glass aquarium rebuild?

[dustbust]

Has anybody on here taken like a aquaeon aquarium, derimmed and resiliconed?

 

I have a 40 breeder that has a cracked black frame and a very sloppy silicone job. I want to tear off the remaining rim, scrape all of the silicone and redue with black RTV.

 

few questions. Could I get away with scraping the silicone only off of the inside seal or would I need to take all of the panels apart, clean them all up and resilicone between the panes along with the inside seal?

Will under the rim be sharp? If so can I do some wet sanding to smooth it out?

 

I guess if I end up having to completly tear the thing apart I may just bring all the pieces to a local shop to get the edges smothed out.

 

Thanks

[Horerczy]

I had to redo the silicone on my 55 gallon tank. You shouldn't have to take the panes of glass apart unless the seal between them has come undone.

 

All I did was scrape out the old silicone and then get a couple tubes of GE Silicone 1 (very important that it's 1 as GE silicone 2 has an anti mold agent that will leech and kill everything) and run beads along the edges of the tank then smooth out with a popsicle stick you just have to work fast because GE silicone daps a lot quicker than it claims to. You can use aquarium sealer if you want but it's the same thing as GE Silicone so why waste the money.

 

It had a cracked rim as well but I fixed that with some JB Weld.

[dustbust]

I want to make this a rimless aquarium. Will it still be ok with the silicone they use between the panes? Im not sure if the frame is there for looks, ease of build, or support.

 

Id prob use RTV 103 on the inner seams.

 

I looked at a friends OCTOPUS 50 gal rimless and it looked like there was a good size space between the panes with lots of silicone.

[Steve_Miller_Joker]

I want to make this a rimless aquarium. Will it still be ok with the silicone they use between the panes? Im not sure if the frame is there for looks, ease of build, or support.

 

Id prob use RTV 103 on the inner seams.

 

I looked at a friends OCTOPUS 50 gal rimless and it looked like there was a good size space between the panes with lots of silicone.

I'm also interested in this question. I just realized my rimless tank is leaking. I also want to know if the panes need to be removed for a diy fix.

[disaster999]

i redid the silicone on an old 55gal tank before. the seam on the bottom pane of glass gave way and emptied 55 gals onto my carpet.

 

if you are careful and dont use brute force its not hard taking the trim apart and remove the the bottom pane of glass off. if you want to do it right, i suggest you remove the glass. I had some self proclaimed "aquarium repairer" which i paid 20 bucks to seal up my tank after it sprung a leak. a few weeks later the same thing happened again. thats when i said F*** this and did it myself

 

use new sharp razor blades to clean off any old silicone, acetone works well in cleaning glass surface. and as mentioned before, use GE silicone 1 with out the anti mold agent and just glue it back up.

[dustbust]

Sounds like the best way to go is to take all panes apart, clean them up and re-silicone. Ive already made a 7.5 gal and a 3 gal from scratch so I know the drill of building a tank. I never have done a larger one (40 is big to me) though so it will be interesting.

 

Im taking a shot in the dark but im going to aim for a 1/16" gap between panes for silicone.

[Chris S]

Im taking a shot in the dark but im going to aim for a 1/16" gap between panes for silicone.

 

Ok. First post after lurking for a long time.

 

I have resealed several large tanks (65 to 120 gallons). Most tank makers have small plastic spacers between the glass to maintain the silicone seal. If you look carefully you can see them. If the tank has a plastic frame it may be covering the spacers.

 

You mentioned removing the top frame and making it rimless. I wouldn't advise it. The frame is designed to be part of the structure. It prevents the glass from bowing. A tank designed to be rimless will have thicker glass to deal with the bowing. You can buy a new frame from the mfg. Another option is to euro-brace the tank.

 

If your tank isn't leaking carefully removing and resealing just the inside is fine.

[RobinsonFam1]

note: never try to adhere new silicone to old. it just doesnt work.........ive done tanks all the way to 210. they are all the same cept for the lil ones under 1/4" glass. they break very easily. you have nothing to lose though if its leaking. might as well strip down at least that panel and do it right.

[dustbust]

Well ive started the process. The glass under the Frame is SHARP. Its going to take some elbow grease dismanteling the entire tank and cleaning it up but it beats dropping $150+ on a new rimless.

 

I think Im going to do a thread on the entire refinish/build whatever you call it.

[The Salt]

I wouldn't advise doing this without beefing it up a bit. Most rimless tanks are done with a little thicker glass and a support. If you are serous about this I strongly advise putting in a euro brace, it's super easy! I would be worried without it the glass could bust from the weight of the water alone. Find yourself a mom and pop glass shop around town. It should easily be under $30 for the cut glass.

 

Also you mentioned the glass is sharp. You can give the glass a couple passes with some sandpaper to knock the edge off to make it safer to handle. It’s perfectly safe just sand away from the edge not the length. Good luck with your project!

 

Best Wishes!

[Ford4life32]

Im new to this forum but have had a 55 gal for about 2 years now. I just went out and got a 100g for free out of my grandmas garage, i filled it up to check for leaks and there was no leaking but on the front pane of glass one corner started to separate. My question is do i do a full rebuild or can i just take that pane off and reattach and seal it back up? or would it be too much of a hassle to do so and i should just trash the project and go get a new tank? Id rather not get a new tank since i received this for free

[ajmckay]

Wow there are a lot of responses here... What's being asked by the OP isn't a big deal in most cases.

 

The simple (and correct) answer to your question is that yes you can pull the rim off, scrape the silicone, and re-do the silicone with black RTV.

 

1) The rim will probably be sharp and possibly uneven between panels (though minimally). This can be smoothed with either silicone carbide sand paper or a right angle grinder with a diamond disc and a very steady hand. You can further wet sand with finer grit but unless you have the tools to polish glass it will have a "sandblasted" look. A little rough, but shouldn't be sharp. This process can take a very long time unless you use power tools, but then you need a very steady hand. Don't let the glass heat up too much.

 

2) The black rim serves no structural purpose in a 40b tank. Go do the math (there are calculators available) and the safety factor is much higher than it needs to be. A 40b (standard AGA) uses 1/4" glass and is only 16" tall. So no need to eurobrace or buy another rim. The bottom is a helpful support but you could flat bottom it if you wanted to. The side panels sit on top of the bottom though so it may not look stellar without the bottom rim (confirm with your specific tank though).

 

3) The fillets of silicone on the inside of the tank aren't specifically structural, at least not compared to the thin layer between the glass joints. Silicone is elastomeric, so it stretches. Anywhere where excess silicone is allowed to stretch can become a weak point. So the really thin layer between the glass is where the bulk of the strength functions more as an adhesive. As a sealent, however, the fillets are important in that they keep the silicone between the glass panels from deteriorating or otherwise wearing away. Use a brand new razor blade and carefully scrape out the corners. Then use another brand new razor blade and do it again. You'll spend a while getting all the fillets out because as mentioned new silicone doesn't stick to cured silicone very well. I find it helps to curve the blade a little to get more pressure and focus the scraping area. Finish up with some acetone or rubbing alcohol.

 

Good luck.

[ajmckay]

Im new to this forum but have had a 55 gal for about 2 years now. I just went out and got a 100g for free out of my grandmas garage, i filled it up to check for leaks and there was no leaking but on the front pane of glass one corner started to separate. My question is do i do a full rebuild or can i just take that pane off and reattach and seal it back up? or would it be too much of a hassle to do so and i should just trash the project and go get a new tank? Id rather not get a new tank since i received this for free

 

 

How old is the tank? Can you identify an underlying cause for the corner separation (like excess air bubbles, ? It's possible it separated due to a bad cut or something. Can you actually move the joint? Honestly it's a bit of a tricky question to be asking on a forum. The short answer is yes you can do this, but there are a lot of other factors involved such as the quality of the cut, the initial assembly, if the tank is square, how well you can prep the edge, the type of sealant used (if it's due to age the other corners could be coming soon), etc...

 

If you do attempt you'll need a big box of razor blades and lots of elbow grease.

[cromag27]

Ajmckay is right.

 

The silicone in between the glass is holding it together so you need to make sure you leave about a 1/8" gap between your panels. I use zip ties as spacers. rtv momentive 100 series is the only silicone to use. btw, all silicone is reef safe once properly cured. even the junk ge2 stuff. there's no mystery mold ingredient that is harmful to a tank once it's cured. curing can take a full week for most silicone.

 

 

Wow there are a lot of responses here... What's being asked by the OP isn't a big deal in most cases.

 

The simple (and correct) answer to your question is that yes you can pull the rim off, scrape the silicone, and re-do the silicone with black RTV.

 

1) The rim will probably be sharp and possibly uneven between panels (though minimally). This can be smoothed with either silicone carbide sand paper or a right angle grinder with a diamond disc and a very steady hand. You can further wet sand with finer grit but unless you have the tools to polish glass it will have a "sandblasted" look. A little rough, but shouldn't be sharp. This process can take a very long time unless you use power tools, but then you need a very steady hand. Don't let the glass heat up too much.

 

2) The black rim serves no structural purpose in a 40b tank. Go do the math (there are calculators available) and the safety factor is much higher than it needs to be. A 40b (standard AGA) uses 1/4" glass and is only 16" tall. So no need to eurobrace or buy another rim. The bottom is a helpful support but you could flat bottom it if you wanted to. The side panels sit on top of the bottom though so it may not look stellar without the bottom rim (confirm with your specific tank though).

 

3) The fillets of silicone on the inside of the tank aren't specifically structural, at least not compared to the thin layer between the glass joints. Silicone is elastomeric, so it stretches. Anywhere where excess silicone is allowed to stretch can become a weak point. So the really thin layer between the glass is where the bulk of the strength functions more as an adhesive. As a sealent, however, the fillets are important in that they keep the silicone between the glass panels from deteriorating or otherwise wearing away. Use a brand new razor blade and carefully scrape out the corners. Then use another brand new razor blade and do it again. You'll spend a while getting all the fillets out because as mentioned new silicone doesn't stick to cured silicone very well. I find it helps to curve the blade a little to get more pressure and focus the scraping area. Finish up with some acetone or rubbing alcohol.

 

Good luck.

[Halo_003]

If you do please post pictures, I would do a euro brace even if only for looks, I think they look sweet.