having silicone trouble

[cocoa_pleco]

With that new 29g, im having trouble. The guy said that theres a leak on the front bottom of the tank, so i scraped the side to re-silicone it. I got 99% of the silicone off with a razor blade, but theres still a very fine grit of silicone im having trouble with.

Any ideas?

[crackatinny]

Only a new sharp razor and more scraping and patience.

[xoolooxunny]

And when he says new and sharp, it really means NEW and SHARP:16: .

[Drumachine09]

And when he says new and sharp, it really means NEW and SHARP:16: .


I didnt know fish were very sharp. I woulda gone with this one:jaws:

[cocoa_pleco]

DANG, cant someone invent some super duper silicone dissolver? Im TIRED of scraping. Then, i have to resilicone it, THEN cycle. it never ends

[Chrona]

If you put silicone remover on it, it'd eat into the silicone in the seams and you'd have to put the whole thing together lol.

[cocoa_pleco]

darn. lol


Ive found a new method of scraping thats working really well.

The hard part is gonna be the actual application of the silicon. If i screw up, i have to scrape ALLOVER again

[crackatinny]

darn. lol


Ive found a new method of scraping thats working really well.

The hard part is gonna be the actual application of the silicon. If i screw up, i have to scrape ALLOVER again

Just run a smooth bead carefully, then run a wet finger along it to spread it:thumb:

[Drumachine09]

Just run a smooth bead carefully, then run a wet finger along it to spread it:thumb:


Good advise, but when you run it, run the tip at a 45 degree angle and push it .umm ill do a paint h/o

[Drumachine09]

Heres the paint. The blue is the glass, the black line is the silicone, and the arrow is the direction in which you push.

[Chrona]

Wet your fingers with rubbing alcohol in a shot glass or something. Make sure to masking tape the width you want the seam, or else it'll get messy.

[cocoa_pleco]

FINALLY, i finished it. Surprisingly, there arent random pieces of silicon flying allover.

Looks pretty good

[cocoa_pleco]

I just thought of something.

If the guy pointed to the wrong side that he said had the leak, i wasted my time. he better be right

[Chrona]

I just thought of something.

If the guy pointed to the wrong side that he said had the leak, i wasted my time. he better be right

You didn't strip all of the bead? New silicone does not like to stick to old silicone....you may get a leak where they meet.

[cocoa_pleco]

I got it all off. I scraped it 100% until there was pure glass, then i vacuumed the crumbs, then i re-sealed it.

The silicone was dam expensive. I looked at all the silicone i have, and its all "NOT for aquarium or dishwasher use"

I finally gave up and went to the lfs to pay 9$ for a little tube. AFTER, when i was learning how to reseal it, the website said GE silicone is aquarium safe.

[Chrona]

Well if you resealed the whole tank, what does it matter which side the leak was on? lol

[Drumachine09]

Well if you resealed the whole tank, what does it matter which side the leak was on? lol



*chrona kicks CP in the head with his logic & ninja skill*

[cocoa_pleco]

EVIL BAMBOO MAN! lol

Thank god i didnt have to reseal the whole tank. I would have gone crazy by now. scraping 39" and resealing it was enough

[Drumachine09]

EVIL BAMBOO MAN! lol

Thank god i didnt have to reseal the whole tank. I would have gone crazy by now. scraping 39" and resealing it was enough


A standard 20 is 30"

[cocoa_pleco]

its 29.25G. Its homemade.

The dimensions are 39" for the length, width is 12", and height is 14.5". I think its considered a long tank

[Drumachine09]

its 29.35G or something. Its homemade.

What are the measurments
?

[cocoa_pleco]

i edited my old post. Its

length-39"
width- 12"
height- 14.5"

Its probably considered a long tank. I put the dimensions into this sites calculator, and i did the regular LxWxH divided by 232

[Drumachine09]

Yar, it be 28.62!

[cocoa_pleco]

YAR, im stupid. lol

Well, i'll stretch the silicone to make it an even 29g. lol

[cocoa_pleco]

FINALLY, its cured and i filled it and for 2 hours there have been 0 signs of leaks

[Drumachine09]

FINALLY, its cured and i filled it and for 2 hours there have been 0 signs of leaks


Wheres the pic?

[cocoa_pleco]

AW, HUGGIES, theres a tiny dam leak in the corner. I just patched it.


Chronas gonna like the tank, so rimless and sexy. lol

[Chrona]

Wait....it's a homemade rimless tank????

Did you ask him what kind of silicone he used for the seams? If it's not the GE industrial grade stuff, I would be very careful. The regular commercial GE/aquarium silicone is not strong enough to safely bind the corners/edges in a rimless tank. How thick is the glass btw? And does it have a bottom rim?

[Drumachine09]

Oh yea, WHERE ARE THE PICS?

[cocoa_pleco]

Thank lord im done. I got ultra pi$$ed and just resealed the whole dam thing with really good silicone, NO LEAKS! there are 0 braces/rims on the tank, but the guy used to tank for 3 years.

So far, i have gravel, a heater, a 10g canister filter, and to add to the canister im going to get a biowheel filter. Ive got one of those 5$ off cupons from petsmart for doing the survey