Need Help. I was given an old 150 gallon tank that needs a panel replaced. I got the glass but need some help.

[Marino1310]

So I have this nice 150 gallon tank but the glass has a big chip in the corner. I was able to get a new piece of glass the exact size and I am planning to switch the panels out (the big side panel). ive never changed aquarium glass before let alone a massive one like this. Is there anything I should know to ensure it all goes well? How do I go about prepping the edges to ensure theyre all clean for maximum adhesion? Is there a specific kind of silicone I should use? Any tips at all would be greatly appreciated!

Also the next issue, the trim.. I removed the old trim so I need to replace it. I work at an aluminum fabrication shop so I could easily get some 1/4" thick aluminum angle and make a super rigid frame out of that, but my main concern is, once I silicone in the new panel, will I be able to move the tank without its trim? I will need to flip the tank over to install the top trim and then flip it upside down to install the bottom trim. It has a 23" wide glass center brace so it should be fine but the last thing I want is to put all this time and money in and then have it fall apart at the last step! Also, with the frame, If I make it tight fitting and weld all corners would it be safe to install? The way I figure, if the corners are welded I wont be able to silicone it in place since it will be such a tight fit, the thick aluminum should resist bending pretty well but again, ive never done this before so I dont know how to go about it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Welcome to Reef2Reef. I hope you can find some help here. To be perfectly honest, I've been in the hobby almost 20 years and I've built 5 different tanks from scratch. I'm currently building a 3'x30"x20" (90g) rimless tank which will be the biggest one I've made. I've always used 3/8" glass and made my tanks rimless. So how thick is the glass on your tank? And the glass that you bought?

All that said, I'm sure I'd would not have taken on the job you are trying to do even with my experience, let alone as a first timer. Good luck.

Here are a few things I can help with:

Use RTV silicone. I've always bought mine from Graingers. Home Depot and Lowes don't carry the right kind. And this build I'm trying a product called Teroson MS 5510. It's an adhesive silicone and costs $18 a tube!

The old glass you are bonding to needs to be ABSOLUTELY clean. Any old silicone residue will make for very poor bond. New silicone doesn't stick to old silicone very well at all. Use lots of very sharp razor blades or scrapers.

Do not clamp or squeeze the new glass to tight. You'll squeeze out too much of the silicone. On really big tanks buileder use tiny silicone dot spacers or DIY'ers use fishing line laid in the silicone as a spacer. You want a tiny gap of silicone left to hold it together.

I'd be very concerned about how square and true the inside corners of your aluminum frame will be. Any curve or bump that holds the glass away from the main body of the frame will be a huge issue. And IMHO you don't want the frame too tight to the glass. Just like the glass to glass bonding, you want a tiny gap that will hold silicone and bond the aluminum frame to the glass.

 

[Marino1310]

Welcome to Reef2Reef. I hope you can find some help here. To be perfectly honest, I've been in the hobby almost 20 years and I've built 5 different tanks from scratch. I'm currently building a 3'x30"x20" (90g) rimless tank which will be the biggest one I've made. I've always used 3/8" glass and made my tanks rimless. So how thick is the glass on your tank? And the glass that you bought?

All that said, I'm sure I'd would not have taken on the job you are trying to do even with my experience, let alone as a first timer. Good luck.

Here are a few things I can help with:

Use RTV silicone. I've always bought mine from Graingers. Home Depot and Lowes don't carry the right kind. And this build I'm trying a product called Teroson MS 5510. It's an adhesive silicone and costs $18 a tube!

The old glass you are bonding to needs to be ABSOLUTELY clean. Any old silicone residue will make for very poor bond. New silicone doesn't stick to old silicone very well at all. Use lots of very sharp razor blades or scrapers.

Do not clamp or squeeze the new glass to tight. You'll squeeze out too much of the silicone. On really big tanks buileder use tiny silicone dot spacers or DIY'ers use fishing line laid in the silicone as a spacer. You want a tiny gap of silicone left to hold it together.

I'd be very concerned about how square and true the inside corners of your aluminum frame will be. Any curve or bump that holds the glass away from the main body of the frame will be a huge issue. And IMHO you don't want the frame too tight to the glass. Just like the glass to glass bonding, you want a tiny gap that will hold silicone and bond the aluminum frame to the glass.

I am using 1/2" glass just like the rest of the tank. What issues do you think Ill have when changing out a piece of glass this size that would make you not want to attempt it?

 

[Ron Reefman]

A) If you don't get it right, that's a lot of water on your floor! Some tanks pass a water test and then fail 6 months or 2 years, or in my case 5 years later (not a tank I made)! And my 180g tank was a factory made tank and I did a one week full load water test before I started. But my stand wasn't ABSOLUTELY flat and in time the glass bowed just a bit and the silicone gave out. I had a 3" blow out in the back of the tank, right in the middle where I couldn't get at it. And inside the tank was a huge rock wall so no getting at it from inside either. It leaked 30 gph for over 5 hours which allowed me to contain it somewhat. But it still did several thousand dollars in damage (destroyed all the bathroom cabinets that were on the other side of the wall).

B) I've never made one with a frame, so that would be entirely new to me as well.

C) Setting that big piece of glass is heavy, I'd have some concerns about just the weight of the glass squeezing all the silicone out of the seam.

D) As I said above, getting the inside of the corners of the bottom of the frame clean, square and true is seriously important. But then I'm not a welder. If you weld it from the outside and that keeps the inside square and clean, it may not be much of an issue at all.

 

[Marino1310]

A) If you don't get it right, that's a lot of water on your floor! Some tanks pass a water test and then fail 6 months or 2 years, or in my case 5 years later (not a tank I made)! And my 180g tank was a factory made tank and I did a one week full load water test before I started. But my stand wasn't ABSOLUTELY flat and in time the glass bowed just a bit and the silicone gave out. I had a 3" blow out in the back of the tank, right in the middle where I couldn't get at it. And inside the tank was a huge rock wall so no getting at it from inside either. It leaked 30 gph for over 5 hours which allowed me to contain it somewhat. But it still did several thousand dollars in damage (destroyed all the bathroom cabinets that were on the other side of the wall).

B) I've never made one with a frame, so that would be entirely new to me as well.

C) Setting that big piece of glass is heavy, I'd have some concerns about just the weight of the glass squeezing all the silicone out of the seam.

D) As I said above, getting the inside of the corners of the bottom of the frame clean, square and true is seriously important. But then I'm not a welder. If you weld it from the outside and that keeps the inside square and clean, it may not be much of an issue at all.

Well luckily I work at a small railing shop that makes custom aluminum railings. I plan on making a custom fully welded stand that should be more than strong enough and truely flat. Same with the edges on the angles. The guys I work with are very skilled and I have no doubt that they can get those edges perfect. I plan to lift and move the glass with some heavy duty professional glass suction cups that my shop uses to move large panes of glass for glass rails without issue. My main concern would be how to ensure proper glass gap for the silicone. I didnt think of that till you mentioned it but its a heavy plate of glass and I imaging it would push out all the silicone between it and the other glass and leave no space for silicone in between

 

[rcpalmer1]

The first tank I built was 200 gallons out of 1/2" glass. I use tape to hold the glass while the silicone dried. What you don't want is a pressure point. Check Joeys video out on YouTube at diy aquarium channel. My 200 gallon was going to be rimless. After filling it with water the center was bowed out almost an inch. It was 5 foot long. So make sure there is on weld splatter on the inside of the frame and the beads are ground smooth. I would make the frame an 1/8 larger than the tank. That will give a 1/16 on either side. I would then put a large bead of silicone one the frame and smush it onto the tank letting the silicone squeeze out. After it is dry it can be cleaned up with a razor. Just don't push it all the way down. You don't want metal touching glass. You want a solid layer of silicone in between.

 

[Marino1310]

The first tank I built was 200 gallons out of 1/2" glass. I use tape to hold the glass while the silicone dried. What you don't want is a pressure point. Check Joeys video out on YouTube at diy aquarium channel. My 200 gallon was going to be rimless. After filling it with water the center was bowed out almost an inch. It was 5 foot long. So make sure there is on weld splatter on the inside of the frame and the beads are ground smooth. I would make the frame an 1/8 larger than the tank. That will give a 1/16 on either side. I would then put a large bead of silicone one the frame and smush it onto the tank letting the silicone squeeze out. After it is dry it can be cleaned up with a razor. Just don't push it all the way down. You don't want metal touching glass. You want a solid layer of silicone in between.

My plan was to have the tank laying on its back and simply lay the new pane directly on top of it so it would be supported by both side panels and the 23" center brace while being pushed up against the bottom panel manually. Ill need to figure out how to properly support the tank on my garage floor so its level and no twisting, not sure how I can do that. Also, does the glass need constant pressure for the silicone to properly bond or will simply smushing it in place work? Because ill have gravity holding the sides and centerbrace down but the bottom pane would simply have to be set in place with no real clamping force

 

[W1ngz]

You can buy some woodworking clamps to hold the new panel securely (but not tightly) against the bottom a little bit. They come in different lengths up to several feet. Like mentioned above though, you don't want to squish all the silicone out of the seam.

My personal take on the risk vs. reward factor here though is, unless this is going in a basement with a tile or concrete floor, I wouldn't sleep well having it in a place where 150 gallons of salt water might get loose.

 

[vetteguy53081]

As Ron mentioned, use clamps but do not Ooze the silicone out. Clean well and then wipe down with 99% alcohol and assure not a drop of old silicone shows. Use a Lint free cloth with alcohol.
Apply an even bead of silicone and LET IT DRY for at LEAST 48 hours !! Thereafter, you will water test it with freshwater and let it sit 8-12 hours looking for any of slightest seepage (we wont say the L word )
Best of luck- not hard to do- just pay mind to thorough cleaning , bonding and water testing.

 

[Marino1310]

As Ron mentioned, use clamps but do not Ooze the silicone out. Clean well and then wipe down with 99% alcohol and assure not a drop of old silicone shows. Use a Lint free cloth with alcohol.
Apply an even bead of silicone and LET IT DRY for at LEAST 48 hours !! Thereafter, you will water test it with freshwater and let it sit 8-12 hours looking for any of slightest seepage (we wont say the L word )
Best of luck- not hard to do- just pay mind to thorough cleaning , bonding and water testing.

is there anything aside from razor blades I can use to prep the old glass? Like any type of abrasive or wirewheel (that wont hurt the glass of course). Most of the silicone comes of but there are some spots that are slightly hazy, i cant feel any silicone but when the light hits it it looks like there something on the glass.

 

[vetteguy53081]

is there anything aside from razor blades I can use to prep the old glass? Like any type of abrasive or wirewheel (that wont hurt the glass of course). Most of the silicone comes of but there are some spots that are slightly hazy, i cant feel any silicone but when the light hits it it looks like there something on the glass.

Use razor scraper- any glass shop will carry the correct one

 

[rcpalmer1]

My plan was to have the tank laying on its back and simply lay the new pane directly on top of it so it would be supported by both side panels and the 23" center brace while being pushed up against the bottom panel manually. Ill need to figure out how to properly support the tank on my garage floor so its level and no twisting, not sure how I can do that. Also, does the glass need constant pressure for the silicone to properly bond or will simply smushing it in place work? Because ill have gravity holding the sides and centerbrace down but the bottom pane would simply have to be set in place with no real clamping force

I am not an expert aquarium builder but I did own an auto glass company for 13 years an glued thousands of pieces of glass. I would not do it this way. That pieces of glass will weigh around 50lbs. Silicone is not very viscous. If you lay it on the side the weight of the glass will squeeze out all of the silicone. All you need is to hold the glass in place until the silicone dries. If you put three pieces of packing tape on each side. That would be more than enough to hold the glass in place. Read the packing on the silicone. Look for a "full cure" time. Some do not reach full strength for several days or even weeks. Just don't over think it. It is really easy. As far as removing the old silicone there are plenty of way to do it. Good off makes a silicone remover that melts it away. You just have to make sure you clean it off or the new silicone won't stick. I like just using denatured alcohol and one of those Scott sponges with the green scrubber on the back along with a new straight razor. Don't use an old one and don't go sideways or you will scratch the glass.

 

[Marino1310]

I am not an expert aquarium builder but I did own an auto glass company for 13 years an glued thousands of pieces of glass. I would not do it this way. That pieces of glass will weigh around 50lbs. Silicone is not very viscous. If you lay it on the side the weight of the glass will squeeze out all of the silicone. All you need is to hold the glass in place until the silicone dries. If you put three pieces of packing tape on each side. That would be more than enough to hold the glass in place. Read the packing on the silicone. Look for a "full cure" time. Some do not reach full strength for several days or even weeks. Just don't over think it. It is really easy. As far as removing the old silicone there are plenty of way to do it. Good off makes a silicone remover that melts it away. You just have to make sure you clean it off or the new silicone won't stick. I like just using denatured alcohol and one of those Scott sponges with the green scrubber on the back along with a new straight razor. Don't use an old one and don't go sideways or you will scratch the glass.

Thanks for the tip. But if I set the tank upright then the glass' full weight will now be sitting on the bottom pane as the bottom pane runs the entire footprint of the aquarium and everything sits ontop of it