200 Gallon re seal

[Kloopsfish87]

Hi all first post, I got a really good deal on a 200 gallon tank and stand so I jumped on it lol, the tank was manufactured in 2008 and has sat empty/outside for 4+ years. So I figured no big deal I can just cut out the interior seals re silicon them and be good to go. So I cut out all of the silicone from the inside and was just giving the tank a clean out before I started with the acetone to remove the last bits of silicon when I noticed down both of the structural seams on one side a void almost like I cut half way through with the knife… I was pretty carful not to cut to deep and just remove the interior silicon I thought ? one side is about 7” long the other is about 5” I’m wondering if this is a manufacturing defect? I was super excited for this tank I hope I didn’t wreak it and have to completely disassemble the tank to repair.





If I did cut through the structural bead is it possible to glue like corner caps around the edges? I’ve owned a few tanks before but never had to reseal one before, my last big tank was a 72 gallon bow front and I always wanted a huge tank, just worried I made a lot more work for myself.

I was already thinking of doing a larger inner bead when resealing the tank anyways, would that help?

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Hard for me to say what those lines are, may or may not be innocuous. It's exceedingly easy to fix in the eurobrace fashion, just silicone a strip or two of glass along these lines on the inside, for instance 2 inch wide and 3/8-1/2 inch thick by whatever the length is needed for a good overlap.

 

[Kloopsfish87]

So essentially I would be capping the corners on the inside of the tank, I don’t mind going all the way up, I was going to make the the back side of the tank anyways

 

[Backfromthedead]

It doesn't look to me like you cut into the structural seams. The silicone would appear all wonky if you did. I've seen more than one tank with that odd neat line in the seam though...can't say what causes it.

I will say you need some more scraping and scrubbing before you're ready for a reseal though. If the pictures were from before you stripped it then disregard this.

 

[Kloopsfish87]

Oh well that’s good to hear, if I were considering to euro brace the tank are you talking the bottom of the tank? The top silicone looks good still and I will not be removing the plastic trim around the top.
Oh I definitely have move scraping and cleaning to to do before I get the caulking gun near this tank lol. Thanks for the replies, any other input would be much appreciated. Been looking at a lot of other peoples seam issues and mine dose not look as bad as some, Just seemed weird to have two perfect lines right in the middle of the seam on the same side of the tank.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

What I had in mind is the following. If say the line is 6 in long, I'd eurobrace with 8 in long glass strips butting up against the bottom of the tank. If too anal, I'd add a 2-3 in strips in the corner, along the length of the tank and along the width of the tank.

If you eurobrace the whole tank or most of it, that'd be perfection and likely an overkill. Used tanks just can be unpredictable, kind of like life... If I were placing it in my living room, I'd eurobrace all or most of it. If in my garage or basement, just the minimum I described. If outdoors, I might not worry at all

 

[Kloopsfish87]

So the silicone I ordered to reseal the tank showed up today, I couldn’t find anything at Home Depot that didn’t say mold and mildew resistant. So I figured I would go with an aquarium brand, I know it’s more expensive but my options are more limited in Canada so I figured I could trust it more. I don’t know what the expiration date is on this silicone, I ordered 3 tubes to make sure I have enough, but the side of the tubes says 2017 but the numbers on top don’t make much sense.. I see 22 but does that mean this year? Not very clear. I just don’t want to go through all the effort find out this $33 tube of silicone is expired… thanks in advance.

 

[Kloopsfish87]

I was looking online and found this at my local Home Depot, the one response from dap says it’s not recommended for underwater use. Anyone used this before? I saw FDA approved.

 

[Kloopsfish87]

I think I found it lol, a place called Canadian tire up here had it in stock 4 tubes for the price of one aqueon tube returned thanks to Amazon, is this the same/right ge 1 everyone talks about using?

 

[M1A1]

Yeah that's the stuff, Clear Silicone 1 there in the top right of the primary label. Hopefully those 4 tubes have better expiration dates?