Major set back I think any advice or help please

[cmn3]

ok so here I am deep into this..... so I bought this 45 gallon tank dimensions are 36 long 24 high and 12 wide. when I got the tank started to clean it up and noticed all four panels had lots of scratches and I figured hey no problem I have glass conections so I tore it down and ordered new glass got some starfire with nice flat polished edges cleaned and preped everything put the panels in place and sealed them up with 100% silicone let it sit for a week the filled it in the garage let it sit for another week no leaks looks great so now I have it inside and got my sand live rock all good finaly got it all filled up and noticed that the seems in the center have a little movement like it spread a little once filled now I just dont know how safe that is is this thing going to jusj blow apart or what all the glass is 1/4 and I only put the silicone on the inside edges wanted to show off that nice edgework so am I screwed or can I maybey tape off the outside edges and run a bead on them

 

[Peppie]

I dont know anything about putting a glass tank together. I do know that the joints should not flex. I think you should have put silicone on the joint and just not on the inside edge. I also dont think putting a bead of silicone on the outside edge is going to hold your tank together.
I'm sure someone else will chime in soon. In the mean time if it was me I would empty the tank before you have a mess.

 

[eww]

The silicone needs to be between the panes of glass, not just on the inside or the outside. You typically will put a decent amount between them glueing them all together and letting it set up and then follow that with another bead on the inside corner. I have seen tanks (ours, but we did not build it) without the inside bead and it looks really clean. What kind/brand of silicone did you use too put this together? 1/4" thick glass "should" be thick enough for a 45 gallon tank unless it's super tall and skinny. 24" should be fine though IMO. It's the height that drives the glass thickness more so than the volume of water. The water volume does matter, just not as much as how high you are trying to hold that water up. I would PM Myteemouse (Adam) or Crystalclear125 (Crystal). They just recently built their own 50 gallon tank.

And I'm with Peppie, drain that thing before you regret not doing so. 45 gallons of water goes a long way on the floor .

 

[cmn3]

ya thats kind of what im am thinking I allready drained about half the water out and went down to sumner to see what they want for a tank.. on sale for $114 so im just going to go pick one up in the morning and then start over I guess oh if it can go wrong it will. I guess thats cheaper than what it would cost if the tank blew apart

 

[eww]

ya thats kind of what im am thinking I allready drained about half the water out and went down to sumner to see what they want for a tank.. on sale for $114 so im just going to go pick one up in the morning and then start over I guess oh if it can go wrong it will. I guess thats cheaper than what it would cost if the tank blew apart

That's where we got out tank too and it has the really clean look with no silicone in the inside corners. If they have any I would recommend looking at them. It has the look of an acrylic tank but it's glass and you don't have to worry about cleaning that silicone in the corners. Ours is 70 gal tall (36"w x 15"d x 30"t) and built of 3/8" thick glass and we got it for under $200. Of course we had to drill it and build an overflow for it but that was the fun of the build.

 

[cmn3]

im just going to get the basic allglass same size as I have now not gona do a sump or anything have had a bad flood when I was doing fresh water so going basic lots of live rock good flow and a hob skimmer once a week water changes... will go biger when im not renting

 

[Peppie]

What skimmer do you have in mind?

 

[cmn3]

I have an swc bh100f

 

[akunochi]

Also when building a tank there is a science to it. First use a a certain type of silicone not just any. I want to say it is rtv 105 or 108, but I need to check again. They actually use it to hold items down in wind tunnel tests. You can find a ton of info on the other site if you are really interested and plenty here too. Also depending on the size tank there are spacers (kinda like tile spacer for grouting) that you use to get the space for the initial silicone run. Finally like has been mentioned above silicone goes in between each panel and then the beads up the side. The tank should be put together fairly quickly so it all dries uniform as well etc etc.

Good luck with the new tank, the above was for your future info only. There are ton of how to's on the subject as well....

Now about your glass hookup.....

 

[cmn3]

well everything is moved to new tank old one is out in the shed... should have done a little more research before tryin that.... tank looked nice and clear this morning right before I tore it down for the swap go figure... oh well if I get bored I might tear the other one back down and seal it right... as far as the glass hooup my wife works at a large glass suplier and fabricator they sell to most of the glass shops here in washington and oregon and a few other states wholesale... I always get killer deals through them

 

[akunochi]

You're my new best friend