Reseal red sea 450 92 gallon tank help

[pleiku reefer]

I recently got a 92 gallons red sea reefer 450 model, front silicone seal is splitting. I decided to reseal it, i have taking all panel apart and clean with acetone. Will clean with acetone again before glue up. The glass is 1/2 thick. My question is i hear some say leave 1/16 gap for injection silicone, but some say leave 1/8 gap for injection. Which of these option will give better result?

 

[KrisReef]

I recently got a 92 gallons red sea reefer 450 model, front silicone seal is splitting. I decided to reseal it, i have taking all panel apart and clean with acetone. Will clean with acetone again before glue up. The glass is 1/2 thick. My question is i hear some say leave 1/16 gap for injection silicone, but some say leave 1/8 gap for injection. Which of these option will give better result?

The key is to have nothing but glass and silicon in the area that is being sealed. Silicone adheres to glass and I believe that the smallest distance between the two pieces of glass, as long as you have silicone sealant between the entire seam is going to provide the best possible seal. The reason folks use the spacers is to allow them to get the silicone in between the two panels, and the application tip of the silicone tube needs to be accommodated in the process, hence the spacers. They have to be removed when you make the sandwich and having the gap allows for the application of the silicone.
A similar process (to fully fill the gap is employed when bonding two pieces of acrylic or sweating copper pipe, but in those processes the material that flows into the crack is pulled into the crack by capillary forces. Silicone doesn’t move through cracks like that, you have to push the silicone into the gap to ensure the crack is fully filled and then you push the pieces together and carefully hold them together until the sealant cures. If you move the pieces around after you apply the silicone then you can get void spaces in the seams and failure is more likely when that happens.

The bonding strength of the silicone material is not increased by having extra silicone in between the two pieces. Silicone is flexible when dry so the thinner the distance between the two pieces the stronger the seam.

If I am wrong about this then I trust someone else will chime in, preferably a silicone material expert or tank maker who can provide better information?

I’ve built a few in the past but I don’t have the patience or dexterity to try it now. They held together in the end,

 

[pleiku reefer]

Thank you very much for the detailed explaination. I appreciated it.

 

[blaxsun]

Not an emergency, but here's a bump.

 

[Lavey29]

I hope it works out for you but why take a chance like this with the tank apart? That could end up being a 92g mess in the house. Did you buy this tank used in this condition?

 

[pleiku reefer]

Thanks and sorry about the emergency thing. I m new here and dont know how to post. I have a few fish in a 30 gallons and want to transfer to new tank asap. Yeah i bought this tank used and plan on putting it in garage. I been doing a lot of research but want more opinion just in case. I cleaned it really good and use lots of acetone. I took the chance because 300 total for a tank compare to 3k is worthed if nothing happen lol