Mr. Dazzle wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 10:42 am
Hydrofluoric acid dissolves bone more readily than skin, it'll also permeate flesh.
Think about the implications of that
Fun fact - the combustion of modern fluoropolymers (as found in seals, hoses etc) can generate hydrofluoric acid. So if your bike or car catches fire do not breath in the fumes!
2 things....the Atomic Energy place I worked at had tanks of the stuff big enough for blokes to wade about in (in rubber suits and with breathing apparatus, obvs). I was aware of an incident where one guys suit leaked.
I did some liquid chromatography on the condensate from condensing boilers to try and find out why it was/is acidic. This involved squirting refrigerant gas (fluoro-chloro carbons) into a test house kitchen (aerosol propellant gases were similar stuff). The condensate went black as it attacked the boiler heat exchanger and lo! in the condensate....hooge peaks of F and Cl ions. Ah...that'll explain the pH!
Probably best not to apply yer Lynx aerosol in the kitchen.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
Count Steer wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 11:23 am
2 things....the Atomic Energy place I worked at had tanks of the stuff big enough for blokes to wade about in (in rubber suits and with breathing apparatus, obvs). I was aware of an incident where one guys suit leaked.
I did some liquid chromatography on the condensate from condensing boilers to try and find out why it was/is acidic. This involved squirting refrigerant gas (fluoro-chloro carbons) into a test house kitchen (aerosol propellant gases were similar stuff). The condensate went black as it attacked the boiler heat exchanger and lo! in the condensate....hooge peaks of F and Cl ions. Ah...that'll explain the pH!
Probably best not to apply yer Lynx aerosol in the kitchen.
I'm guessing this was in the 80s?
There was this whole thing about chlorine and fluorine in aerosols, surprised it wasn't on the news more
Count Steer wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 11:23 am
2 things....the Atomic Energy place I worked at had tanks of the stuff big enough for blokes to wade about in (in rubber suits and with breathing apparatus, obvs). I was aware of an incident where one guys suit leaked.
I did some liquid chromatography on the condensate from condensing boilers to try and find out why it was/is acidic. This involved squirting refrigerant gas (fluoro-chloro carbons) into a test house kitchen (aerosol propellant gases were similar stuff). The condensate went black as it attacked the boiler heat exchanger and lo! in the condensate....hooge peaks of F and Cl ions. Ah...that'll explain the pH!
Probably best not to apply yer Lynx aerosol in the kitchen.
I'm guessing this was in the 80s?
There was this whole thing about chlorine and fluorine in aerosols, surprised it wasn't on the news more
Yup. It kicked off a bit of a stir (in-house only - they kept the lid on it) about domestic air quality and kitchen cleaning materials. There was even concern that gas hobs, being un-flued might get banned. The research station bods didn't believe my results and claimed the fluorine peak was actually small aliphatics.....at first.
I've probably told the story about the brass door furniture company place that used lots of solvents - where I used a handbrush to sweep out the remains of the heat exchanger in their commercial gas fired unit. They had good extraction of the cleaning/degreasing solvent vapour but, as ever, all the extracts did was push it through the wall rather than carry it some distance away. Unfortunately buildings have doors and windows....
Used to make me laugh when fume cupboards were extracted like that...next to a window. The missus got irradiated by crap from a fume cupboard that vented through the wall on the floor below her lab (still got the incident report somewhere...shouldn't have it but thought it wise to snaffle a copy in case anything untoward happened years later).
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
Mr. Dazzle wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 10:42 am
Fun fact - the combustion of modern fluoropolymers (as found in seals, hoses etc) can generate hydrofluoric acid. So if your bike or car catches fire do not breath in the fumes!
I've made, rebuilt and resealed aquariums in the past and never had this problem. Razor blade to remove old silicone, wipe over with acetone and wash with warm soapy water; dry well. I'd simply try a different silicone.
Count Steer wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 7:53 am
I was wondering if you could somehow paint over the area where the silicone needs to seal (that may be contaminated with old silicone).
But then the silicone would basically only be bonding two layers of paint. There's no guarantee that the layer paint will hold against the pressure of the water. And there can be considerable pressure. My last aquarium was 1.5 metres long and without a couple of cross pieces of glass across the top, would bow out by a few millimetres. That adds strain to the corner joints and might make any cover not fit properly (I never had a cover on my tanks so no problem for me).
What about tar cleaners etc ( that is what I was recommended by a supplier to remove silicon residues)
I would also be concerned about what any of these cleaners, or their residues, might do to the fish
The little scrotes that vandalise trains realised the HF acid would nicely etch the train windows for their tags, a couple of track workers picked up the paint pens they'd used to apply the stuff after they'd dumped them trackside and suffered some nasty injuries. There was a national brief about not picking the things up.
"Of all the stories you told me, which ones were true and which ones weren't?"
"My dear Doctor, they're all true."
"Even the lies?"
"Especially the lies."
Try CT1 good shit as the sealer we use it at work.
Sticks like the brown stuff on a blanket
Also.
CT1 with its unique hybrid polymer formulation has no solvents and therefore will not harm any fish that nibble on the sealant, which is often the case. Many aquarium repair and installers use CT1 and swimming pool maintenance
All the suggestions above make perfect sense but I was wondering why nobody else seems to have this problem resealing aquariums. Then I found a post that mentioned resealing large aquariums and a bracing problem smaller ones don't have, he said he once resealed an aquarium five times before he worked it out.
Silicone on top of contaminated glass isn't great but it's ok for most aquariums, when the sides get longer the glass bows more in the middle and while the silicone can hold the water in there's not enough grip to hold the pressure and over time it gives way. This makes a lot of sense as mine was fine for a few hours after each attempt and then just let go in the middle.
He suggested using 1" wide 1/4" glass strips to stiffen the side panels, this would work but I don't have any and can'tpick them up easily in a DIY store.
Are there any suggestions of another material I can get easily that's maybe not as fragile but is as stiff and can be stuck with silicone?
I'm thinking maybe of a 1/2" square rod of some sort of plastic but something stiffer would probably be better.
I can't help with a solution but are aquariums ever made with wood type joints? Nothing as complex as a dovetail but even setting the vertical panel into a shallow groove in the base panel would help take the strain off?
Mussels wrote: ↑Sat Feb 10, 2024 10:58 am
I'm thinking maybe of a 1/2" square rod of some sort of plastic but something stiffer would probably be better.
Mussels wrote: ↑Sat Feb 10, 2024 10:58 am
He suggested using 1" wide 1/4" glass strips to stiffen the side panels, this would work but I don't have any and can'tpick them up easily in a DIY store.
I've still got a couple of pieces of glass in my 'workshop' from when I sorted my big tank, 455 x 60 x 8 (mm). I use them as flat surfaces for sharpening my chisels.
You don't need a DIY store, you need a glazier. I found a glazier in Marmaris (there's no way there'd be one in the village) and asked him to cut me some pieces. They were basically offcuts that he just trimmed to size. They were pennies.
Yambo wrote: ↑Wed Feb 14, 2024 8:02 am
I've still got a couple of pieces of glass in my 'workshop' from when I sorted my big tank, 455 x 60 x 8 (mm). I use them as flat surfaces for sharpening my chisels.
Pedants would argue that even float glass* isn’t perfectly flat
*as it naturally cools to the same arc as the surface of the planet
Update on this, I finally got it to hold water for more than a couple of days.
I got four 3' strips of glass from my local glazier, a bit pricey at £20 I thought but needs must and all that. While I was waiting for the weather to improve they fell over and I had eight 18" strips.
I did the tank as before with the extra 2 layers of glass at the middle bottom of the 2 long edges and it worked perfectly, it has been full of water for a fortnight now and all the fish are back where they should be.
