Red Sea possible start to seam failure

[Phillyd1990]

so I have a Red Sea 425 g3 and it may have what appears to be the start to one of my seams failing. I’ve never had this happen before and would like to get some opinions before I contact Red Sea. It’s only been up for 6 months but I don’t remember seeing this before and I look at my tank a lot but there is the small possibility it’s been there the whole time. I took the best pictures I could but they’re not the best.

 

[Blitheran]

That’s wild if this is a G3… but also not surprising

 

[Phillyd1990]

That’s wild if this is a G3… but also not surprising

Yupp it’s a G3. That’s why I bought it hoping it would be okay. I knew I should’ve went with the water box.

 

[lamb90]

so I have a Red Sea 425 g3 and it may have what appears to be the start to one of my seams failing. I’ve never had this happen before and would like to get some opinions before I contact Red Sea. It’s only been up for 6 months but I don’t remember seeing this before and I look at my tank a lot but there is the small possibility it’s been there the whole time. I took the best pictures I could but they’re not the best.

Did it fail? water leaked? or did you leave it under observation?

 

[UncommonSense]

Any updates?

This is the first G3 tank I’ve seen exhibiting textbook signs of silicone failure… all info that can be provided would benefit the community!

 

[helmsreef]

It looks like it is behind the armored seam and not behind the panel.

 

[UncommonSense]

It looks like it is behind the armored seam and not behind the panel.

Here’a what Red Sea considers to be “seam armor”

You can literally tie it into a pretzel…. Hence the custom cut glass rods you can see behind that pretzel; my idea of seam armor.

 

[exnisstech]

It looks like it is behind the armored seam and not behind the panel.

Do you work for RS Kidding but that does sound like something they would say.

My first response

The last response

My opinion

 

[helmsreef]

Lol no, I've just had a lot of them apart over the years that were given to me from local stores and facebook sales. It looks to me just shotty application knowing that the gaps in sealant are behind the armored seam inserts and not he panel

 

[Proud]

Here’a what Red Sea considers to be “seam armor”

You can literally tie it into a pretzel…. Hence the custom cut glass rods you can see behind that pretzel; my idea of seam armor.

wow, does it comes off easily?

 

[UncommonSense]

wow, does it comes off easily?

Once you get some purchase on one end of a piece, you can just peel it out by hand…

On the most recent breakdown, I actually left one strip of “armor” on a pane when separating it from adjacent panes, then just pried an end of the “armor” strip off the glass by hand and peeled the whole length off…

also, the silicone preferred to stick to the “armor”, vs. the glass in some areas when forcibly separated…

That is to say, these plastic strips will still protect the actual glass:glass structural silicone seams from over-enthusiastic algae scraping, but they definitely aren’t doing anything for the overall structural strength of the tank!

 

[Proud]

Once you get some purchase on one end of a piece, you can just peel it out by hand…

On the most recent breakdown, I actually left one strip of “armor” on a pane when separating it from adjacent panes, then just pried an end of the “armor” strip off the glass by hand and peeled the whole length off…

also, the silicone preferred to stick to the “armor”, vs. the glass in some areas when forcibly separated…

That is to say, these plastic strips will still protect the actual glass:glass structural silicone seams from over-enthusiastic algae scraping, but they definitely aren’t doing anything for the overall structural strength of the tank!

Do you own a Red Sea before and what's the story?

 

[UncommonSense]

Do you own a Red Sea before and what's the story?

I did/do, and It’s a long story… thankfully, I have a thread written on the Red Sea stuff specifically, as well as my tank thread where I managed to semi-document my progression into learning glass coldworking!

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

 

[Reef Jedi]

I did/do, and It’s a long story… thankfully, I have a thread written on the Red Sea stuff specifically, as well as my tank thread where I managed to semi-document my progression into learning glass coldworking!

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

Now that’s a cool hobby all in its own.

No pun intended