Anyone resealed a large waterbox?

[JBryant]

Recently picked up a large ~200ish gallon Waterbox Peninsula for cheap, came into it knowing it needed a full reseal. Has a small bubble in the upper front corner seam; both interior and exterior faces of the seam are intact, bubble is approximately 0.2"×3" (half above waterline, half below), but it's compressible under hand pressure so the bond is clearly compromised. Largest I've resealed prior to this was a 60g tall and a 90g cube, both came out good in the end, but were interior reseals only.

Already reached out to Waterbox directly for guidance, but I don't anticipate much info there, looking for community experience & input primarily.

Planning to do a 1-2 month water test in the garage post-reseal (waiting 2 weeks after re-sealing for curing just to be extra cautious). If it fails during testing, it fails on concrete with a drain nearby and I'm out some silicone and time. Not the end of the world. Even after testing, it's final location in the house will be in the basement nearby a drain & basement sump, no flooring to ruin either as it'll be on concrete slab with tiling.

The challenge is that rimless Waterbox construction obviously doesn't make a simple interior bead reseal possible (though in theory I could always ADD an interior bead and leave the seam as it is, but that's not a path I really WANT to consider). It's essentially a full seam reseal or nothing, which means proper glass separation, full silicone removal down to bare glass, and re-bonding.

Specifically looking for:
- Experience with glass separation technique on frameless tanks this size
- Whether anyone has used alignment guides or jigs to hold panels in correct position during re-siliconing (if you have, can I either buy said guide/jig from you, or can you tell me how you acquired and/or made it?)
- Any Waterbox specific inputs on construction or silicone type

Appreciate any input from people who have actually been through this on a large rimless tank.

TIA!

 

[UncommonSense]

Phew, this is going to be a big project!

Thankfully, such things have been done before, and there is documentation!

— Here’s a great writeup @Evensong did on his process to rebuild and reinforce his 120g:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...featuring-evensong-and-uncommonsense.1137294/

- Experience with glass separation technique on frameless tanks this size

This is the easy part! A long razor blade, or a thin (high E) guitar string wrapped around two dowels works excellent to cut out the structural seams!

— I have a bit of a tank breakdown process documented here (post #38):

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/red-sea-aquarium-autopsy-reefer-xl425-g1.1146139/page-2
The key takeaway for your tank is that you’ll want some 8”+ glass lifting suction cups and a steady handed helper or three… each of the viewing panes on your tank will weigh well over 100lbs!

(Help is also crucial during the rebuild, you need to quickly, and precisely reassemble all of this heavy glass later!)

Whether anyone has used alignment guides or jigs to hold panels in correct position during re-siliconing (if you have, can I either buy said guide/jig from you, or can you tell me how you acquired and/or made it?)

The above tank rebuild thread from @Evensong has a detailed how-to for making a tank ID jig!

Any Waterbox specific inputs on construction or silicone type

This tank exhibited classic top-corner peel failure, common in very large rimless tanks… I would highly recommend sourcing some glass strips (probably 15-19mm, 3.5-4” wide) to add a eurobrace to this tank after reassembly! (The eurobrace acts like a large gusset in the top-corners, holding them together… it also serves as a rigid glass “spine” along the long viewing pane’s top [unsupported] edge, preventing glass bowing!)

— I’d recommend Momentive RTV100 series silicones, or something from Wacker (I’m less familiar with them, their products are tougher to source in small quantities)

— ASI 509 silicone is a commonly recommended choice for this sort of thing, but I’d recommend steering clear for this job, purely because it has a short working time of ~10mins, vs. ~ 20mins for Momentive’s RTV100 series!

Appreciate any input from people who have actually been through this on a large rimless tank.

I’m currently in process of doing something similar on a 5ft Red Sea tank, without rebuilding it, to stress test my glass structural seam reinforcement designs…. It’s been quite the rabbit hole!

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-frankenreefer-450.1147222/

 

[W31Olds]

Post a pic of the trouble spot. Did this occur over time or was a MFG defect? I might just use a hypodermic and inject silicone in it there was never any water in the void.

 

[UncommonSense]

Post a pic of the trouble spot. Did this occur over time or was a MFG defect?

excellent suggestion, and question!

I might just use a hypodermic and inject silicone in it there was never any water in the void.

This can work to some extent to fill cosmetic voids, assuming they are large enough to get a large gauge applicator/needle into (silicone is extremely viscous, I’ve nearly torn the wings off a syringe trying to get it through a ~1/16” orifice!)…

— In this situation, the silicone will typically present as either torn in half, or peeled free from one of the two glass panes in the joint! (And the peeled area is visibly at least 3” long!)

— OP was saying he could get visible movement out of the area when it’s pressed on, which is a big red flag, you can barely get glass panes to spread under substantial hand-force if the vertical seam is even half-intact! (Trying to get a razor blade into a silicone seam between panes pressed too tightly together can be a nightmare until you’ve got around 33-50% of the seams height cut, and get some lever force to bend the glass/stretch the silicone!)

— this said, and considering that new silicone doesn’t stick well to cured silicone; it would be risky to just fill this void and hope for the best!

I think adding some glass to that area is the bare minimum in this situation, barring a full rebuild!

 

[Evensong]

I think any piece of advice I can give you is contained in that post that Uncommon shared above, but I will add that doing a full rebuild is a lot of work. I'd only recommend it if you really enjoy this type of project, because you'll be surprised how long it takes to stick 5 pieces of glass together.

I'm happy to report, though, that my rebuilt tank has been running smoothly for about 8 months and counting!

 

[JBryant]

Post a pic of the trouble spot. Did this occur over time or was a MFG defect? I might just use a hypodermic and inject silicone in it there was never any water in the void.

Apologies, it has taken me quite a while to circle back around to this! I’ve attached the pictures, it’s a pretty hefty bubble.

I have debated the syringe injection, and while I’d love to have something that simple be the fix. This tank is fairly old and while *maybe* that fixes this spot, it’s certainly just a matter of time until another spot gives.

 

[JBryant]

This tank exhibited classic top-corner peel failure, common in very large rimless tanks… I would highly recommend sourcing some glass strips (probably 15-19mm, 3.5-4” wide) to add a eurobrace to this tank after reassembly! (The eurobrace acts like a large gusset in the top-corners, holding them together… it also serves as a rigid glass “spine” along the long viewing pane’s top [unsupported] edge, preventing glass bowing!)

I do very much intend on adding a eurobrace to this, I both like the reinforcement aspect of them, and honestly I quite like how they look. The added benefit of saving me some some water splashing over when cleaning class is also very welcome :)

I finally had time to read through all the threads you posted, I like how you & Evensong added the "bottom euro" to your tanks as well, very clever idea! I don't have the glass cutting capability you have, however I do have a custom glass shop right down the road so once I have exact measurements I may have to enlist their help...

ASI 509 silicone is a commonly recommended choice for this sort of thing, but I’d recommend steering clear for this job, purely because it has a short working time of ~10mins, vs. ~ 20mins for Momentive’s RTV100 series!

Thank you for this! I am a big fan of increased working time. And I do think I will shoot for clear silicone, for the same reason you did on your build.

I'd only recommend it if you really enjoy this type of project, because you'll be surprised how long it takes to stick 5 pieces of glass together.

Thankfully, I do very much enjoy this type of thing. Plus it gives me another reason to get out of the house for a bit and do something productive besides typical home maintenance "fun"!