Taking apart an aquarium....anybody know how?

[studmaster]

I've got a 10 gal that is broken on one side, I was going to use the other side to fit on top of another aquarium. I've used a razor to cut the silicon so I could get the top and bottom plastic molding off, but now I'm having a hard time seperating the glass panels. I tried using the razor blade and cutting along the silicon, but the glass seems suck. Does anyone know if they glue the glass panels together, and if so is there any way to seperate them?

Thanks in advance.

 

[BillyZ]

there could quite likely be more silicon between the panes. You can try use a thin piece of wire (piano wire or a guitar string) and run that between the panes of glass.

Just be careful that the pane of glass doesn't fall over and break/cut you while you're doing it.

 

[studmaster]

Thanks Billyz.....there must be some sort of glue/silicon in between the panes as well because I tried using some pressure in order to get it off and it's still on there pretty good. Since I don't have any piano wire, I might try some dental floss.....finally I'll get some good use out of it

I also have some chemical silicon remover that I bought a long time ago and I might give that a try if the floss doesn't work. It's called Silicon-Be-Gone.....I think I tried it a few years ago, but it didn't work very well.

edit:

well I was naive to think dental floss was strong enough, but fishing line was just sitting in my toolbox and I sawed through the first side in in about 2 minutes and the other side took about 5 min.

Thanks Billyz for putting me on the right path!

 

[BillyZ]

Glad it worked out for you.

If you tried using that silicon remover be sure the glass is thoroughly cleaned before you use it. I don't think you'd want any residue from that to get into one of your tanks.

 

[studmaster]

Well the fishing string worked for the one side, but not that well for the rest of the tank. It kept getting cut buy sharp areas of the glass. I ended up putting the rest of the tank in a cardboard box, covering it in newspaper and smashing out the one side that was broken.

Some sort of metal wire, like BillyZ suggest would be better, if it was thin enough.

I'm not sure what kind of chemical is in the silicon remover/dissolver, but it says that you have to cover your hands and never get it on your skin, so I'm assuming that wouldn't be that great for your fish.