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Tank Silicon Issue

Marc van J

Seedling
Joined
4 Mar 2014
Messages
4
Hi Guys,

I hope you can help, i just got this tank and after taking a closer look at the silicon, im a bit concerned that when i fill the tank, everything falls apart.
The gaps are big enough to fit my finger nail inbetween. How can i fix easily.

tumblr_oekir1Y5GN1rwfqzbo2_1280.jpg


tumblr_oekir1Y5GN1rwfqzbo5_1280.jpg
 
Is I not worth trying to press silicon into the gaps?


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Where's the tank from? I had a similar issue from a certain Manchester retailer.
 
I dont really want to have to take the whole tank apart and clean off everything :p im lazy man :p but if it needs to be done, i gotta do it
 
I dont really want to have to take the whole tank apart and clean off everything :p im lazy man :p but if it needs to be done, i gotta do it

You have to do it, silicone doesn't bond well to silicone
 
That is typical bad cleaned glass, probably greasy from touching with naked fingers.. This you can not fix anymore wathever you manage to put in, the glass is dirty and nothing will stick to it anyway.. If you don't want to take it apart you beter look for an other tank.. This will probably start to leak one day.. :)
 
Unfortunately you will need to replace the silicone, hopefully just only one pane/sheet. New silicone doesn't stick to set silicone.

Cut as much crap silicone out as you can with a brand new sharp box cutter.

Cut the silicone between the sheets using either the box cutter blade or fine fishing line.

Remove all old silicone using box cutter and silicone remover. The remover breaks the bond between the silicone and glass so can be easily scraped off.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-sealant-remover-100ml/88987

Clean the glass thoroughly using water, meths and IPA.

Place masking tape on glass at width of joint required. Not strictly necessary if you are a silicone joint wizard but necessary for us DIY'ers.

Using aquarium silicone, silicone away holding the panes in place with masking tape.

Go over the joints with some of these.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-smoothing-tools-concave-joints/45287

Remove masking tape and repeat going over the joints.

Leave 48hours, add water, add fish, done.
 
Thanx guys I will give it a bash !


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Marc If you are sure you want to go ahead(have a plan b)and re do the tank,check out Hutton Aquatic Products experts in this
 
I had to reseal one panel of my 50 gallon. It was the first time I tried, and I put a bead on the contact surfaces first to hold the pane in place, then let that dry. Then I done the corners and bottom edge (on the inside of the tank). Once dry I manhandled the pane a little bit to test its integrity and the bead separated ever so slightly on those contact edges. My understanding was that it's not the adhesion on the contact surfaces that do the work of holding the tank together. It is the bead that spans the two panes on the inside corners where the structural strength is.
 
There are videos on UTube. I just searched <build aquarium> (without the < >) they make the silicone application look extremely easy.

Tom
 
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