I have this as well,i believe the number is actually GE 510.
It states that its 100% silicone and is an excellent candidate for use on lexan sheet and most plastics and in addition it provides outstanding adhesion to most glass and metal surfaces.offers a water tight seal and is excellent for marine applications above the water line.
Uses-for bonding polycarbonate or glass substrates such as lexan,polycarbonate,glass,pc,pvc,aluminum,fiberglass,metals and abraded rubber.
I plan on using this to adhere my own made acylic overflow to the inside of the tank wall.
I hope its safe to use,otherwise back to the store i go

Never received a reply to this one. Anyone know?

http://m.canadiantire.ca/mt/www.canadianti...nt%2C+Clear.jsp

since its 100% silicone.. just read the ingredients. As long as there is not germicides/anti fungus additives / anti mildew etc it should be safe to use depending on its purpose.

If you just putting an overflow in the back wall it will likely hold that up fine. If you assembling a tank it may not have the tensile strength to hold it together properly.

Speaking of diy tanks. I know the purpose of black silicone on some of the higher end tanks is to hide the bubbles within the silicone. But are there any techniques to running a bead without trapping bubbles beneath it.

Mask off your bead lines and then apply a really thin/small bead of Silicone. If you are assembling a tank from scratch usually the silicon within the joint will smoosh out and be enough for the inside seam. Use your pinky to work the bead and then immediately take off the making tape. Work quickly because as soon as silicone starts to tack over it starts looking like crap if you haven't finished.

Rule #1 -- Don't play in your silicone One decent swipe with your pinky is all it takes. Maybe 2 swipes but never 3 unless you just screwed up.

Most DIY'ers use way too much silicone. Look at the small amount used on high end tanks. If your using the right silicone it will adhere and hold properly.

I thought that the purpose was to avoid the problem of green algae working it's way into the silicone over time resulting in unsightly green edges.

what about this stuff tap plastics carry's " 3M™ Marine Sealant 101?"

Not sure about that it would be nice to get ahold of the MSDS sheets for it. I would imagine it would be find to use since its made tonot degrade in marine uses. Though the kitchen and bath stuff is made to be wet but then is not reef safe so really need more info.

but that type only comes in white.. cant say I have seen a white seamed aquarium yet..

Ck that's basicly the method I used when building my exo. But I still end up with visable bubbles between the glass & silicone.


And yeah even with running the thinnest bead of silicone I could. After clamping, when I tooled the silicone I ended up wasting probably 2/3 of what I ran. Lol On the inside of the exo itself. The beads are double what you would find in an aga. Because I didn't want to just wast all that silicone.

Ahh --- waste the silicone --- That's what I always do -- tool it and discard the excess into the trash along with an entire roll of paper towels.

And to think this was just to install that tiny false wall in Hawke's Pico Lamp

I'm thinking of building a small-ish tank (~25gal) and I'd like to use black silicone (because I think it looks better). What silicone would "the expert" recommend? RTV 103?

The Expert has not been on this thread for quite sometime.

I think RTV 103 would work fine for a tank of that size though..

signed The Amateur...LOL

I didn't mean to "dis'" The Expert. I'm sure he (and probably everybody else on nano-reef) knows more about silicone than I do (or care to, to tell the truth). But Degener8 (aka The Amateur), what did you mean by "...RTV 103 would work fine for a tank that size..."? It wouldn't work for a tank any larger? Is there a better black silicone that is reef-safe that one would use on a larger tank? I'd rather go for overkill than a product that would just be "fine."

Also, if there's anyone out there who could give me some insight on building a tank, for the 25-gallon tank (or maybe even smaller) I plan to build, would 10-12mm glass be too much overkill? I was thinking of using the 10mm for the sides and 12mm on the bottom. I was also going to go to a glazier and have her bevel the edges (bevelled edges and thicker glass=more surface area for the silicone to bond to).

I only meant it should work fine for the size tank you mentioned. The extent of my knowledge is that the taller the tank the more tensilary strength the silicone neds to maintain the bond on your verticle edges. The tank you mentioned it should work well with no issues.

As for your glass thickness question.Google search Aquarium glass thickness calculator. There is several on the internet and it will tell you your minimum glass thickness based on your tank specs and a few variables. As long as your at or above the minimum you will be fine.

If I remember correctly. The two dow listed at the top of the list are the strong ones. There's also one by ge something like GE1200 but not positive so don't hold me to that. Any way 999-a & 795 both rock. The 103 is ge so could be close to the 1200.

The amateur's assistant.

If it was me I would use either Dow Corning 999-a in black or Dow Corning 795 in black. Both will work and be equally as strong in the size tank you are asking about. 999-a is a shorter cure time. 795 has a longer cure time but has better flexibility/joint movement properties -- although flexi9bility/joint movement doesn't really matter on a smaller (less then a few 100 gallons) tank.

here's all the tanks I've built with rtv103 and scs1202

both silicones


just regular aga silicone


rtv103-left scs1200-right


I built two other tanks but lost the pics and my new tank is scs1202


here is info on scs1200
http://www.richelieu.com/docs/documents/12...011/17_1_An.pdf

Nice Pics


Here is the false wall I installed with 795 -- Used 795 because this was a very non standard piece of black tubing (for the false wall) and I wanted to make sure it held.



Here is the False Wall installed. Note the hole in the bottom of the tank. It is securing a pice of CPVC along with some strange bottle glass and also rough construction, black, plastic pipe piece (for false wall). Three different types of materials that all needed to bond together which is why I used Dow Corning 795. The best of the best but it doesn't come in clear and it takes 14 days to cure.

Ck sounds like you haved used the 999-A & the 795. How would you say they compare. So far I've only used the 999-A.

Actually I have never used 999-a but I used the 795 for hawke's Pico Lamp.

After reviewing the specs 795 adhereses to more surfaces and has the best joint movement properties. The biggest issue is that 795 has a 14 day cure time and most people just don't have the patience for that.

Other then joint movement/adhesion 999-a and 795 is probably really similar (if you can beleive the marketing hype/this thread)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So between the two of us we should be able to give decent recommendations to both 999-a and 795

also DeepThief (my brother) has used 999-a so I basically had a 1st hand review of 999-a without any bull

999-a and 795 --- the only way to go :-)

When I did my exo with 999-A. I was suprised by how thick & sticky it was compared to other silicone that I have used. Within 5 min it was able to support the smaller pieces by its self. Within an hour was able to lift the 29 by the exo.

Is this simular to the 795. For some reason I'm expecting the diffrence to be the viscosity.

Yes the 795 was by far the most stickiest silicone I have ever used and it took longer to get a film coat so it gave you more working time. The 2 weeks cure time sort of sucked but since I was bonding some very different types of materials I figured better safe then sorry.

Not sure if it was really black looked more like a very very dark gray to me.

Found this while searching around.
Whats interesting is that its mold resistant and safe.
My store has 7 in stock

Mmm....

To be honest I would not use anything that DAP made. JMO.

So much to catch up on in this thread. If I were building a 100g rimless 795 would be my choice, period.

I bought 2.The package does not indicate any mold reistance,perhaps just a typo on the webpage.Limitation is for a 30 gallon or less,water height 18" or less.Safe for food contact when cured and washed.I will be using it to adhere my overflow box and sump baffles.

Okay here's a question that I'm stuck with.

I'm building a glass sump and the baffles and dividers will also be glass. I will be painting the back of the glass black to prevent light spill and other things. Should I paint the entire glass panel and then silicone it in place? I don't need a lot of adhesion since it's all inside the tank, but do you think the bond would be too weak if there's a few layers of paint between the glass and the silicone?

Do you have any suggestions on how to improve adhesion or any other methods to do this?

Thanks.

AJ try to avoid getting any paint on the edges of the baffles it will greatly limit the adhesion. May be weak enough to not hold the baffles.

Use painters tape to mask off your desired bead width on the baffles, paint & peel ,then silicone it in with black silicone if you want ,or clear.
Hope that helps.

Thanks guys for the feedback. I taped off the edges.

I have to silicone my overflow cover to the tank.. and i was thinking of using GE Silicone I since i used it on all my sump baffles in the past and it has worked great, but in the starting stages it always turns a weird yellowish color and i don't want that this time around. Would i be right to thinking i should use DAP aquarium sealant this time around? I just want a strong bond that will last, and won't turn colors or get all mucked up after a while.

The overflow cover is acrylic.. and my tank is glass so... DAP?

last time nano-paul was talking about dap, pretty sure he said not to trust it.

the list in the firsy post should have something. but think that the 795 would be the recommendation for non glass to glass.

I would NOT trust DAP for non-glass to glass on anything but non water tight baffels. (this has nothing to do with pressure)

Glass to glass OK but when you have non-glass to glass in a "needs to be water tight" situation you need to be picky as normal silicone will let loose of the non-glass over time.

I will let you all know how the Dap aquarium silicone holds up over time.I used it for the install of my acrylic o/f to my glass tank.
Just curious
Any reason why some would not use Dap??
And have you had any experience using it??

Just not my favorite. It is really low on my list. I would rather use a GE product.

Thanks Nano-Paul.
Nice German short haired Pointer btw.

do you happen to know if that okay you got from GE for the 795's usage on pvc-glass bonds were ratings for vertical surfaces? i.e. shear strength vs tensile strength. I want to do a pvc back on a 10g nano as well. I wonder how strong the bond actually is

Is DAP premium elastomeric latex sealent ok Im going to be using it for a sump?

I have used 795 and from what I read, the back of a 10g in pvc should not be a problem. 795 is what the big aquariums use in their huge tanks. Biggest issue with 795 is the long cure time.

I personally would not think twice about using 795 in any home aquarium setup regardless of the situation. 795 is the best and once you experience how "sticky" it is you will understand. Unless you have had some practice making a nice looking silicon bead, you might want to mask off your silicon bead area and then pull the masking tape off immediately after "working" the bead.

I wasnt aware you worked with silicon any other way, now to figure out if pvc sheets actually have plasticizers in them that would leech and compromise the seal. that would mess up my project if i rough up the surface then have to seal it anyways

Latex anything is a NO.


It will hold and should be just fine.


Thank you! I have two of them

ok thanks nano-paul, was looking at silicone from all-glass aquarium.

wait you mean ok to seal it? or not having to seal it? cause not having to seal it would be more ideal.

I used GE Silicone I to connect my overflow cover to my glass tank. Overflow was acrylic and i roughed up the edges too.. think it will hold? I used this same silicone for baffles in my sump and the baffles were acrylic and it held up excellent, but maybe these are two different applications. Whatdy'a guys think?

Found this one at Home Depot, not sure if its the same as the GE1 you guys have used?


Never saw anything about Mold or anything in the specs

looks like standard ge1. the expert may have more info but ge1 is what they relabel for all glass in the pet shops.

Thanks bitts. I have a glass question though. Is it ok to have all the sides polished after cuts or the silicone won't stick well?

unless some one want to jump in & correct me. (please if I'm wrong sooner rater than later)
adhesion occurs on a molecular level. the edge should not matter only the material.

Great to know. Thanks a lot bitts

Paul I was wondering if glass with a beveled edge would have improved adhesion. I doubt it but thought I would ask.