Resealing a 160 Gallon Tank

[ThomasLC]

I purchased a used 160 Gallon setup off of offer up.  It came with stand , hood , lights, sump and tank.  I have refurbished to the stand as it has extensive saltwater damage to address, rusty hinges and paint issues.  Plus the paint did not match out decor.

This will now be a fresh water tank for Dicus fish and Angles and Rainbows.

I will not use the hood or lights.  I bought new lights from Co-Op to replace the massive Marineland one that was used.

Bought a seamless sump to replace the cheap open air one that was in there.

Now I am refurbishing the tank itself.

Question is as the bottom and around the overflows the sealant looks good but the sides is all but gone.  Can I just reseal the edges or do I have to do everything?

[Scott P.]

If it were me I would re-seal all of it. It would be bad to go to the trouble of a partial seal and end up with a water leak.

Good luck with it.

[ErinV]

Good news, Awesome tank. Bad news, reseal it all. Silicone does not like to stick to itself. I just finished a reseal project of my 90g. Check out my journal for pictures. Not a fun process, but oh so worth it.

[lefty o]

as mentioned, silicone doesnt stick to already cured silicone very well. you might get away with it, but 160 gallons is a lot of water if it doesnt stay in the tank.

[ThomasLC]

OK not only am I resealing the the entire tank I am also replacing the top brace as the old one was brittle.

[ThomasLC]

So I was looking for help on resealing the tank.  I have it all cleaned up and ready to apply the silicone but I am nervous about getting it right.  So I called a local Aquarium Maintenance guy and he said you can't do that.  He stated it had to be completely tore apart and rebuilt as the sealant between the pieces of glass has to be replaced as well. 

Is he just trying to sell me a new tank?

I don't want 150 gallons of water all over my floor but at the same time I don't have 1400 for a new tank either.  There are a ton of videos online of people resealing tank with out completely breaking them down.  Are the videos just for show?

[gardenman]

On 7/29/2021 at 9:12 AM, ThomasLC said:

So I was looking for help on resealing the tank.  I have it all cleaned up and ready to apply the silicone but I am nervous about getting it right.  So I called a local Aquarium Maintenance guy and he said you can't do that.  He stated it had to be completely tore apart and rebuilt as the sealant between the pieces of glass has to be replaced as well. 

Is he just trying to sell me a new tank?

I don't want 150 gallons of water all over my floor but at the same time I don't have 1400 for a new tank either.  There are a ton of videos online of people resealing tank with out completely breaking them down.  Are the videos just for show?

I've done it both ways. My thirty high I just resealed a few years ago and I only redid the seams and so far, so good. I used a single edged razor blade to remove the silicone on the inside of the seams, but didn't totally dismantle that tank. My old fifty gallon tank I tore down completely and redit from scratch many years ago (maybe twenty now?) because the old silicone was failing everywhere. That tank is now about 45+ years old. 

If I was doing a 160 gallon tank and I had the help handy, I'd probably dismantle it and redo the whole tank. But it's not going to be an easy job. Glass is heavy and fragile. You'll need lots of tape to hold everything together while the silicone cures. It's not a one person job. It might be a three person job, two to handle the glass and one to apply the silicone and then the tape the joints. Just resealing the seams internally is a pretty easy one person job. If you opt to just reseal the seam you might want to allow a full half inch of overlap on the glass and use a thick bead in the corner. (Use painters tape to get sharp, clean edges.) Something like a tongue depresser cut with a flat edge instead of the rounded edge or a paint stirring stick and used to smooth out the silicone between the taped edges could give you a nice thick triangle of silicone that should be strong enough to hold everything together once properly cured. (Thicker silicone will take longer to cure though, so bear that in mind.) Whatever technique you use, remember to take your head out of the tank on a regular basis. The fumes pool in the tank and can be pretty unpleasant. Good luck! 

[ThomasLC]

Its just me and I'm new on refurbishing fish tanks.  Starting the skill with a 150 seems to proven to be a double edge sword.  However it is just me working on it and I do not have two others to help tear it down and rebuild so I will be doing the good 1/2 inch bead to reseal it.  How long do I let the sealant set before I can 1.) add water and test 2.) place it on its stand (move it)?

[Scott P.]

On 7/29/2021 at 10:52 AM, ThomasLC said:

Its just me and I'm new on refurbishing fish tanks.  Starting the skill with a 150 seems to proven to be a double edge sword.  However it is just me working on it and I do not have two others to help tear it down and rebuild so I will be doing the good 1/2 inch bead to reseal it.  How long do I let the sealant set before I can 1.) add water and test 2.) place it on its stand (move it)?

They say 48 hours but if it were me I would double that just to make sure.

That's a lot of water. Take your time. Good luck with it.

[Biotope Biologist]

The service tech is just doing his job. He doesn't want the liability if it breaks to be on him. Having that been said I would just remove the seams and redo them. With old tanks the chances of cracking the glass while trying to get at the structural silicone is very high. 

 

For the seam resealing wait 48 hours, personally I would check on the cure every day to make sure there are no air bubbles forming. They shouldn't but its happened to me and I had to reseal an edge. easier to remove silicone when it's not fully cured and start over. After it's cured leave it in your garage or somewhere you don't mind getting wet and run equipment through the water for at least a week on max flow. It seems daunting but as said above take your time and be patient

[gardenman]

As to curing time, wait until there's no smell (silicone smells like vinegar) and then wait a day or so longer and you should be good.

[ErinV]

Of there is no air bubbles in the seams between glass, you are good just to do interior. I will agree that just do a thicker, wider bead. I did over kill on curing time and such. I waited 6 days before putting water in. I than left it on the floor near drain in basement for water testing. This way if something bad happened, the water would not ruin the stand or other things. I filled it with water in stages one third at a time. Leaving 24/48 hours between adding more water. I than left it filled for a week and then ran filter on it for a week. It then sat for another week before I had someone to help me get it on stand. Drained it, placed it, filled with water and then spent over a month getting everything going. Fish are now in and happy.