. I changed the water (25% change) and when I filled the water to the top, it started leaking from the top of every corner! I'd just gotten a gravel vacuum so I quickly connected it to the bucket I'd been keeping my fish supplies in (a plastic halloween trick-or-treat bucket from my kids last year :p). As I'm sucking up the water, I realize the bucket is leaking! Luckily the bathroom is close by so I don't totally soak the carpet. When I check the bucket, I realize that it is two buckets stuck together and that they BOTH have cracks - luckily the cracks are in different places so it slowed the leaking. Then, as I walk in back to the room, my hubby asks what that weird sound is ... it's the filter that came with the tank giving it's last death rattle :( I figure that if the filter died, it probably was not working right to begin with ... I check the ammonia level and it turns green almost immediately ... after 5 mins the color was around 1 ppm! I do a 50% water change (vacuuming the gravel while I'm at it) and wait half an hour, check the ammonia level again and it's still about 1 ppm. I suck out another gallon with the vacuum, add another gallon of fresh water (dechlorinated ofcourse), wait another half hour, check the ammonia and it looks like it's at .5 ppm. I repeat this with another gallon with the same results. I also washed all the silk plants. At this point, I've changed more than 5 gallons from the 5 gallon tank and still there is ammonia in the water :/ I did another gallon change this morning, took out the defunct filter, and about to check the ammonia levels... hopefully the test will now be yellow.
 
So sucky day for my little tank :( (the two ADFs that live in there seem fine though).
 
My actual question is - I have GE Type I silicon that I bought when making a DIY divider for my 10 gallon. Should I seal the leaks in the tank from the outside or the inside? The top of the tank has a plastic rim that attaches to the hood. The leaks are coming from underneath the rim.
 
from the inside. Well You would have to remove the current stock for a day. That aint too long aint it?
 
I guess I could put the ADFs in a bucket for 24 hrs ... Or with my son's betta - but the betta is in an unfiltered 2 gallon, the only benefit being that it has a lid which the bucket does not.

I think I need to do a thorough cleaning of the 5 gallon anyway because the ammonia level is still at about .25 ppm :(

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, I ordered a sponge filter yesterday. The 5 gallon was not cycled but cycling a 10 gallon and plan to use some of the media from there to get the 5 gallon cycled.
 

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