Unnnnggghhhh....

[linda lee]

glxtrix;108950 wrote: yes you definately want to make sure you take out all the old silcone. If for any reason any kind of oil gets on the old silicone and you reseal it, it wont hold all that well. Razor blade it out, then get some alachol in there and throughly wipe all the corners and edges. get some new silicone and start putting it on the tank. use your finger (with gloves on) and press your finger into the crack and run it up to the top and along the sides. Do this so it helps push the silicone into the cracks. After you do that you can either run another bead of silicone and redo the same step or let it dry then add another coat. I've resealed a few tanks and have never had any issues. Its much more rewarding doing that and seeing it no leak once youre done rather then getting another tank....atleast i think so. Dont forget, even tho we are aquarists, were also carpenters, plumbers, electricians and many other things in order to keep up with our hobby

If you had a used tank sitting around for a couple of months and were about to set it up, would you razor-blade the old silicone out and reseal the entire thing just to be on the safe side (and/or for asthetic reasons)?

 

[james s_]

Linda Lee;108983 wrote: If you had a used tank sitting around for a couple of months and were about to set it up, would you razor-blade the old silicone out and reseal the entire thing just to be on the safe side (and/or for asthetic reasons)?

Nope never. "If it aint broke dont fix it"

 

[taftonomos]

Well, I've removed the tank from the stand. I wanted to double check to make darn sure that the stand surface was dead-nuts flat....it is. Just for kicks I'm going to cut a 1/2" ply top for it, and then set it on top of some foam to make 10)% sure there isn't some leveling problem.

There are 2 distinct camps...those that say a resealed tank is a disaster waiting to happen, and those that say there is nothing wrong with it. I'm going to try and reseal it over the holdiays. Nothing wasted by time I suppose if it doesn't work. One thing that IS bothering me is that this one took about 3 weeks to spring a leak. I don't want to leave the thing in my garage forever waiting to see if my sillycon job has worked.

How long would you wait after resealing a tank, and after filling it how long would you wait before you pronounced the reseal job a success?

 

[james s_]

TAftonomos;111030 wrote:

How long would you wait after resealing a tank, and after filling it how long would you wait before you pronounced the reseal job a success?

I would wait atleast one week to refill the tank. It takes 24 hrs for the silicone to cure,but if it was my tank I would give it a little longer.

 

[dannybradley]

TAftonomos;111030 wrote: One thing that IS bothering me is that this one took about 3 weeks to spring a leak.

I'm not sure if you have a heated garage or if you were running a heater in the setup. Drastic temperature changes can affect the seal. The raise to 78 and back down to 33 degrees(as it is right now) is probably what did it. The leak might even stop once the tank heats up again, but I would still fix it.

You should be fine resealing it. Just follow the suggestions here. Clear out the surface silicone completely using a single edged razor blade. I would not try to clean it out of between the glass. You'll never get it all out and probably just make a worse seal.

Clean all surfaces that will receive new silicone with rubbing alcohol. Make sure the surfaces are 100% clean. Fingerprints will give you a bad seal.

Wear a pair of latex gloves and using a good bead of silicone and squish it into the corner. It doesn't matter if you have sloppy edges at this stage. You can clean those up with a razor blade.

I would buy a caulk sized tube of silicone and a caulk gun from home depot. You just can't buy enough small tubes of the stuff.

 

[pfritzbelly]

If I could just win the stupid lottery, I'd put in a tank large enough to require a survey....

I'll keep you in mind.