Advice please on replacing glass panel in aquarium

[rastoma]

Someone gave me a 55 gallon glass aquarium. One end has cracked glass. I'm confident that I can remove that panel and install a replacement.

What I am wondering is if I should disassemble all the glass panels and use new silicone.

I don't know how old the tank is. It had been sitting out for at least 6 months maybe longer under a covered carport. The silicone is pretty stained and aged looking so figured it would be good to replace silicone on all the edges.

Since I have to remove at least the top or bottom frame to replace the end glass, should I separate the other 3 pieces or would you just leave the other pieces attached and remove/replace the silicone around the edges?

 

[garyfla]

Hi
Probably your best bet is to completely disassemble and replace all the silicone. . Imagine getting it back together and find it leaks in another place ?? lol I was going to repair a 150 but they wanted 150 bucks for the replacement glass not to mention all the new silicone .!! Check on the cost of the glass before you start and be sure to get the glass in the correct thickness. I often find I can get another tank for comparable price to repair. 55 would probably be worthwhile but check the cost before you start!! good luck gary

 

[Bushkill]

From the sound of it, I would tear it down and re-build it too. If you go that route, make sure your glass shop knows just how precise the cut has to be since it fits between the two bigger panels. Now from a practical standpoint, you'll need two tubes of true silicone (Don't use the GE "Sealants" for this), the cost of the glass, and trips to the glass shop. I'll venture a total of $40 at $4 gallon for regular. I won't even consider the 8 hours or so you'll have to invest to get all the old silicone off, tape off the clean panels and apply the silicone. It gets worse when you consider it's not a one man job and you'll need a case of beer and BBQ material for the "hired hands".

So take a deep breath and think about all those factors and decide if you're not better off just waiting for the Petco $1 per gallon sale.

Seriously though, tear-down and re-builds are usually reserved for the really big (180G+) tanks that are just more expensive to buy in the first place. Tanks get exponentially more expensive because of the glass thickness. It gets more expensive and also more expensive to transport.

 

[rastoma]

Hmmm.. good things to think about. Thank you both for the info.

There is a glass shop just a few minutes from me. I was thinking if I was take apart all the panels, I could take the good piece on the other end to make sure it's exact.

I have never attempted anything like this before but was hoping that since it was the end glass (don't have measurements in front of me), with it being smaller that it wouldn't cost too much for the glass.

But a $1/gallon sale at Petco? I would wait for sure and not worry about it. I've never heard of that but I haven't had a tank in years. Is this something they do every year? Is there a certain month or quarter they typically do that? Or just random?

 

[GraphicGr8s]

They run it about every quarter it seems