[Sir_BlackhOle]

Can anyone give me some tips on repairing a tank. One of the side panels of my 100 gallon has began to seperate. There is no water in the tank (thank goodness!) I was just trying to determine if this is something feasable for me to do or if I should have it done by a pro. TIA

Kevin

 

[gpodio]

I had to replace the front pannel on my 90 gallon tank once, it's not very difficult but requires you to clean the surfaces very well in order to get a good bond from the silicon. Trying to re-silicon it over existing seams is useless, you will need to pull that side off, check to see that all other seams are intact, if not, now is a good time to pull the tank apart and redo all seams. Other than that it's easier than one may think, the plastic top and bottom trim also help keep it all aligned during curing.

Hope that helps
Giancarlo Podio

 

[Sir_BlackhOle]

So it shouldnt be too difficult to redo the whole tank? I guess you would do it one side at a time? What type of silicone did you use? I didnt see any large tubes of aquarium safe silicone at home depot when i looked a couple of months ago.

 

[gpodio]

Biggest problem is keeping it all square and alligned during the entire process. And of course getting the hang using your fingers to spread the bead nicely

I used a regular silicon gun, used silicon cartridges with no mildew resistant additives or other stuff. Just plain old silicon. Cleaning the surfaces from old silico and finger prints is also very important. Other than that you'll find it's quite a simple task, besides the fact that you're working with heavy pieces of glass. Make sure you can support all sides nicely prior to glueing, you don't want to move anything around once you have put silicon in place, not for 48 hours at least.

I don't think I would attempt to do any of the sides separately, I'd be scared to move any sides that have cured while placing the next piece. Plus silicon doesn't stick well to cured silicon, so it's best that all the silicon work is done at the same time.

Hope that helps
Giancarlo Podio

 

[Sir_BlackhOle]

Thanks! I think if I make a simple frame with 2x4's, level and square them, it might be easier to keep everything in line where it is supposed to be. I'll give it a shot.