Adding silicon to baffles... question!

How the heck do you get silicon onto the inside of the baffles that are on both sides of the center baffle (that's off the bottom)??!!! Do you use some kind of extension?

I'm talking about the bubble trap area. | | | I did the center baffle first and have started to do the two on either side. The only part that's lacking silicon is the part that faces the inside baffle. I think ya'll know what I mean!

 

i know exactly what you mean..i had this same problem..resulted in baffle failture twice lol as of right now my baffle closest to the return is being held up by 2 pvc pipes wedged between it and the side of the tank

 

Yup its a pita but when I did mine I put a bead of silicone on the baffle first then took a long stick with a piece of cardboard cut into a small v shape and used that it spread it. I used allot of silicone so it wouldn't come lose. Hope that makes sense.

 

i just left mine.. and made sure it was sealed nicely before by testing it.... 6 months later no problem

 

I kind of did what Rhorton did, just use a long stick or piece of cardboard to spread it around, use a lot.

 

I put it on the glass first along the line I had made with a sharpie and slid the baffle up to it, then sealed the outside. I did make a big bead first, then smoothed it out with a long wooden dowel rod.

 

I placed the baffles inside the tank and wedged them snugly with some folded paper so they stayed in place. Then take a Sharpie and mark the locations on the outside of the glass. Now install the center raised bafle and silicone it on both sides of the acrylic. Let it dry. Next run a bead down the inside of the line one each side of one baffle and stick it in place then silicone the outside and repeat for the last one. Mine have stayed put for 6 years now like that.

 

I used a long tube. I think it was 1/4" or something like that. I obviously couldn't smooth it out to make it look nice, but it worked.

 

Old thread I know, but since were on topic, i'm gonna ask this.

i pasted my baffles in my tank already, but obviously the insides have no glue on the sides of the baffles because i couldn't reach my hand in there. So, now that the baffles are dry already, should i go ahead and run the silicone on the insides of the bubble trap using the stick/cardboard idea or don't worry about it?

Initially, what I did was measure where my baffles will be in the glass tank, then silicone all three sides of each baffle and insert it into place. Since I can reach the outside of each baffle, I added silicone down the external side of each baffle.

 

anyone? If i do a leak test and it passes, is it safe to say that the baffles will be fine?