Resealing an Aquarium
You know when you research something and think - “this is pretty straight forward, I can handle this”. This one worked out ok.
I bought a 55 gal aquarium on FB Marketplace for $50. It appears to be a reasonably high quality Aqueon retailing roughly around $200.
I brought the tank home and performed a leak test (filled it with water and looked for wet spots on the outside). It holds water, but I know that the previous occupant was a python and not sure who the prior tenant was… I looked like some of the interior silicone was chewed - a favorite past time for reptiles.
I wanted to remove/replace the plastic frame. I used a box knife and paint tool to cut and carefully pry off the black plastic. It came off in pieces. No worries, it wasn’t going back on anyway.
Then it was time to clean the glass and remove the old, worn, chewed silicone. It’s important to note that the tank is joined and sealed with silicone. Be careful to cut the caulking from the corners without cutting the caulk that resides between the panes of glass.
Cleaning the glass was a HUGE pain and I’m not sure it’s really clean. Let’s just say I’m done cleaning glass. Nothing I tried would remove the white haze on the back panel. I tried alcohol, vinegar, bathroom cleaner, Barkeeper’s Friend. If you have any other suggestions, I’m ALL EARS.
The next step was to tape of the corners so the silicone will end in a clean line and not be super gloopy (technical term). After that, I added a small bead of 100% aquarium safe silicone, smoothed it out and removed the tape. Good enough.
Lastly, I siliconed a glass panel to the top in the middle to take the place of the plastic support. Water is heavy. 55 gallons of water is very heavy. A gallon weighs roughly 8.3 lbs - so the full tank would be 456.5 LBS. Some of that pressure is pushing out against the glass. If there is no support in the middle, the glass will give way and 55 gallons of water will instantly be on the floor.
Quick side note, these Reader digest books are FANTASTIC for book folding art. Next step for this tank is to leave it site for a few days before doing a series of leak tests.
