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Resealing tanks


Didge007

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Hi guys! I have an 80 L and a 60L I'd like to re-silicone as ants had a feed on the current silicone and they now leak. I've got the silicone, I just don't have the skills. Can anyone tell me how to do it?

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There's a couple of ways to do it depending on if you want it to look good or not! If you don't mind the looks then you just clean the surface of any dust & crap with a wet cloth, then run a bead of silicone around all the corners & then run your finger over the top of the silicone to even it out leaving a nice thick triangle of silicone in the corner, then let it dry for a couple of days(should only need a couple of days as it's not holing the tank together & will dry quicker than normal), fill the tank & test it. If you are worried about looks then it's a bit harder, I usually run some tape on either side of the corner, about 5mm from the corner, then run a small bead of silicone up the corner same as before & once you run your finger along the silicone, making sure the as much as possible is rubbed off the tape, peel the tape off & then let it dry for a couple of days, fill the tank & test for any leakages. Hope this helps :victorious:

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Thanks Squiggle! That's hopefully this weekends project. I'm not worried about looks I just need a 'temporary' tank for Rocky my angel. Do I need to remove the old silicone at all?

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Only if it's loose & peeling off, just remove any loose stuff & make sure you give it a good covering with the new stuff :encouragement:

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I would remove the old silicone but not between the glass where they join to hold glass together leave it as is, easy enough to do with a razor, then get some rubbing alcohol or acetone and give the glass a good rundown before applying new silicone. New silicone will not bond very well to old silicone so spend a bit extra time and do it properly! Then you won't need to worry about leaks for years to come.

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make sure you use the correct type of silicone too!

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