Reseal a 120g

[BenDaddy]

I have read that it may not be advisable to reseal a tank as large as a 120g. Anyone have any thoughts?

I was going to scrape all old silicone with razor blades, clean with acetone, and use GE 100% Silicone I. (The GE 100% Silicone II, which is suppose to be their best, say "not for aquariums").

I am doing this because of small leak in the bottom seal, caused by stress from uneven stand (this part I have already remedied).

 

[sharemaster]

Erm........ well if I had this choice I'd buy a new tank it's a lot of water to go south! you will never get it resealed properly imho I wouldn't want the sleepless nights.

 

[tekknoschtev]

For what its worth - and I'm not going to get into another argument about which silicone is aquarium and which is not, I've done enough reading and come up with inconclusive results - BUT... we sealed our 150 with GE Type II 100% clear silicone.

Your best bet is to have a ton of new razor blades on hand, as they dull quickly and it becomes more difficult to get a clean line. We bought a box of 100 for about $7. Worked on it over the course of two days.

Then we used liberal amounts of acetone on it to clean the seams, and then resealed the seams. We didnt dissassemble the tank, because we were told it was ok not to. Other's have criticized me saying that we should have. Trust me, if you search the forum you'll find people saying it IS necessary and other saying it ISNT necessary - just like the GE Type I/II discussions.

In regards to sharemaster's statement of "you will never get it resealed properly" thats a load of garbage. There are plenty of people who reseal their tanks, and have them running for YEARS. I can only attest to the 3 months ours has been running, however, not a drop of water in sight and the seals are all still good. Trust me, it can, and commonly is, done.

And last of all, good luck in your endeavours. Our case was a bit different as we essentially garbage picked the 150 and all it needed was a reseal, so it saved us quite a bit of money (sort of, chances are we wouldnt have upgraded if we didnt find this deal).

 

[easygoer2]

I sealed a 110 tall on the front. It looked good . But it still leaked after about 2 months. Went and bought a new one after that. Tanks are cheap compared to the repairs if it does leak.

 

[doody]

I Just got done resealing a 125 that I got a great deal on. I removed all the silicone, except what actually held the tank together. Cleaned with acetone. Resealed it with typeII silicone. Let sit for a week. It's been filled up with water for three days now for testing, and no dripage yet. There's a good thread I read before I did this. I'll see if I can find.

 

[doody]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=659141

 

[BenDaddy]

Thanks all.

 

[kmagyar]

So tekknoschtev, did your 150 ever leak after resealing?

 

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=5966784#post5966784 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tekknoschtev
For what its worth - and I'm not going to get into another argument about which silicone is aquarium and which is not, I've done enough reading and come up with inconclusive results - BUT... we sealed our 150 with GE Type II 100% clear silicone.

Tek, when did you reseal the 150? I did my sump with GEII about 10 months ago, and its fine.

Its only recently that ALL GE II silicon has Bioshield anti-mold agents.


I second the disagreement with the second poster. I've resealed a bunch of tanks and its not too tough. The only tough part is, like you said, scraping old silicon.

 

[kmagyar]

I bumped this thread because my 120 is dry now and now would be the time to fix the following problem. The two front corners are a bit ripped up from every day cleaning over 3 years. So I would like to reseal for asthetic purposes. I dont want to reseal the entire tank, just the two front inside seams. Any thoughts? Not worth it, at least not for asthetics?

Keith

 

[reefdood]

I tried to reseal my old 30 with no luck. Well I guess it was for the better because I wound up buying a new one, drilled with built in overflow. But I have a 30? hex and a 90g that I want to try it on again.