Resealing a 125g

[derek12261984]

Hi All,
I picked up a 125 gallon aquarium yesterday on trade and after close inspection realized that one of the front corner silicone seals needed to be replaced… so I’m gonna go ahead and reseal the entire thing before I fill it up. This is my first time doing it, but I’ve been researching it for a few weeks and watched several videos. It seems pretty straightforward, and I’ve got a big chunk of it done already. Hoping to have it completely stripped and free of silicone by the end of the weekend as my aquarium grade silicone will be here on Monday. Fingers crossed it works out! If anyone has any tips tricks or suggestions, I am all ears. I’ve got all the big stuff off now. It’s just time to scrape and scrape and scrape some more lol.

 

[FurrierTransform]

I think it would help if you stripped off the exposed sealant; it's kind of like caulking a bathtub or shower.

 

[derek12261984]

I think it would help if you stripped off the exposed sealant; it's kind of like caulking a bathtub or shower.

What do you mean by exposed sealant? If you are talking about the silicone on the interior corners of the tank, I’ve already got that off.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

You must make sure the old silicone is all off of the glass without cutting into the silicone holding the panes together. Make sure the tank is completely clean as close to new as possible. Clean the glass with alcohol prior to silicone. Use masking tape to keep the silicone edging straight. As soon as you have spread the silicone pull the tape. Don't worry about anything getting on the glass, just let it dry and razor blade it off.

 

[derek12261984]

You must make sure the old silicone is all off of the glass without cutting into the silicone holding the panes together. Make sure the tank is completely clean as close to new as possible. Clean the glass with alcohol prior to silicone. Use masking tape to keep the silicone edging straight. As soon as you have spread the silicone pull the tape. Don't worry about anything getting on the glass, just let it dry and razor blade it off.

Thanks for the tips! I’ve got all the big stuff off currently and I’m gonna spend the next few days. Really trying to get everything off the glass. I’ll definitely make sure there’s no silicone left on there.

 

[derek12261984]

Think I finally just about got everything scraped out of this tank! It was quite the ordeal and took me about two days of work on and off to get it all done. My silicone comes in tomorrow so I will get it sealed and test it out. I’m definitely planning on taking a few more passes at the edges and corners with some acetone just to make sure I haven’t left any globs behind.