Silicon Pealing - 125g 11 years old - no leaks

[cor]

I cleaned the gravel on my 125g long and noticed a 3" section on the bottom where the silicon is starting to peal. I drained the tank to inspect further and found what is pictured in the attachment. It is the only section like this and it doesn't leak.

Can I simply dry and squirt some additional GE Silicon 1 in between or does something like this require a complete reseal? I have read new silicon doesn't like to stick to old.

 

[littlewangzfan]

For an 11 year old tank, I would do a complete reseal just for peace of mind.

 

[cory1990]

cut that piece out with a razor blade and replace it, id cut it out at least 3 inchs on each side of the pealing. then you shouldnt have any problems. i for one do not like redoing the silicone on a tank. one its a pain in the ass 2 its a mess.

anyways iv had a slit like that and cut a section out of the silicone and redid it and it was fine. even though the best thing to do is just redo everything its a temp fix that will last years. or another thing you can do is cut that whole strip out on that panel of glass and replace the whole bead of silicone. both ways will do fine.

best of luck.

 

[packer43064]

Time to reseal the tank buddy. My 180 had multiple spots like that. It didn't leak, but you always end up worrying about it. It really isn't that hard to reseal it. It was the first time resealing a tank of that size for me and it worked perfectly fine after it was resealed.

 

[cor]

You all have confirmed my thoughts/fears. I'm not sure how comfortable I feel resealing this large of a tank myself. I have done a 20g without problems but this is so much larger and I now have a very nicely finished basement.

Maybe I can sell this to someone more willing and get a completely new 125g tank. More than likely I'll pickup a 75g or do double 3 foot tanks as a new 125 is out of my budget currently.

 

[cory1990]

its not hard to cut out the one strip thats gone bad. ever hear the saying if it aint broke dont fix it? well the one strip is obviously bad and a 5$ tube of silicone from the hardware store will fix that up just fine.

so just cut out the bad strip redo it wait 72 hours add water add fish and you will be good to go.

 

[ECW]

its not hard to cut out the one strip thats gone bad. ever hear the saying if it aint broke dont fix it? well the one strip is obviously bad and a 5$ tube of silicone from the hardware store will fix that up just fine.

so just cut out the bad strip redo it wait 72 hours add water add fish and you will be good to go.

+1

Cut out the part thats peeling and clean it well with some alcohol (yes silicon doesn't stick to silicon well). Use some masking tape to keep your silicone job clean. Place your line of silicone down. Get your thumb, moisten it, and push as much of it in to get into any space and smooth it out. It's easy, works, and will save you some cash!