is there anyone  here who has attempted to reseal a large tank is it worth doing or not and if so any pointers any input would be greatly appreciated.
The best way is to completly take it apart and start all over. This way you have one complete continuos beed of silicone. It is alot of work.
Like kevin said it would be a alot of work on a large tank. Most of the time one pane of glass will crack if you don't take your time. And when putting it together you have to move quick as the silicon will setup fairly fast. I wouldn't chance it.
The largest tank I resealed was a 75 gallon. I thought I did a good job on it but found it to leak on me 6 months later while I was at work. Girlfriend was not happy, LOL. After examination, I felt that my corner beads were a little thin. If I were to do it again, I would have made thicker seals at the bottom. Would use a half dollar or dollar coin to run the seams. Looking at the coin when put in the corner appears to be enough to hold it together. If you decide to do a full break down, make sure you buy some bumpons from tapp plastics to use hold the panels before applying the silicone. Sounds like a great topic for a meeting or definatley thread worthy at the least. http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=309 DallasMAS was able to get a tour of Deep Sea Aquatics and watch the build process in person. Hope I was able to help with the information I have provided.
I got a pm asking what are the bump on used for. Let me try to describe them and the reasoning for using them, as they were explained to us during the tour. In smaller tanks or standard tanks like Aqueon or All-Glass Aquariums the silicone bond are made at a 90 degree. In a corner, the bead of silicone is only bonded on two sides. In larger aquariums, like custom tanks that usually require thicker panes of glass they use small plastic or silica disks that a sticky on both ends. They apply these on every corner. This will act as a spacer between the two panes. Then the gap is then filled with silicone. The main reason for the doing this is to increase the amount of surface area for the silicone to bond to the glass. This also lowers the chance of it leaking. So this provides four sides to bond vs. two to bond. I can take pictures of a Deep Sea Aquatics tank that shows these bumpons and also make diagrams to better illustrate but I am limited to an iPad at the moment.
Derek is right, breaking a tank down to pains of glass is not something to take lightly. I put together a 100 gallon sump for Fischer12 and it has done well over the years. I must say that make the sump was not the original intent when we were drilling the tank Not sure if Norman has quite gotten over it yet.
I was over it when you told me about it. Just can't resist the chance to remind you when it comes up.
That would be cool to see. It is a little confusing to understand what you mean by two sides and four sides.
If anyone decides to attempt this challange I have plenty of room in my shop now that all other projects have been completed. It can be done and would be a big tank very cheap for someone. But it will have to be a club effort as we will need several extra sets of hands to put it back together.
Well I said I wouldn't chance it just to end up doing it for someone else in the club. This tank came apart very easy and we have started to clean the glass. Jeff took the ends home with him so he could clean them and I have the bottom, front, and back panes in the shop for cleaning. We didn't get any pics of us tearing the tank apart but I figured I would show everyone what is left. Thanks to Phillip, Whitney, and Steven for the help getting the tank in the shop and taking the time to help disassemble the tank.
Good luck to all of you on this project. I was thinking about trying it myself. It just looked too tough of a task for one man. Keep us posted and I would be glad to help if you need it plus I could learn a little as well. I live in Bryant so shoot me a PM if you guys need any help.
It never hurts to have a few extra hands around on a project of this size I'll let you know when we plan to put it together. We have to order the bumpons first.
thanks guys for all the help. the bumpons are orderd and I am excited to get this big tank back together
