Re-enforcing with silicone

[dafine20]

Didn't see this in other threads so here it goes...


I tore down my sump and re-glued it with Acrylic sealer...Couldn't find weldon but I was told this stuff is fairly the same thing.

So I glued all my pieces back together but I did get bubbles. My biggest worry was the stability of the sump. I'm assuming the problem with silicone is that the bond loosens over time and allows water to slip past. To prevent pin hole leaks I might get. Can I seal all the corners with silicone?

If that's a yes, how long do I need to wait before I can put the sump back in action? I used a hair dryer to get a nice set on the silicone. The Acrylic glue set up in about 3 minutes. The guy at the plastics place said to give it ABOUT 2 hours or so. Everything seems solid!

Thanx

[The Aquarist]

I don't know if your sump is made from acrylic or glass, but silicone will not stay on the acrylic for very long and acrylic cements are no good for glass.

If your sump is acrylic and you glued it with an acrylic cement, there should be a good bond as long as surfaces were clean and flat and you didn't put excessive pressure on the joints. The most common acrylic cement is Weldon and I think Home Depot carries it. Do a search on their website or on Yahoo!. You could search RC also.

There are different numbers of Weld On. I believe the higher number = thicker Weld ON. The The thicker stuff (I think it is something like # 16) is used to fill spaces in joints and other imperfections. The thinner stuff (Maybe #4?) is used for the actual gluing of the smooth, clean joints and you should use a little pressure on the joints, but not much. For more detailed info, I know there are some pages on www.garf.org about tank building and they cover several types of tanks including acrylic.

If your sump tank is glass, silicone is the only way to go.

[dafine20]

it is an acrylic sump. Do you think the acrylic will be ok just as a pin hole leak preventative?

[The Aquarist]

In my experience, silicone may stay attached to the acrylic for months, but not securely. I personally would not trust it as a leak preventative for acrylic seams. I would hunt down Weld On in Home Depot, Lowes or on the internet and get the thick stuff for filling openings. If you haven't glued anything, I would get the thin Weld on for overall assembly. There is a specific way to apply it that you need to follow. For the thin Weld On, a syringe is used for application and just use a thin line. The instructions will explain it better than I can. The tank building pages at www.Garf.org were pretty detailed too if I remember correctly. You can also do a search on Reef Central for "gluing acrylic", "acrylic assembly", "working with acrylic" etc. to get some additional webpages with explanations.

[dafine20]

I apreciate the advice on the silicone. I think I can find the thicker Weldon. The others came in gallon jugs. I don't think I could use that much Weldon in my lifetime!

[The Aquarist]

WOW! That would make one serious aquarium!

[serpentine5]

www.tapplastics.com
You will find all the weld-on you need here. A tube of #16 cost me less than $10 after shipping.