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August 12th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Okay to use? Salvageable?
I got a good deal on a used 75gal and stand. I'm planning on combining my 10gal and 29gal into this one.
Upon closer inspection, I found small cracks at two of the corners of the bottom frame. Also, the seals inside the aquarium look fairly worn.
The two crack pictures are of the same corner - the other one can barely be seen, but you notice it if you run your finger nail over it. The seal pictures are pretty representative of all the corners and tops. The bottom seal is fine.
I was thinking I could JB Weld the cracks, and I bought some aquarium sealant. I've never re-sealed a tank, and I'm a bit apprehensive... | 
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August 12th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Went ahead and JB Welded those cracks. They won't be busting open anytime in the next century.
I'm gonna go ahead and reseal those corners. They're probably fine to hold water the way they are, but if nothing else, they'll look cleaner with a new bead on them. Now I gotta go buy some razor blades... | |
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August 13th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Started razoring out the old seal. It was almost non-existant in some of the side edges..
Everything I've read says to cut out ALL the old seal, so I'm taking out the bottom seal too. It's alot heftier than the sides, and getting all the silicone out of the corners is about the hardest thing I think I've ever had to do.
I'd post pics of all this, but my camera is on the fritz. | |
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August 13th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| I have a tank that I just got that I may end up resiliconing as well. I look forward to your pics and keep my fingers cross for you when you fill it with water. lol
I understand your apprehension! | |
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August 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Yeah, silicone doesnt stick to silicone very well at all. | |
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August 14th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Congrats on the find cg. I hope you can repair it. I think it would be a nice tank. Here is a link you may find helpful if you haven't already seen it. Resealing an Aquarium, by Nick Spinelli
Best of luck!
Ken | |
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August 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Thanks for the link.
I've been Googling like mad trying to find out as much info about this as I can. The big thing was finding a type of silicone that's okay to use. Everywhere I looked said "it's gotta be 100% silicone, no anti-fungals, no anti-mildews, etc.". Unfortunately, finding a specific "aquarium silicone" is rather difficult, and if you do happen to find one, it's about 5x as expensive as the stuff you can get at Lowe's.
Several places I looked said the GE 100% Silicone I* is good to use, and in fact is the exact same stuff as the All Glass silicone. The GE stuff used to say "aquarium safe" right on the tube (almost a decade ago now), but now it specifically says "not for aquariums". It's believed this is simply to get people to buy the $$ "aquarium" labelled tube.
Whatev - I'm taking my chances with it. There's no additives, it's just straight-up 100%silicone. I'm leaving the between-the-glass seals alone, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with them, and I don't particularly feel like pulling the tank completely apart. I'll just make sure to do a nice slow leak test on it after the silicone cures.
Here's a few pictures. The screen on my camera is cracked (got to get around to putting a new one it, yet another project - so glad I'm an engineer by profession), so I'm not real sure what I'm taking a picture of until I see it on the comp, hence some of the wonky angles.
The first one is the aquarium and stand. Aquarium is standard 75gal, picked it and the stand (and a fair amount of random stuff in the stand) up for $200. The second one is where I'm at right now - that bottom side and corner are all the silicone I have left to razor out. The third is one of the completely clean corners, and the fourth is the silicone I'm going to use.
I'll keep you all updated. My lights, driftwood, substrate, and tops have all arrived, so I'm pretty excited. It's gonna be freshwater planted, don't think I've mentioned that yet. Moving my current 29gal and 10gal into this one.
Last edited by cg49me; August 17th, 2009 at 08:19 AM.
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August 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by cg49me  I've been Googling like mad trying to find out as much info about this as I can. The big thing was finding a type of silicone that's okay to use. Everywhere I looked said "it's gotta be 100% silicone, no anti-fungals, no anti-mildews, etc.". Unfortunately, finding a specific "aquarium silicone" is rather difficult, and if you do happen to find one, it's about 5x as expensive as the stuff you can get at Lowe's.
Several places I looked said the GE 100% Silicone I* is good to use, and in fact is the exact same stuff as the All Glass silicone. The GE stuff used to say "aquarium safe" right on the tube (almost a decade ago now), but now it specifically says "not for aquariums". It's believed this is simply to get people to buy the $$ "aquarium" labelled tube.
Whatev - I'm taking my chances with it. There's no additives, it's just straight-up 100%silicone. I'm leaving the between-the-glass seals alone, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with them, and I don't particularly feel like pulling the tank completely apart. I'll just make sure to do a nice slow leak test on it after the silicone cures.
The first one is the aquarium and stand. Aquarium is standard 75gal, picked it and the stand (and a fair amount of junk in the stand) up for $200. The second one is where I'm at right now - that bottom side and corner are all the silicone I have left to razor out. The third is one of the completely clean corners, and the fourth is the silicone I'm going to use.
| The GE 100% silicon is fine to use, we have just used it to reseal a 200g.
You should really Replace the between glass seals as well as new silicon doesn't bond to old silicon! This will provide you with a lot of heart ache in the long run having to strip all you did (and saving you time in the future) and its not that hard to remove break the seal between the glass, just need a bit of heavy pound fishing line.
I took step by step pictures of the siliconing of the 200g PM me if you want me to help you with a picture step by step guide!
Anna | |
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August 15th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Just got the last of the seal out and cleaned out all the edges and corners with alcohol. After it dries, I'll tape it off. Probably seal it up in the morning. | |
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August 15th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| I have read bad things about taping, as you pull the tape off it can sometimes pull the edge of the silicon away from the glass.
I would try and do everything free hand with no tape!
Anna | |
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August 15th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| All the step-by-steps I've seen swear by the tape method, so I'm giving it a go. Got 'er all taped off, gonna take a shower then get to caulking.
*edit*
Caulking was a disaster. Annadvn, you were right - the tape was more trouble than it's worth. Couldn't move fast enough to smooth out all the joints and pull the tape before it started to cure. There won't be any pics of the aftermath... Too ashamed.
Not sure yet if I'm gonna try and give it another go using just the finger method, or just grab a whole new tank.
*editedit*
Gonna give it another go. I'll do it without tape, then leak test. If it holds, great. If not, PetSmart.
Gotta wait till tomorrow to re-strip for my mess to cure completely.
Last edited by cg49me; August 15th, 2009 at 08:48 PM.
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August 17th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Picked up more silicone for the second go around. Been over 48hrs since I put in the first (failed) attempts, and some of it STILL hasn't cured.
Grabbed some different sized PVC 90* corners to smooth the joints out with since I'm not using tape this time around. I think it'll work pretty nicely... | |
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August 18th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| I've been following this thread. Good luck on your test, I hope it works. It's a very pretty tank. | |
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August 18th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Maybe this time it will all turn out well. It's good to see that you aren't giving up just yet. It is a nice tank.  Good luck and keep us posted.
Thanks!
Ken | |
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August 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Argh... Have all the borked seal out except for one corner because - surprise surprise - the silicone STILL hasn't cured. I put that stuff in Saturday morning, that means it's been over three days. The tube says full cure in 24hrs...
Whatev. Still not giving up on it. I ended up with $250 extra this weekend from various things, so one way or another, next week, I'll have a big ol fish tank. | |
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August 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| I am not getting anymore confident to do this. LOL
Looking forward to more info as you get it and hope the next post is good news. | |
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August 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| One positive note is that the silicone from my botched attempt has been REALLY hard to get out. It's a good note because that means it's forming a good bond with the glass.
If I hadn't taped the first time around, I'd probably have it all set up by now. | |
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August 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Looks good. Hopping to see the final result. | |
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August 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Just got the rest of the botched seal out and wiped 'er down. Gonna wait a few minutes for it to dry, vac it out one last time, then get sealing - take two.
*edit*
Got a respirator this time around. Oh happy day!
*editedit*
Not exactly the prettiest thing, but not the ugliest either. I'll have to go back and take off the excess tomorrow.
By the way - I HIGHLY recommend the respirator (mask). Still isn't fun having your head over the tank, but at least you won't want to throw up.
*editeditedit*
If you live around Bloomington, I've got some silicone and respirators you can have.
Last edited by cg49me; August 19th, 2009 at 07:46 PM.
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August 20th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Started trimming up the joints. Leak test tomorrow... | |
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