75 gallon tank

Since my last post an unexpected snow and ice storm and much colder than normal temps have hit western Washington. Along with the snow and ice came some unexpected expenditures, power failures, missed work, etc. Isn't that always the way.

Anyway, I finally decided to put the tank in the spare bedroom to replace the seams rather than wating on the temperature to rise above 40 so I could do it in the garage. I closed the door and put a fan in the window while I worked. I used All Glass Aquarium sealant purchased from my LFS. The LFS has a new owner and he was very helpful with plenty of advice on replacing the seals. He even had a couple of 75 gallon display tanks in the store which he had replaced the seams on using the same sealant. The smell wasn't bad and I never felt dizzy or light headed, so maybe I didn't kill too many brain cells. In the 70 degree room the silicone skinned much quicker than I was expecting.

Unfortunately, I either got too much silicone down or didn't place the tape far enough away from the glass joint because when I pulled the tape out the nice smooth edges curled up. I tried to resmooth one joint but it became quickly apparent that the silicone was already starting to skin over. There's a good 1/4 inch bead of silicone in the seam so I'm hopeful it's only a cosmetic defect. Still debating on whether to cut out the new silicone and start over. My wife says leave it alone but I don't know. I already pulled the silicone out of a tank once because it was looking white rather than the clearish/blue color of new silicone. However, I didn't cut the silicone out purely for cosmetic reasons, I pulled it out proactively to try to avoid a busted seam. Still, even though I suspect the curled edges are just cosmetic and don't actually effect the joint's integrity or seal, every time I look in the tank I'll notice those seams.

I'll give the silicone a couple of days to dry and may water test it again this weekend. I'll probably make up my mind if I want to redo the seams again this weekend as well. Hopefully I can borrow a friends pickup this weekend and get the materials for the stand and get that built this weekend also.