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Should I reseal my entire tank before setup?

Vincerama2

Vincerama2

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Hi guys! After "Wifebane" was moved into position (Thanks to Trigger, Apon and sfsuphysics!) Arnold mentioned that the seals might need to be re-sealed. I look and yes, the silicon in some corners of the tank have a wavy corraline intrusion in them. Upon further inspection, yes, the silicon edge can be lifted wherever I can see corraline.

So it's not BAD in that the corraline does not reach to the actual silicon that holds the glass together, but now I'm wondering if I should replace the silicon, before I fill it with 180 gallons of salt water.

Apon suggested just cutting off the offending silicon flaps and scraping off the silicon. Thoughts?

I could remove ALL the silicon and reseal the entire tank, which would involve removing the overflows, resealing the bottom, and placing the overflows back in. This would be an opportunity to put standard overflows in the tank, to replace the giant Oceanic "Megaflow" overflows, but I'm not sure I'd do that.

Apparently, you can't just reseal one part of an aquarium, you gotta do the whole thing, because new silicon doesn't stick to old silicon.

OR again, I could cut and clean up the flaps where the corraline is.

Thoughts? Ideas? It's probably a one day job, but it's awkward, since .. the tank is in place (dry) already.

Too bad I didn't think of this before when the tank was in the garage. Bah.

Thanks!

V
 
2 silicone 'seals" in play here, the first should be physically between the panes of glass, as you mention this is what holds the tank together, however it also holds water out unless it too is failing. The second is seam seal, which for the life of me I can't understand why it's there except maybe to protect the other silicone (maybe a second layer of water defense?).

My advice, don't re-seal it. You don't want those fumes in your house anyways, especially where your family eats. Cut away the parts where coraline got under the silicone as long as it didn't get all the way into the seam you should be fine. Plug all your overflow holes, fill it with a garden hose to see if you have an leaks and call it a day, or hook up your sump and piping and do the water test all at once.
 
More precisely: Silicone does not bond to cured silicone "well." The usual issue is that it is not
only old silicon, it is dirty/moldy old silicon, which of course does not bond.
It does bond to clean glass.
So one option is to lift and clean the few spots where the coralline went in, and put dabs of new silicon there.
Key : make sure there is decent area where new silicon can bond to glass directly.
What you do not want is a thin layer of new silicon over old.
And make sure old silicone is really clean.
But a bead of new silicon next to old, bonded to glass, should be ok.
(Hope that makes sense)

But : Personally, +1 on not messing with it.
 
sfsuphysics said:
2 silicone 'seals" in play here, the first should be physically between the panes of glass, as you mention this is what holds the tank together, however it also holds water out unless it too is failing. The second is seam seal, which for the life of me I can't understand why it's there except maybe to protect the other silicone (maybe a second layer of water defense?).

My advice, don't re-seal it. You don't want those fumes in your house anyways, especially where your family eats. Cut away the parts where coraline got under the silicone as long as it didn't get all the way into the seam you should be fine. Plug all your overflow holes, fill it with a garden hose to see if you have an leaks and call it a day, or hook up your sump and piping and do the water test all at once.
Click to expand...

I have my "upgrade" tank sitting in the garage and this is a shallow & wide 55 Gal tank that was made from very thick glass (3/8" to be exact) so there is a lot of contact surface at the joints and there is no "seam seal" (only has silicone where glass touches glass) to which I've always wondered if that's a disadvantage or advantage since it looks much nicer and cleaner but is it weaker? it seems to hold water fine. I would imagine it all comes down to the glass thickness since that determines the size of the bond at the seams!
 
you should post a pic of the places where its begining to fail. I like marks idea of touch up seal since I don't think the main silicone has any problem. it was really just the 2nd seal in a few places....but as you know it only gets worse.
 
It's really up to you if you want that extra bit of insurance at the end of the day. Of course, it's dependent on how good of a job you can do on it. Brandie's 210 is sitting in our living room and it looks really good after buffing it out and re-siliconing it.

I would have personally done the same if it was my tank. It's definitely a lot of work and time but if you're in no rush and want to extend the life of the tank with a new bead/seal of silicone, go for it! Just be ready to re-do it if you don't do a good job the first time around. Also, you'll need at least 3 tubes of silicone and a silicone gun.
 
Removing all the silicone secondary seals will take some time. Maybe 5-6 hours. Then You have to wipe it down and/or rinse it out, let it dry, so another day.

Then you have to reseal it, another 2-3 hours. Then you let it sit for 1 week to make sure the silicone has enough curing time.

Make sure you use a "non-mildew additive" silicone like GE Silicone I (not II). It is a acetic acids cure (vinegar smell). Not sure impact on humans if you smell too much in.

So end to end, maybe 8-9 days before tank is ready.

Use "paint scraper hand razor blades. Home depot sells these plastic handles that hold the single-side razor blade to give you better leverage to cut the silicone. Cut perpendicular to glass do you don't cut into primary silicone deal.
 
I cleaned out most of the silicone out of the old tank and I'd say I worked a good three hours on it, then denzil went behind me a nit picked to make sure that we didn't leave anything behind, so we had a good seal. It went a lot smoother than planned.

I was advised to safely say that silicone has a decent life of 10 years.... and if it wasn't your tank from store to home, than a good rule of thumb is to resilicone it. Especially if it's been moved once or twice, and you don't know the full history behind the tank.

My thought was that if you can do it when the animals aren't relying on it as a habitat, you might as well do it. It's better to do it now when it's empty, than to have a leak spring and you're panicking because you have animals that rely on it to live. I've a worry wort though and overly cautious, and I also had a vague idea of the history behind the 210 that I bought and being in an apartment, I didn't want to take the chance haha. Not only that, the buffing really dried out the silicone.

If you can do it, why rush it? It's easier to prevent than to correct. I used a scraper with a beveled edge.... not a razor blade. Boy, once I started it, I just slid it down the seam and 90% of the slicone came out without too much of a mess. I did have to go back and get the film off. but a razor blade was perfect for that. But try to get a scraper... I think it was by Stanley. Sharp, beveled edge, and a great handle for awesome leverage. I can lend you the one I used if you are interested. I could mail it to you, as long as you don't mind mailing it back when you're done.

Denzil also got a good silicone from Grainger. You can ask him what he bought. It was pretty awesome though, but make sure you get several bottles. It's easier to return than not get enough then be stuck half way thru siliconing and you run out of tubes of new silicone. Also, use rubbing alcohol to wipe down the area you are going to resilicone before doing so... to make sure it's clean and free of soil and oils. I think Denzil wiped it down with rubbing alcohol, then waited for it to dry, then he started to resilicone. :)

Hope all that helps. It's our second tank that we've resiliconed, and so far, it's worked very well. ^.^ Good luck!
 
I don't think I have the time to do it now, not the whole tank. Wife is getting angrier every day as it takes up a lot of space that we don't have and I need to kick start this thing even worse now. Mostly because the 58 is taking up space, and the 100 in the basement is taking up space ....

I might touch up that one seal on the edge. There is still some good seal, but the corraline is "encroaching under it. Probably cut off the lifted up side and scrape of the corraline and call it a day before I'm murdered.
 
denzil said:
Well, as long as it doesn't fail completely and your wife's even more upset that you have ~50 gallons of water on the floor. :)
Click to expand...


True that. You could always give her a choice (women tend to like "choices" ;) ) you can tell her "well, I can do it now, to give you some room back, but keep in mind, it might fail because I didn't have enough time to resilicone it, or, give me another 2 weeks, so I can make sure that it's totally leak proof, so that way you don't have 50+ gallons on the floor. True, it means two more weeks of waiting, but less hassle in the end because I know it won't leak...." LOL see, she has a "choice" ;) it's just in her better interest to pick the latter for long term goals... hahahahaha ;D
 
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