Tank Silicone Joint Protector/Guard???

Aquius · Jan 10, 2019

I am setting up an SCA 150 and am wondering about the silicone joints being damaged over time from glass cleaning/scraping. The only reason I bring this up is because one of my LFS’s service clients is going through an entire rebuild due to “overenthusiastic” use of a mag float blade at the silicone joints (kids, supposedly).

Well, I have four kids, and since I have yet to get water in the tank, I figure this might be a good time to take preemptive measures by installing some sort of plastic “joint guard” over the silicone. I have done many searches, but I have not found anything. Either this is not very common, or my Google-Foo is weak…

Any ideas?

davocean · Jan 10, 2019

It should not be an issue, and there may be other reasons or issues w/ the other tank, I seriously doubt a mag float or scraper even will do anything to properly siliconed seams.

One thing I would not do if I had kids would be keep mag float in tank, but that is mainly to keep from scratching glass by sweeping it too close to sand bed, seen this many times.

Aquius · Jan 10, 2019

I agree, in theory… That being said, I have learned to never underestimate the resourcefulness of a three year old. ;Blackeye

And yep. I always take out the mag float (remove the temptation).

To be honest, I never really considered this until I visited my LFS a few days ago and heard the story. Then I started thinking… Hence this thread.

davocean · Jan 10, 2019

Many LFS will say many things, not all correct.

SCA makes nice seams, you'll be fine.

Sometimes cheaper made tanks have sloppy silicone overlapping glass, that and the fact time and lighting can age and deteriorate that silicone would be my guess on that tanks issue.

Justin Aretz · Dec 22, 2019

The BRS160 was built with corner guards of some sort, you can view the tank episode and Ryan mentions it. I’ll absolutely use this option on my next custom. If nothing else but to make life easier