Pond armor and silicone?
- Thread starter George Fertern
- Start date
What size was the build and how long did it last? Did you do anything beyond to adhere the glass to the armor or just the silicone?
New Tank Build
Well, the time has come and some purchases have been made. Did a lot of reading, suggestions from this site and Reef Central. I'm starting my journey of making the largest aquarium I have ever built. I tell my wife it's just a 480g 8' x 4' tank....I will let your imagination run with what...
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
Here is my build thread.
No I don't. I do make carved foam backgrounds and they are either coated in pond armor or a different epoxy that is simular. I then silicone them to the glass. While not exactly the same it still require thr silcone and epoxy to work effectively together. I dont know if youve tried holding a large boyent object underwater? I took the 180 bg off the other day I had to destroy the background to get it off. The interface of silicone to epoxy did not give. The silicone let go of the glass first.
Alright was talking to the guy earlier today and apparently he hadn't made a plywood aquarium in over thirty years and the type of resin he was using was for kayaks so I'm guessing he just wasn't acquainted with the pond shield product.
I'm one of the old codgers who built plywood tanks 30 years ago; made a bunch of them using a 2-part epoxy called Palguard. The stuff was bulletproof, and glass was installed simply by laying down a big bead of silicone, lowering the pane down, weighting it, and then running a "safety bead" all around the edges of the glass. Never scuffed the epoxy, and had no internal frame supporting the glass. Worked beautifully, tanks lasted for years. One in particular was still in service at least 15 years later. It had had a few repaired areas of epoxy inside, but the silicone seal remained strong.
More recently, I built a 120-gallon plywood tank almost exactly 2 years ago, and this time I used Pond Shield. Much nicer and easier to use, virtually no fumes, applies fairly simply, good coverage. I adhered the glass using the cheap GE silicone...Silicone I? Same routine: no scuffing of surface, no supporting internal structure, just glue the glass to the epoxy, wait a couple days, add water. Two years isn't the sort of long-term experience I had with Palguard, but I think it's long enough to safely call it a success.
More recently, I built a 120-gallon plywood tank almost exactly 2 years ago, and this time I used Pond Shield. Much nicer and easier to use, virtually no fumes, applies fairly simply, good coverage. I adhered the glass using the cheap GE silicone...Silicone I? Same routine: no scuffing of surface, no supporting internal structure, just glue the glass to the epoxy, wait a couple days, add water. Two years isn't the sort of long-term experience I had with Palguard, but I think it's long enough to safely call it a success.
