There's been a couple of threads about sealing tanks recently, mainly questions about what "glue" you use to secure the glass together before using silicon to seal it.
Now the vast majority of us know that there is no "glue" as such involved in the building or resealing of a glass aquarium. You use silicon to attach the glass panels together and use the same silicon to make your bead to smooth out with your finger to establish the seal, making sure there's no bubbles etc.
My question is more to do with resealing an old tank that "never" leaked, maybe you're just resealing it because it's old and you want peace of mind. If a tank has never leaked then logic says you can strip the silicon off right back to the joints of the glass. This way your tank isn't going to collapse on you. Then you'd just put a bead of reseal silicon on all the inside seams of your tank. Sounds easy enough.
Now here's the point i'm making. Throughout the hobby we're all told you never put new silicon on old silicon, it is critical that ALL traces of old silicon are scraped away. But in resealing our old tank in question we're leaving on the old silicon that holds the glass together and putting new sealant on top, which goes against everything we've been told.
Surely a proper reseal on an old tank, whether it leaked or not, is to strip it right back, everywhere, and start from absolute scratch with 5 sheets of glass and your bracing.
I'd be interested in regular tank builders/resealers thoughts on this.
Now the vast majority of us know that there is no "glue" as such involved in the building or resealing of a glass aquarium. You use silicon to attach the glass panels together and use the same silicon to make your bead to smooth out with your finger to establish the seal, making sure there's no bubbles etc.
My question is more to do with resealing an old tank that "never" leaked, maybe you're just resealing it because it's old and you want peace of mind. If a tank has never leaked then logic says you can strip the silicon off right back to the joints of the glass. This way your tank isn't going to collapse on you. Then you'd just put a bead of reseal silicon on all the inside seams of your tank. Sounds easy enough.
Now here's the point i'm making. Throughout the hobby we're all told you never put new silicon on old silicon, it is critical that ALL traces of old silicon are scraped away. But in resealing our old tank in question we're leaving on the old silicon that holds the glass together and putting new sealant on top, which goes against everything we've been told.
Surely a proper reseal on an old tank, whether it leaked or not, is to strip it right back, everywhere, and start from absolute scratch with 5 sheets of glass and your bracing.
I'd be interested in regular tank builders/resealers thoughts on this.
