150 gallon reseal

[Regalblue]

Can't ya just feel the love around here  lol

I thought that warm & fuzzy feeling was from the whiskey....  thanks for setting me straight.

[RichE]

Nice work.  Braver man than I.
 

It's really not that hard, you just have to make sure you get ALL of the old silicone off the glass.  It's more of an attention to detail/tedious job.  I went through around a dozen razor blades on this one.

Typically you're going to know if it's going to leak within a few minutes.  I'll leave this one filled for a week just because it's so large and it's not in the way right now anyhow.  I've done this to a couple of dozen tanks and only had one leak (because I didn't get all of the old silicone out of a corner).

Isnt it better to let it sit 24-48 hrs before adding water?

[Stan M.]

more like 48 hours

[Marty]

I waited about a day before I filled it with water to allow the silicone to cure.  I would wait longer if the weather was cooler.

What I meant when I said that you would know if the tank was going to pretty quickly was after it was filled with water.  A tank this large would exert a great deal of pressure on the seams, so if there wasn't good adhesion to the glass, the water would likely push through rather quickly.

[danielratti]

I was told by a old aquarium builder at one point on big tanks they would clean the seams up really good then put new silicone in and then cover it in plastic and fill the tank. The pressure would cause the silicone to be forced into where the water was leaking out at... Ive never tried it, Maybe one day I will.

[Marty]

I've never heard of that before.

I have seen smaller tanks that had leaks plugged by smearing a big glop of silicone where the leak was (this was while the tank still had water, but no fish in it).  This was about a 20 gallon tank, and it did work.  I'd never try that with a larger tank.

I think I'd rather just take the time to redo the whole thing with new silicone rather than take a chance on a shortcut.

[Regalblue]

48min from what I've been told.

48 minutes or 48 hrs Minimum?

.
 Obviously minimum