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Viewed: 336 -- Replies: 6 | ||||||||
PM | All Topics | General | Cichlids | Marine | Coldwater | Tanks/Equipment | Diseases | Members | |||||||||
| Posted | Re-building old tanks |
| 13-01-2008 16:09 by robert.pope |
In the past i have re-sealed fishtanks and had no problems afterwards. i have my eye on some 39"x24"x12 tanks and if the sealent was in very poor condition weather it would be worth cutting all the glass apart and total rebuilding them ! i think i can get the tanks for near nothing so it wouldnt be a big expence only sealer and time . |
| 13-01-2008 20:02 by nigel.chenapa |
you would need to clean the glass with meths to remove all traces of silicone as i beleve fresh silicone will not stick to old silicone very well, which means you could have a weak joint and you would not know it till you had water everywhere.i have a 8x2x2 that was taken apart and rebuilt, it's been ok for 2 years. good luck if you try it. |
| 13-01-2008 22:27 by big cats |
look up single edge razor blades on ebay, you will need them, you have two choices you can break it down totally and clean all the joining edges and the first half inch of internal faces with the blades , sometimes however the cut can be convex or concave and complete removal of silicon is not possible(mr chenapa is correct silicon does not like sticking to silicon) or you can fill the tanks to ensure they dont leak or split ,then slice out the seals by cutting from top then bottom of each internal seal leaving the glass to glass contact points intact ,clean it all out dry it and re-seal the internal beads with new silicon all quite time consuming?? |
| 14-01-2008 00:28 by robert.pope |
THANKS Nigel & Big cats
Thinking about it the time and hasle involved its not worth it! always better to buy new or nearly new as glass does funny things when it ages. |
| 16-01-2008 21:02 by RyanR |
DO NOT USE BLADES!
I work with glass, if you score/scratch the clean surafce you'll create a weak point which is wide open to thermal stress... I.e warm water in tank, external temp drops at night (crack)....flood! Just buy a silicone remover from wickes, its a fluid and turns silicone to a water like substance, just wipes off. As for stripping the tank, Go for it, the way to do it is make a timber subframe to build the tank around, then strap it with cotton web or a crank web (like on lorry's), seal up, leave to dry... Jobs a good'en! |
| 16-01-2008 21:39 by big cats |
single edge blades are used all the time by fish shops to remove stickers and writing from tanks , they are ultra fine and not likely to cause scratching deep enough to be problematic , silicon remover is extremely toxic to aquatic life and wiping off will leave residue just waiting to kill your fish, and you only need to use masking tape to hold the tank together while it sets even a large tank |
| 17-01-2008 21:06 by RyanR |
Fish tanks are made from float glass, I would say min 8mm thick for a fish tank of this size...
Masket tape wont give you the tension it needs to be firm, glass butt straps are a must. Silicone remover is toxic as you say, but can easily be steralised after you've built it... I wouldn't go near it with a blade, to much of a risk! |
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