DIY tank repair questions

T

Tay690

Addicted to Loaches
Feb 5, 2009
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Hi there,
I got a 125g tank last week and it's a REALLY old tank...the glass is about an inch thick!

There are a couple of problems with the tank and I need suggestions / information on what I can and can't do...

First problem is the silicon that is sealing the tank on the inside is starting to peel back and has bubbles under the silicon inside (so I assume it's already leaking and the water is collecting inside the silicon and on top of the glass...which makes me worry about leaks also)

I was wondering if it's even recommended to reseal the tank and which types of caulking would be safe for aquarium use

second question I have is
The tank has a nice ding on the interior of the front pane (I assume a rock fell over or something and dinged the glass) it's a pretty good shot and I'm worried about the glass cracking under the pressure from the water inside the tank

is there anything I can do to re-inforce that shot in the glass? to either prevent it from spreading further or just make it dissapear all together? is the resin they use to repair car windshields safe for aquarium use? just some thoughts I thought I'd throw out...please let me know what you think / suggest

Thanks in advance,
Taylor
 
I have an old (12+ years) 120 tall tank with 1/2 inch thick green glass and to be honest with you as much as I scrubbed it and polished the glass with rubbing compound to remove hard water stains it in preparation for use, I never messed to much with the silicone but just did a leak test (filled up outside 24 hours). Unless the stuff is flapping around and easy to notice I wouldn't look for or curiously peel up any problems. If there is a piece flapping loose I would cut that piece out and lay in new silicon in that spot but that it. Even if you do get a leak down the road its not going to be like gushing out just weeping and then you'll have to drain and fix it (cut and patch). I would never strip an entire aquarium of its silicone, take the panels apart and try and glue it all back together. I think Id rather buy another used one on craiglist then go through that, or stick a needle in my eye lol.
 
thanks for responding

The tank has about 4 spots where the silicon is flapping up (to the point I can see pieces of gravel wedged between the silicon and the glass)

I don't actually want to take the silicon that is holding the tank together off...I know that's a lot of work lol and sticking a needle in my eye would probably be a lot more fun!

but with all these silicon errors in various corners of the tank (2 on the left back panel and 1 on back right 1 on front right panel) I'm just scared when I fill it up the pressure from the water will cause the seams to burst

the seams are pretty "flappy" almost right down to the 90 degree angle of the glass panes

as for the small shot in the glass? aquarium glue from any LFS? My worries are more for appearance...the glass is so thick I don't even think it's an issue...and it's such a tiny shot...but I don't want to have to look at it whenever I'm viewing my fish...and it's honestly a little sharp when I run my fingers over it...not to mention crap collecting inside that small chip

people on here are by far the most helpful and generally caring fish keepers I've seen on any forums

thanks for your reply
 
so after calling multiple glass repair companies all the answers are "Replace the pane of glass"

Then I call a custom aquarium builder and he tells me not to bother calling glass repair companies because they will tell you to "Replace the pane of glass"

after explaining the thickness of the glass and expected weight / pressure etc

he says it's nothing to worry about...especially since the glass is so thick and isn't tempered glass but plate glass

he suggested redoing the internal silicone even though it's a lot of work...i guess it's better to make sure it's stable before putting 1500+ pounds of water / accessories

but at least my new / used tank isn't useless...yay for that
 
:thumbsup:
 
I have a piece or little chuck out of one of my panels that was sharp. All I did was hand polish it with Turtle Wax Heavy Duty Polishing Compound which contains powdered glass pumas. So fine is the grit that even though it takes glass off and anything else, it doesn't scratch but actually make the glass look brand new removing everything infinitely better then any chemical cleaner and best of all non-toxic. Anyway after 10 minutes of rubbing all the sharp edges were blunt. Make sure you use high quality silicone high strength silicone. If I was going to remove all the inside silicone potentially comprising the structure, I would use a marine grade high strength silicone used on jet drives which is also marine/freshwater safe so its none toxic but super strong. I used it to reseal my jet drive and the stuff is way beyond normal silicone in surface strength. Id be very concerned about using off the self aquarium silicone since your doing a structural seal job. At a minimum I would research and find out what is being use at the factory or manufacturer of large aquariums and use the right stuff as your not doing some simple patch job on a 10 gallon but potentially affecting structural integrity if not done the right way and with that right stuff. Wish you the best...
 
I'm not even touching the structural silicone
just the internal seals because they're flapping up in all 4 corners

what is the name of the marine grade super strength silicone that you used on the jet drives?

I want to play it safe definitely

so basically you just recommend to polish it until all the sharp edges are off of the chip in the front pane? or polish it down until the chip dissapears and is round and smooth? and i'm guessing it wouldn't have to be filled in afterwards if we were polishing it to remove the sharpness of the chip

I will email aqueon and find out what they use on their tanks and get back to this thread

thanks for the support and amazing info
much appreciated
 
Tay690 said:
I'm not even touching the structural silicone
just the internal seals because they're flapping up in all 4 corners

what is the name of the marine grade super strength silicone that you used on the jet drives?

I want to play it safe definitely

so basically you just recommend to polish it until all the sharp edges are off of the chip in the front pane? or polish it down until the chip dissapears and is round and smooth? and i'm guessing it wouldn't have to be filled in afterwards if we were polishing it to remove the sharpness of the chip

I will email aqueon and find out what they use on their tanks and get back to this thread

thanks for the support and amazing info
much appreciated
Click to expand...
The chip I have is round about the size of penny and at the center where its deepest took out about 10% of the glass. You wont remove the blemish with polishing compound as it is the last stage in glass repair, you would have to work your way up from heavy grit sand paper to do that. All the polishing compound does is remove the microscopic layer of glass removing all mineral stains but will also debur those sharp edges but will leave the gouge.
pd_tw_rubbingcompound.jpg
 
Reseaing a tank isn't that hard of a job to do.
Remove ALL of the silicone from the inside of the tank with a razor blade leaving the panes of glass stuck together. Then use white viniger to remove the residue left over from the silicone. Leave the tank to dry thoroughly before re-siliconing and only use 100% silicone
 
can you recommend any brands?
most of the stuff I was seeing in home depot said 100% silicone but on the back says "Not for aquarium use"

Another option that was recommended was All Glass aquarium silicone
10 oz tube = 5.99 so it's not gonna break my budget at all...just wondering if you would recommend using this or have heard of anyone using this in a situation similar to mine (huge tank) and whether or not it's as strong or better than anything else?

and judging by the sounds of the chip it's not something I need to worry about...the chip I have is smaller than a piece of gravel
even smaller than a 0 in diameter

I still want to smooth it out just in case and possibly silicone it for aesthetic purposes depending on how deep it is

to make matters even more complicated...the guy I bought it from swears up and down that chip wasn't there...but I know **** well it was there...the tank was empty during transport and in the pic he was advertising with there are 2 massive rocks stacks in each corner of the tank...and i assume when he was removing them to give me
one slipped and "Oops...good thing I'm selling it"

those rocks get quite slippery after a few months in tank...nevermind 10 years

*sigh*

Here's the tank pic I got from when he had it setup (apparently the pic was 2 months prior to sale)

http://s214.photobucket.com/albums/cc125/TayMan83/?action=view&current=DSC00141.jpg
 
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