Thank you. Really appreciate all your input.In that case, do you really want it to adhere to the surface at all? I've used silicone in the past strictly as a gasket as well, with a couple of different materials. I've even sprayed the surface with light oil or silicone spray first to prevent adhesion. Lay an even bead of silicone over the contact area, bolt the thing together very lightly, let the silicone completely cure, and then tighten the bolts to squeeze the cured silicone "gasket" that has been formed.
It's an easy thing to do with a small surface area or small project; depending upon the size and design of your tanks, it might be more difficult or even impossible.
Are these tanks designed and intended to be taken down and re-assembled multiple times? Or are they built like this simply to make transportation and shipping easier once, with the intention being that they will be assembled once in place and then left together permanently?
If the former, a silicone gasket made as above would seem to be workable, although it would require stripping off the old and replacing with new each time the tank is disassembled. Certainly, I'd be inclined not to try it unless a leak develops in future.
If the latter, again I would just build the tank as it's intended to be built, and worry about leaks if they occur later. If they do, I don't think the tank would even need to be disassembled; just drain, dry and then lay a sealing bead of something like the Geocel4500 or one of the other impressive sealants all around the interior joints, much as we typically do with glass tanks and silicone. This would only need to waterproof the joints; the sealant would not need to adhere so well as to hold the tank together against water pressure.
Either way...don't fix it if it ain't broke! Let's not assume that the tanks need any help at all; if they're built and designed properly, why expect them to fail? Would you buy a brand new all-glass tank, and immediately start stripping off or adding silicone and trying to re-seal it?
One last thing: I would not discount the possibility that applying any kind of sealant, silicone or otherwise, might interact chemically with the gasket material that the tanks already have. If that happens, you could be damaging the gasket, and ending up in a worst situation than you began.
I'm looking forward to hearing how this goes; good luck!
The tank was built in panels so it can get in and out of my house. After setup the goal is not to move it for 20 plus years. We just moved and have no plans of moving again any time soon
So the tank built to be used with just the gasket but when it arrived they included a bonding agent just in case i wanted to use it…..
This is what prompted me to look into the silcone. Two 1200g is a lot od water to be sitting in the basement
