resealing with black silicon
- Thread starter McPhish
- Start date
If black sealant states aquarium safe go for it, as far as tools for the job its up to you do you feel comfortable using a scrapeing tool that require using razors, however Home Depot carries kits that aid in removing silicon in the paint area.
Im just wondering how it holds up compared to GE 1.
What about this?
http://www.homedepot.com/p/DAP-10-1-oz-Black-100-Silicone-Sealant-2-Pack-207560/203661707
What about this?
http://www.homedepot.com/p/DAP-10-1-oz-Black-100-Silicone-Sealant-2-Pack-207560/203661707
I'd suggest this http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008R14TY2...TF8&colid=1VRHF0PAAIRJF&coliid=I18XG3RDPGQXRP if you look in the DIY section there is a thread that compares aquarium sealants. This is one of the strongest that is aquarium safe.when I was resealing my 135 I was searching around town looking for something in black but of course all I could find was GE1 in clear or white. 832 is about a 300 lb difference in bond strength compared to the weaker GE1
for tools I recommend getting one of the 1" flexible putty knives in addition to the razor scraper. use the putty knife/spatula first to remove the majority of the silicone and finish with the razor scraper. One of the kits with the 3 small wire brushes helps out greatly too. the stainless steal brush helps to get rid of stubborn patches of silicone and as a final check before wiping down with acetone prior to re-sealing. get some disposable rubber gloves for when applying the new silicone cuz it's a PITA to get off your hands.
btw just for reference I used about 2.25 tubes to re-seal my 135. I made the seams slightly larger than needed for piece of mind, but it's better to buy too much and be able to take some back than to run out and have to do it all over again.
Wow, 2.25 tubes? These are 10.1 oz tubes right? I like the dow, but for pricing issue im going with dap black silicone. how thick were the beads?
Yes the 10.1 oz tubes. The bead was between 3/8" & 1/2" due to lack of skill on my part and a desire to reinforce the seams, not just reseal it. I made a tool to scrape/ shape the silicone evenly over the seams from a $0.99 plastic putty knife and probably scraped off 1/2 a tube from all the places I had excess. It's thicker than the seal on a new tank and shows a bit more, but this was never going to be a show tank. It's been holding water for over a month now so it's doing the job is intended to.
I built my 220 with Momentive RTV 103 from Grainger. Acetyl cure 100% silicone construction adhesive. It's the strongest stuff I could find, check it out.