The Planted Tank Forum - View Single Post

wendle · 03-29-2006, 01:57 AM

hi scolley, your tank came up really nice, but i have to say you did quite a few things to make it a lot harder for yourself than it needed to be

i have built a lot of big aquariums and done a lot of commercial glazing and showcase work, so i would like to offer a few tip to the people reading this. but i don't want to critisize your work as your end product turned out great.

the first thing i noticed is that you put the bottom of the tank on the bottom, under the front/back and ends. the easiest way to build the tank is to put the bottom inside the front, back and ends. that way you can lay out all your panes, run the silicon onto the face of the joint surfaces, and then just stand them up.
also, you aren't doing yourself any favours by clamping the whole thing up tight. the strongest way to produce a silcon seam is to have a 1 to1.5mm gap between the glass surfaces, the gives the join flexibility without having to worry about tearing a thin membrane of silicone away from the glass.
i lay the panes out, apply the bead of silicon to the joint surfaces, stand up one end and one face and push them together with hand pressure (big tanks take two or three people to stand these first two panes up) then stand up the other end and the last face, just squeeze the whole lot lightly together with hand pressure, making there is no less than 1mm of silicon seam at the visible joints. obviously you can't see the seams along the bottom, but if your cutting is accurate, this won't be a problem. i then wet my finger and run it around the bottom joints only to smooth in the squeeze-out. then walk away from the tank and don't touch it for a week. the vertical seems don't need to have the squeeze-out flattened out. it can just be sliced off with a razor blade when it has cured.

i don't mask ANYTHING up, and this is why: assembling the tank as per above means you shouldn't have any excess silicon anywhere, the time between applying the silicon and walking away from the tank is only a couple of minutes. the only time you should get any silicon on your hands if when you run your finger around the bottom, and as soon as you do that you should be walking away from the tank and forgetting about it.

for a tank with lids and braces across the top, i just glue a long rib to the front and back of the tank a day before i assemble the tank. after the tank has cured for a couple days i will then glue the braces across it.

a flat surface is very important for assembly, there is no problem with doing it on the ground with this method as you'll only be kneeling down for a few minutes and then it will be all over, but it has to be flat. thick formwork ply or thick MDF/chipboard work well, as long as they are nice, new, flat sheets.
i put newspaper down under the bottom so the tank doesn't end up glued to the work surface, you can then just cut the paper away when the glue has dried.

cliff notes: fit the base inside the faces, no clamps, no messy fingers/tools, no worries!

03-29-2006, 01:57 AM	#22 (permalink)
wendle Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Australia Posts: 62	hi scolley, your tank came up really nice, but i have to say you did quite a few things to make it a lot harder for yourself than it needed to be i have built a lot of big aquariums and done a lot of commercial glazing and showcase work, so i would like to offer a few tip to the people reading this. but i don't want to critisize your work as your end product turned out great. the first thing i noticed is that you put the bottom of the tank on the bottom, under the front/back and ends. the easiest way to build the tank is to put the bottom inside the front, back and ends. that way you can lay out all your panes, run the silicon onto the face of the joint surfaces, and then just stand them up. also, you aren't doing yourself any favours by clamping the whole thing up tight. the strongest way to produce a silcon seam is to have a 1 to1.5mm gap between the glass surfaces, the gives the join flexibility without having to worry about tearing a thin membrane of silicone away from the glass. i lay the panes out, apply the bead of silicon to the joint surfaces, stand up one end and one face and push them together with hand pressure (big tanks take two or three people to stand these first two panes up) then stand up the other end and the last face, just squeeze the whole lot lightly together with hand pressure, making there is no less than 1mm of silicon seam at the visible joints. obviously you can't see the seams along the bottom, but if your cutting is accurate, this won't be a problem. i then wet my finger and run it around the bottom joints only to smooth in the squeeze-out. then walk away from the tank and don't touch it for a week. the vertical seems don't need to have the squeeze-out flattened out. it can just be sliced off with a razor blade when it has cured. i don't mask ANYTHING up, and this is why: assembling the tank as per above means you shouldn't have any excess silicon anywhere, the time between applying the silicon and walking away from the tank is only a couple of minutes. the only time you should get any silicon on your hands if when you run your finger around the bottom, and as soon as you do that you should be walking away from the tank and forgetting about it. for a tank with lids and braces across the top, i just glue a long rib to the front and back of the tank a day before i assemble the tank. after the tank has cured for a couple days i will then glue the braces across it. a flat surface is very important for assembly, there is no problem with doing it on the ground with this method as you'll only be kneeling down for a few minutes and then it will be all over, but it has to be flat. thick formwork ply or thick MDF/chipboard work well, as long as they are nice, new, flat sheets. i put newspaper down under the bottom so the tank doesn't end up glued to the work surface, you can then just cut the paper away when the glue has dried. cliff notes: fit the base inside the faces, no clamps, no messy fingers/tools, no worries!