Re-sealing a glass tank

[Anonymous]

I just took down an Oceanic 37g glass tank. After cleaning the it out, I noticed that quite a bit of the silicone beading anlog the inside vertical corners is missing or loose, which is probably the result of being repeatedly hit with scrapers over the years. the tank, however, does not leak.

It seems to me that I ought to scrape away the remaining beads of silicone and apply a new bead along all of the inside corners to bring it back to the original condition. Any reason why I should do this?

 

[Anonymous]

Um, I think you've given the reasons why you should do it. Did you mean why shouldn't you do it? None that I can see. $20-worth of silicone, well applied, can save you a LOT of money as long as the glass itself is in decent condition.

If you need any tips on how to do this just ask.

 

[Anonymous]

I wasn't very clear.

What I should have asked is whether the current condition of the silicone suggests that need to take more extensive action, such as taking apart the tank and re-glueing the whole thin back together. I cannot see why I would want to do this, but it can't hurt to ask the question now, before I fill it up.

 

[Anonymous]

Ah! Ok, so if I understand the silicone on the interior looks rather raggedy, yes? If so, then how well a simple stripping out and cleaning of the interior silicone would depend more on how thick the joints are between the glass. The issue is that new silicone will NOT bond to old.

Now, I'm figuring since it's only 37 gallons and it's an Oceanic that the seams are nice and tight, meaning that the glass joints are very close with very little silicone holding them together.

So, yeah, I'd probably go ahead and strip out all the interior silicone perfectly clean, making sure the the joints are grease-free and then run that new bead. Of course, since it's not leaking and I gather has been being used, that's not really sounding like it's necessary for anything other than cosmetic reasons.