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Replacing back of 55 gallon?

692 views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  flight50 
#1 ·
I got a 55 gallon tank for free. It held water, wasn't too scratched up. I emptied it and then fast foward a week and now I have a messed up back panel of the tank... I'll get some pictures so you can see what I mean tomorrow.

I'd like to fully replace it and need to know how to go about doing this.

How do I get the trim off? How much do you think a 4 by 2 foot piece of glass will cost? Then how do I get the new one back on? And should I reseal the whole tank to avoid any weak areas?

I'd love some help. I don't want to throw this one out.
 
#4 ·
Depends on the shop, but I would expect to pay more than $100 bucks for sure for 3/8-1/2" thick piece of glass. The trim is not that bad to take off. Some tanks are more difficult than others. You will need a heavy duty long bladed utility knife to cut the caulk underneath the outside of the trim. You may want to make 2-3 passes to be sure you get separation. If you can, do the same for the inside of the tank. Do this all the way around. A shortcut I have used is hacksaw portions of the trim or use a dremel to cut the trim into smaller sections and pry the trim off from the corners. Once you get one or two edges separated, the rest comes off easier for you now have a point of leverage to pull from. The same can be done for the bottom trim.

Sometimes separating the panes can be difficult. The tighter they are siliconed, the tougher it will be. Use a razor blade and cut the silicone in the seams. Remove as much silicone from the corners as you can before you attempt to jam the blade between panes of glass. Using leather gloves and a bare box cutter blade gave me the best results. Use at your own risk for it can be unsafe and tedious at the same time. Some have used thin guitar string to slice between the panes. I ordered the thinnest I could and it didn't help much. The string kept breaking so I turned to the box cutters and it does the trick for me. Once you get one pane off, the rest is easy. In your case, you only need to remove one. I had to do this on my custom 5ft 90g. I used the same method I just described to repair and reseal a modified pane of glass that I mode to incorporate an internal/external bean animal overflow. Worked out great.
 
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