New to the forum, but have been reading posts for years. Great site! Anyway, I purchased a used 300 gallon glass aquarium with ABS or HDPE bottom. Decided I needed to reseal after cleaning, as the sealant was not great. I've sealed many large tanks, but never with an ABS bottom. I was planning to use Momentive RTA 103, as I have read that it is one of the best. My question is, has anyone else sealed an ABS bottom and if so, what did you use? I have called several manufacturers and suppliers, and most act like I'm clueless, as they only use glass bottoms. The tank is already drilled thought the bottom, and there is no glass. Anyway, any advice would be appreciated. BTW, I called Momentive and they said it would stick to ABS, but I should buy the primer. Of course, it is $85/quart. It is 92% acetone, so I figure acetone should work fine as a primer.
Aquarium Reseal
- Thread starter EMAW
- Start date
It might be a commercially made tank for a pet store, there was someone on the forum a couple years ago that had a dog-bone shaped tank or similar odd shape with a 'plastic' bottom and glass sides. I couldn't find it but seem to remember they had to remove the glass and there may have been a gasket along the bottom?
It is a peninsula tank and was a reef display tank in a bank, so it could have been a commercially made tank for them. I'm planning to seal this weekend with the RTV. Fortunately it is still in the garage, so I'll fill and let it set for a while to make sure the seal holds.
Thought I would follow-up in case anyone else ever runs into the same situation. I used the Momentive RTV 103. Adhered very well to the glass, but not so well to the ABS (I tried peeling away after 48 hours). So I removed all the sealant again and re-taped. I was able to contact an engineer at Momentive, who actually gave me his cell phone number in case I had problems (great customer service)! He said that the SS4179 primer was necessary. Needless to say, it is expensive. The other tip he gave me is not to touch the sealant for at least seven days. I tested the primer on a piece of PVC pipe by placing sealant on an unprimed section and on an adjacent primed section. While the sealant on the unprimed area could be removed fairly easily, the sealant on the primed section will not come off. So I'm confident this will work on the ABS. I resealed the entire tank yesterday and all went well. Just a tip, the Momentive RTA skins over very quickly, so you have one shot to tool it. BTW, I measured the thickness of the bottom ABS and it is 1-3/8". No wonder this tank is so heavy!
