Replacing panel of Rimless tank

[Protodad]

Normally I wouldn’t bother, however, I have a Reefer 250 and the bottom panel is cracked. The crack touches the edges and the overflow holes so no patching this one.

For those not familiar, the bottom panel of the reefer is floating. IE, it sits inside the outer glass. Additionally, it’s pretty clear that the tank side glass hang a mm or two below the bottom glass. I assume this gets leveled out with a proper mat underneath.

Point is, for $60 it seems fairly straightforward to cut out the old bottom pane, drill the overflow holes, and silicone in a new piece as it isn’t as structurally critical as I figured it would have been.

Anyone out there done this before? I’ve seen many a structural side panel replaced, but it’s hard to find info on something like this.

 

[Mjrenz]

You may have success in replacing it but it would be a gamble, new silicone won't adhere properly to old silicone and its likely you'd end up with a leak down the road. In order to do it the safest way possible every panel would need to be separated, the old silicone removed, the glass cleaned with acetone, and all new silicone applied

 

[vetteguy53081]

Cleaning /scraping glass and prep are most important/ Assure seam is all new silicone and clean glass with alcohol thoroughly before applying new Sealant such as aqueon. I don't trust plain silicone. . . . aquarium sealant is my choice

 

[Protodad]

Thanks, I wasn’t planning to do a quick and dirty panel swap and appreciate the reminder about alcohol prep.

My main concern is how to place the new panel. It seems I could lay the panel down, set the gram around it, seal it, and once that sets, flip the tank and seal the bottom. As it is “floating” in the frame, there doesn’t seem to be a need to brace it any specific way while the sealant sets.