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The agony has become too much. Im scrappiny my palaudarium after 8-9 days of constant sealing and resealing the leaks on the land portion of the tank since its a half and half tank. The land portion is made out of plexiglass and was the main attraction of the tank.

I just have no hope left in this project. Im not expecting anything and its just becoming too much of an exspense. Unless someone on here can tell how to make this project im done. Within this next week i will scrap all of what ive done and just start again with a fresh idea. The only problem is that I ruined a great 20 gallon aquarium.

Also because i have failed , how can you get silicone off of glass w/ out scratching it ?

If you have any ideas please let me know or if you know where i can buy a gallon of silicone to just dump in to seal my area.

A razor will get the silicone off....


Do you have pictures? We may be able to help with a visual

And remember that's not the only way to do a paludarium! You could just pile some rocks in the back or on one side, and ta-da! A place for a waterfall, a place for bog plants, a general land-bit. Not enough for amphibians I'd say but it could be very nice indeed for the fish in it.

-Molly
Visit shelldwellers.com!

But my idea was great until recently.

every day is a new deception life forces us to take direction hate to say it but sometimes u do need to jsut cut ur losses
but then u gotta live with that decision

best to jsut sit back n rethink it n try again
chances r ull succeed

Heres some visuals:

http://www.geocities.com/mcfat_we_be/mcfat88.html

CAN I PLEASE GET SOME MORE RESPONSES ON HERE!!!

I'm editing this post as I didn't see your link for the photos, I apologize for that. I think possible the problem could be partially resolved by using glass sheets instead of the plexiglass for dividers. The plexiglass has a tendency to flex and bend which could be breaking your silicone seals. Also how long are you allowing the silicone to dry before checking with water. You should wait a minimum of 24 hours to allow to set up properly. I will study the photos more and if I come up with any other suggestions will post.

Last edited by OldTimer at 24-Mar-2005 15:31

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Im allowing at least 24 hours and I am filling the plexiglass up with stones to prevent some bending. The plexiglass is my only option do to money

You may want to not place the stones in to hold in place as they will cause an uneven amount of pressure on the plexi-glass thus causing it to shift abd even slightly will break the seals if not dry.

If you're not totally frustrated yet (I know you want to give up, but that's really not the answer) try using masking tape on one side to hold in place securely and then run a bead of silicone on the opposite side. Allow this to dry for the required 24 hours then do the same on the other side. This may help.

Also I don't know where you are purchasing your silicone, but if just buying the small tubes at the local lfs it will be costly. You can get large caulking size tubes at your local home supply or hardware store for under $5 each and theat should be more than enough to complete this and several other projects. Just make sure that you get the GE Silicone I as the Silicone II contains mold inhibitors that you don't want in your tank.

One other thing, if you decide to give it another try, clean as much as you can of the silicone off that you have already used.

Last edited by OldTimer at 24-Mar-2005 15:41

Last edited by OldTimer at 24-Mar-2005 15:49

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Ive already made 3 trips to lowes for the silicone because i learned how costly those little tubes can be.

One other thing after looking at your photos more closely, it appears that you have already glued gravel to one side of the plexi-glass? If this is the case, how are your sealing from that side? It would be very difficult to try and seal that edge and do so cleanly with all the crevices and indents. That may be one of your biggest problems.

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Ive been thinking to and it maybe. If I were to take it off, which im willing to do, what could i put on there for a background on the plexiglass ?

You could still put it on, just after you get the dividers properly sealed/:'

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

the problem is the stones wont stick since itd b upright.or couldnt i just sit the aquarium on its back

Ive started removing some of the old silicone and im still contimplating on stick w/ the same idea or revamping it all.