Silicone Acrylic to Glass

[bob115]

I know the topics been talked to death on just about every reef forum, but usually its discussed in the context of acrylic baffles in a glass sump. My situation is a bit different.

 

For the overflow design I'm doing, it requires a small box on the exterior of the tank. The box is only going to be about 6.5" long by 2.5" deep and about 3.5" tall. Water will only fill up to about 2.5" deep inside. Underneath I was going to put triangular pieces of acrylic as a brace to help hold it up.

 

Do you think it will stay put without leaking long term?

[GHill762]

I would just get glass cut.. I completely 100% trust it for sumps, but if the sump baffle fails you don't end up with a flood.. just go to a glass shop and do it right..

[evilc66]

Agreed. It will fail eventually. Bracing it will help to a degree, but silicon just doesn't bond well to acrylic.

[Beer]

Glass all the way. Cut the sides longer to act as supports and one brace in the middle would be way more than enough asuming that your plumbing is properly supported and not hanging off the overflow.

 

I actually have a bunch of left over 1/8" and 1/4" glass that I could use to cut those pieces. If you are near the East Coast, it would probably be cheap enough for me to ship it out to you to be worth while. What size holes do you need?

[Exquitas]

I was searching for something to glue my acrylic baffles in my sump to the glas.

I've tried alot until I came by a polymer glue called Sikaflex 221. There are many reefbuilders in Europe that seem to use this product with success and it's seems to be reef safe (after it cured at least). I came across of it while googling ...

 

So far everything I glued with it hold up perfectly.

 

Tbh I don't know if they sell it in the US but from my own experience I can say that it holds perfectly.

[supernip]

bulkhead and orings in between every layer

[PicoSavvy]

On 5/18/2014 at 1:10 PM, Exquitas said:

I was searching for something to glue my acrylic baffles in my sump to the glas.

I've tried alot until I came by a polymer glue called Sikaflex 221. There are many reefbuilders in Europe that seem to use this product with success and it's seems to be reef safe (after it cured at least). I came across of it while googling ...

 

So far everything I glued with it hold up perfectly.

 

Tbh I don't know if they sell it in the US but from my own experience I can say that it holds perfectly.

Suck this account hasn't been active for a couple of years I would have like to know how that glue worked out. A hybrid acrylic and glass tank would be awesome, I know a company makes PVC bottom tank but I have no idea what silicone they use. Has anyone seen any interesting silicone or glues that could possibly work in this situation? I once bought an acrylic tank that had a rock wall silicone to its acrylic panel and man it was a pain removing that silicone off it had a lot more hold then I expected on the acrylic.

[GHill762]

On ‎5‎/‎18‎/‎2020 at 10:30 AM, PicoSavvy said:

Suck this account hasn't been active for a couple of years I would have like to know how that glue worked out. A hybrid acrylic and glass tank would be awesome, I know a company makes PVC bottom tank but I have no idea what silicone they use. Has anyone seen any interesting silicone or glues that could possibly work in this situation? I once bought an acrylic tank that had a rock wall silicone to its acrylic panel and man it was a pain removing that silicone off it had a lot more hold then I expected on the acrylic.

internally, I think silicone bonds well enough to acrylic to not be an issue - my sump I built in 2014 is still going strong.. I just wouldn't trust it to hold water outside of a tank.

[PicoSavvy]

I know inside silicone job with acrylic are fine but i think what most are after is the external job so we can have an acrylic back and do all type of holes and overflow much easier then glass.

[mcarroll]

On 5/15/2014 at 12:25 PM, bob115 said:

I know the topics been talked to death on just about every reef forum, but usually its discussed in the context of acrylic baffles in a glass sump. My situation is a bit different.

 

For the overflow design I'm doing, it requires a small box on the exterior of the tank. The box is only going to be about 6.5" long by 2.5" deep and about 3.5" tall. Water will only fill up to about 2.5" deep inside. Underneath I was going to put triangular pieces of acrylic as a brace to help hold it up.

 

Do you think it will stay put without leaking long term?

Supports can't have anything to do with leaking since they aren't dong anything to hold in the water.

 

If your main box design is so weak that it's dependent on these supports to work (to hold in the water), then I'd go back for a redesign and make something that isn't dependent.

[DSA65PRO]

Gorilla Pure Silicone Sealant, check the package for toxins, as it’s been years since I used this. It took longer to dry than what the package said, about 24 hours. It helps if you tape off and lightly sand the Acrylic to roughen it up where you want the bond to take place.  The Edges where already rough enough. This is not the Bubbly stuff that is Yellow/Brown. BTW it was a Sump kit for an Aquarium, I think the manufacturer was out of St. Augustine, FL.

[PicoSavvy]

I use this video as a guide