Resealing a tank

[chris moyer]

Hello everybody. First post here. I originally posted this on another forum but didn't receive any replies so I thought maybe someone here can help me out. I am breaking down my 75 gallon planted tank and have noticed the silicone on the inside corners is bubbling, peeling, deteriorating, or just gone. The actual silicone that adheres the glass panes together is still fine - just the bead smeared on the inside corners. The tank is probably 15-18 years old and I would like to keep it and use it again some day. Can I just remove the interior silicone, clean and reapply or will this lead to further problems down the road? If I have to disassemble the entire tank and reapply silicone adhesive to the pane joints - it's probably not worth keeping since Petco sells 75s for $75 dollars now...right?

 

[Reefrookie220]

A better smoother bead applied over the old one should be ok as long as no leak was present to begin with, just mask sure you get wide with it, over lapping both edges of the old stuff by a quarter inch. Just my 2 cents

 

[Niterunner77]

Yes, you can just reapply in the affected areas but IMHO if I was you I would just scrape it all down on the inside and reapply all new silicone since you are at it. I think it would just look better. I wouldn't take all the panes of glass apart. I resealed a 10 year old 75G 4 years ago just replacing the interior silicone for my current cichlid tank and I haven't had any problems at all.

 

[chris moyer]

It's just the seal along the inner seams so I was hoping I could just remove it, clean it well, and reapply a new bead of aquarium grade silicone. Thanks for the reply!!