Sunshine Coast - 10ft 500G build

[thebrinc]

Major breakthrough! Some friends came over from out of town unexpectedly and I put them to work











We got the panels in place and the new seams glued. I used 11 tubes(as opposed to the previous attempt's 6) to lay the main seams so now I'm out of silicone again. lol. Good news is this time the seams look absolutely amazing! No bubbles and good spacing throughout as far as I can tell. Thing of beauty! I'll only be able to inspect the rear seam once I've taken the jigs off though... but it looks really good so far.

So happy it worked this time!! Woohoooo

I'll give the main seams a week to dry and then add the bracing, give it another week and then we have to lift this sucker up to get the foam underneath.

In the meantime I've been stocking up on plumbing supplies and have the Reeflo gold dusted off that I bought a couple months ago in preparation. One more box should be shipped by later this week with some valves and couplings.

[mihaivapler]

Looks good

[thebrinc]

Hey Guys... so 3 days into my perfect silicone seams curing, still clamped, these bubbles / tears started forming in the center of the seams.
Anyone seen this before? Almost lost control of my bowels when I saw this last night and have been up googling ever since to no avail.



The darker portion in the photo is the structural seam, then the corner bead to the left and the blue painters tape...

Any chance that this is normal? That the black silicone does it too but you just can't see it?
I'm close to the end of my rope here

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by thebrinc

Hey Guys... so 3 days into my perfect silicone seams curing, still clamped, these bubbles / tears started forming in the center of the seams.
Anyone seen this before? Almost lost control of my bowels when I saw this last night and have been up googling ever since to no avail.



The darker portion in the photo is the structural seam, then the corner bead to the left and the blue painters tape...

Any chance that this is normal? That the black silicone does it too but you just can't see it?
I'm close to the end of my rope here

Could it be slight imperfections in the glass edge that is being filled in by the bubbles? I am no expert at tank building, but just a thought.

There are vendors (ie Dave at Concept) that are experts on this forum, and would be nice to hear from them.

[davej]

Is it possible that a change in barometric pressure has allowed a minute air bubble to expand?
As weather here has worsened barometric pressure usually drops.
No experience at all in this matter just trying to think outside the box.

[Ram3500]

I have some bubbles like this on my Concept built tank. I have never been happy with them but she hasn't sprung a leak yet.
Very nice build by the way

[thebrinc]

Thanks for the ideas guys!

I was just about ready to hurl myself off the roof when I had an idea!!

What if I just put steel vertical braces around the seams of the tank?? The top and bottom horizontal seams are well braced, it's just the vertical ones that worry me. To hell with the whole clean look I was going for... On a 10 foot span it wouldn't really detract from the view panels too much and that way I know it's not going to explode & drown the cats.

Thanks for the positive words Ram 3500! How long have you had the tank & what dimensions?

I would love to just make piece with the bubbles but there are multiple ones per seam and some are over 2 inches long. All of them in the middle (vertically) of the seams though.

[spit.fire]

Originally Posted by Ram3500

I have some bubbles like this on my Concept built tank. I have never been happy with them but she hasn't sprung a leak yet.
Very nice build by the way

pretty sure its a clear silicone thing, any custom tank ive seen with clear silicone has bubbles like that

[mihaivapler]

Originally Posted by thebrinc

Hey Guys... so 3 days into my perfect silicone seams curing, still clamped, these bubbles / tears started forming in the center of the seams.
Anyone seen this before? Almost lost control of my bowels when I saw this last night and have been up googling ever since to no avail.



The darker portion in the photo is the structural seam, then the corner bead to the left and the blue painters tape...

Any chance that this is normal? That the black silicone does it too but you just can't see it?
I'm close to the end of my rope here

If is not between the glass panels(the structural part) the you can cut out that portion and clean very well and reapply the silicon. It might be even from the fast reaction of the silicon, you sad the silicon start to skin in few minutes..

[thebrinc]

Unfortunately the bubbles / cracks happened in the structural portions... in the worst one (photo) I'd say about 50% of the 1/2" structural part is compromised, left to right.

I'm going to do the steel bracing idea, very happy with the thought of not having to strip these panels down again