Marineland 265 Repair

[Rifken]

Short version of long story is that I have purchased two 30T x 24W x 84L tanks that I thought were custom but it has turned out they are Marineland 265 gallon tanks. When I filled them the lower trim came loose at a corner on one of the tanks and the other had a major leak at the bottom of the front panel.

This thread will be about the repair of the major leaker. At this point in time I am thinking that I am going to remove the bottom glass and we'll go from there.

 

[Rifken]

First task was to remove the bottom trim. The trim on this tank is not one big frame. It is four pieces that have miters at the corners that I think were glued together. This picture shows were the previous owner had siliconed the trim in place at the corner. He said it had come loose but it was really an attempt to fix the leak. Anyway you can see the miter at the corner

I used a 1.5" sheetrock knife to cut thru the silicone by sliding it between the glass and the trim. The area the previous owner had repaired was the hardest. I had to slice thru a lot of silicone between the front glass and the trim. The rest of the trim was just held on by a bead on the bottom glass and was easy to slice thru.

Then it was time to remove the glass bracing one of the former owners had added to the front and back where the panels met the bottom glass. It was another attempt to repair the leak. The trim was 2 inches wide and looked to be 1/4" thick.

I used the sheetrock knife and some plastic shims to get under it. I discovered it would shatter ask I got it loose but didn't fly apart. Turns out it was two pieces of 1/8th glass laminated together.

This is what it looks like when it comes off

I still have about 8" left in one corner. This section is stuck very good and I am having trouble getting the knife or even a razor blade under it. I am going to try softening it up with a little acetone. You can see how it is laminated. What were they thinking?

Well that's it for now. There will be more to come.

-Bob

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Been following your other thread, hope you get it sorted out!

 

[Rifken]

I finally got all the "euro bracing" off the bottom. It took 3 single edge razor blades, acetone and the knife to get that last 8 inches off.

The person who added the bottom bracing also added glass under the plastic top braces. I have done this on 3 of the 125s I have. I don't know if it adds much strength but it does keep the braces from sagging over time from the weight of the glass lids. As you can see in the picture this one was cracked so it wasn't doing much of anything. The guy I bought the tank from said he hit it with a rock when he was setting up the tank. It had to come out.

Now the tank is ready for the bottom glass to come off. I just need somebody to help me flip the tank over so I can set the bottom free

-Bob

 

[Rifken]

I've been working but mostly after dark so I haven't been able to take pictures, so no posts. I did manage to take some at lunch today so here we go...

I had planned to flip the tank over at this point and remove the bottom but I couldn't get any help over the weekend. In the end that helped me make the decision to just take the whole thing apart. Right side up was the right position for total disassembly.

I had been thinking that if I just fixed the bottom, put it back together and then sprung a leak on side seam I would have to start all over again. Plus I think I mentioned that the old silicone was not as strong as the newer silicone (used on the bracings) so that made me think the old silicone is weakening. And you know the saying, "in for a penny, in for a pound".

I started with the front glass. The guitar "E" string worked great on the right vertical seam but not on any others. I ended up using the drywall knife and razor blades on the left vertical seam and that took forever, There was a gap at the bottom to push thru but the top was very tight and I couldn't get the razor blade in. I had to keep walking the razor blade up the seam using the drywall knife to give a little space. After the front panel was cut loose from the sides I wiggled it back and forth and it came loose from the bottom glass

Last night I started trying to get the left side panel off but I ran into the same problem of it being to tight at the top for either the guitar string or the razor blade. Today it occurred to me that maybe a Zona saw would work better. The Zona saw is a razor saw that is very thin and has very fine teeth. I thought that would solve one of the problems of using a razor blade. As you slice thru the silicone with a razor blade it does not remove any material. When you try to go deeper on another pass, the silicone you sliced earlier grabs the blade making each pass harder and harder. I thought if I could get the Zona saw in there and work it back and forth it would clear the shavings out as it was moving so I tried it at lunch. Holy Cow! I had the rest of the tank apart in like 15 minutes with no strain at all!

Next will be the part that everyone seems to dread, the cleaning. I'll be working on that tonight.

-Bob

 

[esquare]

Wow, never thought of using a saw. Great idea!

 

[Rifken]

I worked on cleaning the end panels today. Those worse panel took about 50 minutes. It had black paint on it where the weir was so you couldn't see the plumbing I guess. The other side did not have any paint even though it also has a weir in the corner. The paint was pretty tough and I need to figure out a better way to remove it because the entire back glass is painted. I will need to get the paint off should I decide to have the height cut down.

I've started on the front panel as well but that will go slower as I can't move it myself so I have to wait for help to move it before I can clean both sides.

-Bob

 

[Rifken]

Today I started working on the lower trim. The first piece I attacked was the lower side that had, accordin gto the previous owner, "come loose". It had a lot of silicone holding it to the tank when I removed it

This was really tough because it is not flat like a piece of glass. Here is the shape

So I cut out the most I could with a razor blade then resorted to scraping it with the razor blade. I tried acetone and lacquer thinner but both also softened the trim and sort of fused the trim with the silicone. It took just over an hour for the 2 foot long piece but it ended up looking like this

I did the other side next and it was not so badly covered in silicone but it still took about 45 minutes. I am working on the front right now and am giving my fingers a break while I post. I did find that a small wire brush works pretty good after the initial cutting away of the silicone. It's still going to need some scrapping though. I don't think I will even start on the last piece from the lower back today because it is covered in silicone like the first piece was.

Now it's question time. The trim looks kinda of crappy with scuffs, dents and what-not so I think I will paint it with some Krylon Fusion paint before I put it on. I am wondering what can I use to fill the little dents and dings before I paint it? I've only found one reference but it say the trim is PVC.

Cheers, it's Friday!
-Bob

 

[esquare]

You may be able to find something similar to the trim at a local home improvement store, I know a lot of them carry PVC trim.

 

[jonm]

What are you going to do about the top braces?
I have a mariner and 265 that may need resealing and it appears that the top braces have cracked next to the frame.
But I also read that in this particular tank the top braces were separate and were not connected to the actual top frame.

 

[Rifken]

My top braces are good. The braces are unlike any others I have seen. Now I should say that I've not seen a million tanks but I have been in and out of the hobby since the 90s and I have been watching tons of videos and going to many, many web pages while researching rebuilding this tank and I have not seen another system like this.

Back in the old days (90's), manufactures would use glass that was siliconed to the front and back as braces. There was plastic trim but it was mostly for decoration. The bottom trim did also provided a space between the top of your stand and the bottom of the glass. The trim was in four pieces and held on to the tank with silicone.

Sometime after (2000's maybe?) the major manufacturers stopped using glass for the center bracing and moved to a 1 piece molded frame with molded in cross braces and they still use it today.

This Marineland tank has plastic cross braces that are not molded as part of the frame and the frame is four pieces that are mitered at the corners and held in place with silicone. Very strange as one of my tanks was built in 2014 and the other in 2015

The center brace looks like this. Please forgive the crude drawing but you should get the idea. It simply gets positioned in place on top of the glass and "captured" by the top trim.

The front and rear upper trim gets notched to accommodate the braces. This is what it look like when looking straight down

This is what it looks like from the inside. The trim/brace is flipped upside down in this picture

The bottom has just the trim; there is no cross bracing.

Since the braces on my tanks are good I do not plan on separating them from the frame pieces. I think they are held to the frame by black silicone but I am not sure so I don't want to chance damaging them.

I didn't get a whole lot done this weekend. I did work on cleaning silicone off the glass for about 30 minutes. I had a lot of other stuff to do.

Thanks for following,
-Bob

 

[cilyjr]

Years back I had an AGA tank from 2008 that had a similar top. As I never had to remove it don't know if the pieces were not a single moulded piece.

I ended up cutting them out and replacing them with clear acrylic to prevent shadowing.

Since you are already taking it apart, maybe consider clear cross braces?

 

[Rifken]

Sorry I haven't posted for a bit. I got vertigo last Wednesday from out of nowhere. Never had it before and I'll tell ya, it's something you don't want. I've never felt so useless. Went to get out of bed in the morning and could barely stand or walk. Still getting over it but feeling much better today.

Anyway, as for the tank I am still working on getting the silicone off the bottom trim. I am working on the last long piece now. I still have the top pieces to do but they should go quicker as they did not have some idiot "caking" silicone all over them to try to fix a leak...

Thanks for following,
-Bob

 

[esquare]

Sorry I haven't posted for a bit. I got vertigo last Wednesday from out of nowhere. Never had it before and I'll tell ya, it's something you don't want. I've never felt so useless. Went to get out of bed in the morning and could barely stand or walk. Still getting over it but feeling much better today.

Anyway, as for the tank I am still working on getting the silicone off the bottom trim. I am working on the last long piece now. I still have the top pieces to do but they should go quicker as they did not have some idiot "caking" silicone all over them to try to fix a leak...

Thanks for following,
-Bob

Sorry to hear about the Vertigo. I've never had it but I hear it's no joke.