Finished it yesterday.. but it was a lot harder then I thought. Taking the older stuff off was the easiest part.. All down hill after that.. lol
First off - Use tape. I didn't the first time and made a mess. Didn't look good at all. The bottom wasn't too bad, but the sides looked like crap. I waited for it to dry overnight, peeled it off..
Used tape (2nd round), took my time, cleaned it up w/a cotton swab and alcohol. Did the first half working my way from left to right. It took i'd say less then 10mins to do the whole tank. It looked really good and I was pretty happy. Once I was done w/the right side, I went back and started taking off the tape on the left side....
Happiness turned into a an hour of discouragement and anger.. Still less then 10 mins mind you, I started peeling off the tape on the left where I began. To my horror, the silcone was already drying and now sticking to the tape. The whole left side was ruined. I didn't wait for it to dry this time, just stuck my finger in the half wet silicone and dug it out. Stuck a fan in the tank and peeled the rest off a few hours later.
Lesson learned: Peel tape IMMEDIATELY after smoothing over silicone. Do the sides first, peel tape then the bottom all in one shot.
After I cleaned up the mess, I re-taped the left side, (I took the right side off in time) swabbed it and re-applied. Finally looks good.
Water test tomorrow - after 48hrs of curing. I hope it'll be many years - at least 10 before I'd have to do this again.
First off - Use tape. I didn't the first time and made a mess. Didn't look good at all. The bottom wasn't too bad, but the sides looked like crap. I waited for it to dry overnight, peeled it off..
Used tape (2nd round), took my time, cleaned it up w/a cotton swab and alcohol. Did the first half working my way from left to right. It took i'd say less then 10mins to do the whole tank. It looked really good and I was pretty happy. Once I was done w/the right side, I went back and started taking off the tape on the left side....
Happiness turned into a an hour of discouragement and anger.. Still less then 10 mins mind you, I started peeling off the tape on the left where I began. To my horror, the silcone was already drying and now sticking to the tape. The whole left side was ruined. I didn't wait for it to dry this time, just stuck my finger in the half wet silicone and dug it out. Stuck a fan in the tank and peeled the rest off a few hours later.
Lesson learned: Peel tape IMMEDIATELY after smoothing over silicone. Do the sides first, peel tape then the bottom all in one shot.
After I cleaned up the mess, I re-taped the left side, (I took the right side off in time) swabbed it and re-applied. Finally looks good.
Water test tomorrow - after 48hrs of curing. I hope it'll be many years - at least 10 before I'd have to do this again.
