DIY Glass Lessons Learned

[Ron Reefman]

Did he buy the silicone dots, or put them on and let them dry first?

He bought them. They come on a roll of what looks kind of like waxpaper and peel off quite easily. They are very small, maybe 1/16" in diameter. And no, I don't know where he gets them and didn't think to ask last time I saw him (at MACNA).

 

[Reef Developer]

Well its been a few weeks and wanted to provide an update. Tank has been sitting around waiting to be filled with my fish and lr I have in my sump. All in all I'm happy with the glass tank and am impressed with the silicone seams.

I did some tests with scrap glass and let the silicone setup. I had a really tough time pulling them apart. And the silicone doesn't just tear, it flexes quite a bit. I also measured the tank dims with water and without water and there was no difference, so no flex whatsoever.

I really wanted to come up with a way to do the seams without tape. Problem I had with tap was two fold; first, with the overlapping seams it was hard to tell where to run the tape exactly. We're talking like a mm either way. If it wasn't right on then the tape would pull too much silicone off or OTOH not pull enough off. Hard to describe.

I made a little razor blade tool by nipping a corner off the blade, in order to tool the silicone after oozing out. It worked really well (see below) with two exceptions; after a couple minutes the silicon starts to skin over and you don't get a smooth skin, and, there's still a thin layer of silicone thats left for cleanup later. Both issues could probably be addressed by buying a similar silicone with longer open time.

I also found the it was too tough to try to glue everything up at the same time. So I glued the bottom to the back, then the sides, then the front. To keep the gaps consistant I used those sewing needles for temporarily holding seems.

 

[fng_71]

glad i saw this. i had a broken tank and was thinking of having the unbroken glass cut to make a smaller tank. i had no idea you had to space the gaps. i thought you just put down a bead of silicone and slapped it together for lack of a better term.

 

[Ron Reefman]

glad i saw this. i had a broken tank and was thinking of having the unbroken glass cut to make a smaller tank. i had no idea you had to space the gaps. i thought you just put down a bead of silicone and slapped it together for lack of a better term.

You can do just that with smaller tanks. I did it with my 24g frag tank. But with bigger tanks you have to be careful not to squeeze all the silicone out from under the side glass due to the weight of the glass, thus the use of a tiny spacer. At least that's the way I understand it. :thumbsup:

 

[Reef Developer]

glad i saw this. i had a broken tank and was thinking of having the unbroken glass cut to make a smaller tank. i had no idea you had to space the gaps. i thought you just put down a bead of silicone and slapped it together for lack of a better term.

Yeah, its never a good idea to have glass rubbing up against glass, especially under the weight and pressure of a full tank. The sewing pins I used were maybe 1/32" inch thick.

 

[fng_71]

Yeah, its never a good idea to have glass rubbing up against glass, especially under the weight and pressure of a full tank. The sewing pins I used were maybe 1/32" inch thick.

I'm assuming you put the pins parallel with the silicone? do you know of any good how to videos? all the ones i saw they just put it together and either didn't use it or didn't mention it(the pins). I have enough glass to do a 20x20x18 which is only 30-31 gallons but when spilled on the floor is a tsunami

 

[Reef Developer]

I'm assuming you put the pins parallel with the silicone? do you know of any good how to videos? all the ones i saw they just put it together and either didn't use it or didn't mention it(the pins). I have enough glass to do a 20x20x18 which is only 30-31 gallons but when spilled on the floor is a tsunami

I don't know of any videos, just reading thread here and elsewhere. Yes, pins parallel with the silicone but only in it 1/4" or so, so not to much silicone is displaced. One pin on each end, non in the middle since the glass was sitting on my counter.

If they were perpendicular, and went all the way, in theory you would be making a small hole for future leaks.

Try to get some sample pieces to practice on. Its a little tricky, and the more you do it the better the results. The first four pieces of glass are easy enough, its that last piece since it needs to line up with the other pieces with no overlap.

 

[texasreefguy]

Well its been a few weeks and wanted to provide an update. Tank has been sitting around waiting to be filled with my fish and lr I have in my sump. All in all I'm happy with the glass tank and am impressed with the silicone seams.

I did some tests with scrap glass and let the silicone setup. I had a really tough time pulling them apart. And the silicone doesn't just tear, it flexes quite a bit. I also measured the tank dims with water and without water and there was no difference, so no flex whatsoever.

I really wanted to come up with a way to do the seams without tape. Problem I had with tap was two fold; first, with the overlapping seams it was hard to tell where to run the tape exactly. We're talking like a mm either way. If it wasn't right on then the tape would pull too much silicone off or OTOH not pull enough off. Hard to describe.

I made a little razor blade tool by nipping a corner off the blade, in order to tool the silicone after oozing out. It worked really well (see below) with two exceptions; after a couple minutes the silicon starts to skin over and you don't get a smooth skin, and, there's still a thin layer of silicone thats left for cleanup later. Both issues could probably be addressed by buying a similar silicone with longer open time.

I also found the it was too tough to try to glue everything up at the same time. So I glued the bottom to the back, then the sides, then the front. To keep the gaps consistant I used those sewing needles for temporarily holding seems.

Ive noticed your edges are not polished on your seam joints any info on this part to weather its needed to be polished or not as im getting mixed info about this some say you have to polish the seams for better grab but i cant get a enough to comment on this.

 

[rovster]

Very cool post. I am going to do the same. I want to build a larger frag tank (50 gallons) but my first project will be a small ATO for my nano. Its approximately 12x12x10. I got the glass with high polished edges (looks very nice) and all the pieces cost me $70, which I thought was fine, but apparently it was a bit pricey, LOL.

My plan was to do everything in 2 shots. I was going to tape everything and assemble the tank completely and let it cure for a few days. I would then us a blade to trim off all the excess (inside and out). The tape is to prevent making a huge mess and bonding a lot of silicone where I don't want it, and should make it easier to remove, especially on the inner seams. I then plan to re-tape and re-apply a continuous inner seam so I get a nice clean seam and I don't have to worry about holdng panels up. I have the RTV black silicone.

If anyone with more experience would like to comment on my plan, please do. I will post my results as I get them. Wish me luck, LOL!