advice replacing top frame please.

[zoomfish1]

Broke the center brace on the top frame of a 150g show tank. I have ordered and rec'd the new frame and tried to remove the old one with a heat gun without success.

Anyone had success doing this? Is there a better, and quicker , way to get the old frame off. It's a marineland tank with plastic framework.

Thanks for the help.

 

[douggiestyle]

use a knife to cut the silicone away.

 

[zoomfish1]

Tried that, but the lip on the inside prevents that. I thought I could "unglaze" it like glass, but that didn't seem to work too well either.

 

[douggiestyle]

just keep working at it. it is not easy. you might be able to melt the plastic with the heat gun. but not the silicone adhesive. once you get it started it goes pretty easy.

 

[bassnman11]

You can very carefully saw a cut in the old frane. Get some fine wire and use wood doweling to make a handle in each end with about 8 or 10 inches of wire between. Kind of a minigarrot. Work the wire down into the saw cut, then work it back and fourth as you pull it around the frame. That is how glass men take glued in windshields out of cars.