MeioFormiga Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 (edited) The tank I picked up yesterday has one corner broken on the bottom trim, I can see that causing problems for me down the road. So I guess the question is, remove it, or will putting on styro compensate enough to ensure even support for all 4 sides? I like the look of trimless, but on the other hand it's not hard to hide. But does the trim offer any structural support or is it just cosmetic? Now as far as the old corraline, will the old standbys vinegar and salt remove it? Edited February 2, 2009 by MeioFormiga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeioFormiga Posted February 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 (edited) Turns out the old corraline is not too bad to remove, old fashioned elbow grease and a razor blade makes it go away. The top piece of trim came off without any effort and looks like it's identical to the broken bottom piece, so I can swap the 2 pieces for support on the bottom if needed. From the way the tank was put together it looks like the bottom pane of glass is supported by the trim. There's a pretty large gap in between the sides and the bottom pane filled with silicone, about 3mm on the side by the corner that I cleaned up tonight. I'll put up some pictures tomorrow so the pros can see it. I have to say, resealing a 10 or 20G tank is alot different than resealing and scraping clean a tank this large. Several hours and I figure I still have 4 times that still to go. I"m wondering how well the new silicone will adhere to the old silicone on those large gaps. I know it will adhere well to the clean glass, but is that going to be enough? I'm still contemplating replacing the front pane for something not scratched all to hell, but this project is going to take some work as it is! Edited February 2, 2009 by MeioFormiga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedarkstar Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 By the sounds of it, you'd probably be best to remove ALL the old silicone and reseal the entire thing. It would probably give you a little more piece of mind as I do not believe its the best idea to just seal over old silicone (especially is that's what is holding the entire tank together.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeioFormiga Posted February 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 By the sounds of it, you'd probably be best to remove ALL the old silicone and reseal the entire thing. It would probably give you a little more piece of mind as I do not believe its the best idea to just seal over old silicone (especially is that's what is holding the entire tank together.) I'd love to do that, but dismantling it completely and putting it back together is beyond my skillset! I'm following the reseal thread pinned in the DIY section. I don't know if I'm correct but you can see age in silicone by how discoloured it is, I figure the silicone in between the panes hasn't been exposed to water/salt and has a much longer life span than the silicone that's in the corners. Although when having done this in the past the space in between the panes was tiny on all the seams, this tank has such large gaps between the sides and bottom pane I'm unsure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedarkstar Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 I'm not sure as well, I'd just think it to be a little more efficient to change it all and have it last 10 years vs 5 years or something with a partial change? I donno. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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