Sunshine Coast - 10ft 500G build

[sphelps]

A few comments on your seams

1. Silicone shrinks when it dries, so cracks and bubbles typically form with thick glass tanks due to the extra silicone in the seams. Some silicone brands shrink less than others and the effect is amplified if the edges are not machined flat and if spacers are used (more silicone = more shrinkage). Overall pretty normal and it's certainly not enough to cause a seam to fail.

2. To do large seams properly you should actually silicone panels together first and just let excess silicone be pushed out both sides. Once dry you cut out excess silicone inside and outside and let cure longer. Then you silicone your inside bead. Otherwise a good portion of that silicone in the seam will never cure. Its rare to see this done now a days, most builders won't bother but I've cut tanks apart finding uncured silicone in the seam before and I was also told this trick by people in the know.

3. Those steel "braces" are pointless unless you plan on welding them to cross bracing at top and bottom so all corners are connected. As it stands now they are just decorative trim covering your seams.