Anyone good with injection silicone

Marlon C · Nov 13, 2019

If using 1/2 glass would inner panes be cut 1 inch smaller or would they be 1 inch and a 1/4 for the bead of silicon???

rc1626 · Nov 13, 2019

PerplexyHexy said:
Only part Im having a hard time understanding... Is when to pull the spacers and then silicone the gaps where the spacers were... im confused because if you silicone everything and leave the spacers and let everything dry then after a few days pull the spacers and silicon in the gaps, isnt there going to be a problem? Silicone doeant stick to cured silicone... So im thinking it has to be done within a few hours after laying down the injection between glass... when it starts to firm, then pull spacers and fill in gaps with silicone... thats what my instinct tells me...

Tank builders use small silicone spacers that stay in the joint. Like something you'd find on the inside of a wood cabinet door. The injected silicone fills in around them from what I have seen.

Malifry97 · Nov 13, 2019

rc1626 said:
Tank builders use small silicone spacers that stay in the joint. Like something you'd find on the inside of a wood cabinet door. The injected silicone fills in around them from what I have seen.

+1

sharpimage · Nov 13, 2019

Topic is 15 months old. Hope it is done by now

Malifry97 · Nov 13, 2019

sharpimage said:
Topic is 15 months old. Hope it is done by now

yeah but some people have asked after the fact.

Marlon C · Nov 13, 2019

sharpimage said:
Topic is 15 months old. Hope it is done by now

Still a good topic to keep going regardless of age. Do people account for 1/16 silicon gaps

sharpimage · Nov 13, 2019

Malifry97 said:
yeah but some people have asked after the fact.

In that case, new silicone doesn't bond to old silicone. Tanks should be taken completely apart do have a pane replaced.

Dawa sherpa · Feb 28, 2021

PerplexyHexy said:
Only part Im having a hard time understanding... Is when to pull the spacers and then silicone the gaps where the spacers were... im confused because if you silicone everything and leave the spacers and let everything dry then after a few days pull the spacers and silicon in the gaps, isnt there going to be a problem? Silicone doeant stick to cured silicone... So im thinking it has to be done within a few hours after laying down the injection between glass... when it starts to firm, then pull spacers and fill in gaps with silicone... thats what my instinct tells me...

You are not supposed to pull out the spacers. Aquarium builders use clear silicone spacers. The spacers stay with the aquarium.
Or you can build the aquarium without spacers with the help of 90 degree clamp making sure all the corners have equal amount of gap.

Rockfella · May 3, 2021

maroun.c said:
when I use clamps it gives a cleaner silicon seam with no air bubbles. yet few days after filling up you see a whitish gap in the seam due to some detaching as silicon is too thin. both my larger tanks were made by professional builders and they didn't use clamps.

You need to use spacers.

Rockfella · May 3, 2021

rc1626 said:
Tank builders use small silicone spacers that stay in the joint. Like something you'd find on the inside of a wood cabinet door. The injected silicone fills in around them from what I have seen.

Someone who doesn't have those spacers can use fish line/toothpick/cable ties and set the glasses up with clamps. Make small site injections with a bit of silicon at the corners or wherever needed. Let it cure for 24/48 hours. Take out diy spacers and inject silicon in the tank fully. I've seen multiple videos of folks doing it. Fresh silicon bonds well with non cured or partially cured silicon.

Rockfella · May 3, 2021

sharpimage said:
Topic is 15 months old. Hope it is done by now

Topic is extremely important. This method is used by ADA since years. Clamps and injection. But their tanks are made with all panes on the sides of bottom.. which makes this method very easy.

Rockfella · May 3, 2021

rc1626 said:
Tank builders use small silicone spacers that stay in the joint. Like something you'd find on the inside of a wood cabinet door. The injected silicone fills in around them from what I have seen.

Can you share a pic of that?

rc1626 · May 3, 2021

No pics unfortunately. Just from experience taking apart a tank to replace a panel. Tank was a 75 gallon with manufacturer being AGA (Aqueon) or Marineland. This was about 15 years ago. Not sure what size tank these are used on. I'd have to guess smaller tanks no but larger tanks yes to ensure an even gap for silicone between glass panes.

Rockfella · May 13, 2021

PerplexyHexy said:
You see that thick gap of silicone? There is a perfect 1/8” gap... no glass to glass contact... so yes, they use spacers to get that gap created... The silicone I got is a high grade marine rtv specifically for aquarium use as says on the tube... Im pretty sure I know what to do... gonna start next week after I finish this filthy frag tank I bought off a pig on here...

That seam is more than 3 mm thick. One of the neatest I have seen!

Rockfella · May 30, 2021

rc1626 said:
Tank builders use small silicone spacers that stay in the joint. Like something you'd find on the inside of a wood cabinet door. The injected silicone fills in around them from what I have seen.

Custom Aquarium does that for sure. So the spacers that they leave in the seam doesn't weaken the silicon bond because they usually make rimmed tanks.