# Aquarium trim removal



## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

I have a 40 gallon breeder I am converting to a conversion. I am removing the side(future top piece of glass) so I can get non tempered glass drilled for holes. 
Has anyone had any experience removing the black trim? Ideally id want to do it in one piece or minimal breakage. 
I have heard running a putty knife under the trim repeatedly and with patience may get it off. 
I have also heard using a heat gun, which I'm assuming heating the sides of the trim where the most silicone is will help. 

Surely someone on here has experience or knows a way to do this. 

However I am going to guess by lunch time I will have 100 views and zero responses. 

Thanks in advance.


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## jaybugg13 (Dec 9, 2013)

I've only taken the trim off of 10g tanks and I did simply run a blade under the trim on both sides of the tank. Still took some force to get it off but worked well enough. Depending on your tank brand the sides of the tank may not be tempered anyway. I believe Tetra 40 breeders have only a tempered bottom for example.


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## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

jaybugg13 said:


> I've only taken the trim off of 10g tanks and I did simply run a blade under the trim on both sides of the tank. Still took some force to get it off but worked well enough. Depending on your tank brand the sides of the tank may not be tempered anyway. I believe Tetra 40 breeders have only a tempered bottom for example.


Jaybugg, first off, thanks for the response bro. 
I wondered that too. It is a tetra I believe. Bought it from petco for the dollar gallon sale. There is a sticker on the bottom that says tempered do not drill glass. I thought maybe it was just the bottom. Do you know of any way I could find out if it's tempered before I try to rip it out. Thanks again man.


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## Reef_Haven (Jan 19, 2011)

Mohlerbear said:


> Jaybugg, first off, thanks for the response bro.
> I wondered that too. It is a tetra I believe. Bought it from petco for the dollar gallon sale. There is a sticker on the bottom that says tempered do not drill glass. I thought maybe it was just the bottom. Do you know of any way I could find out if it's tempered before I try to rip it out. Thanks again man.


The 40B is only tempered on the bottom.

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/77144-petco-1-per-gal-tank-sale-6.html#post1860026


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## jaybugg13 (Dec 9, 2013)

I have never tried it but there are a few reefing sites that have posts claiming that 3d glasses (the newer kind from movie theaters) will allow you to "see" a temper pattern on tempered glass. That would be the only other test I can think of. If you can find the brand you could always just contact the manufacturer to be 100%, but if you are de-rimming anyway and it breaks, you can just replace the side as you originally intended.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Pulling the trim off a tank is not always possible, and you won't know until you try. The problem is that the trim is not just siliconed around the outside edge. The trim is NOT just an "L" profile. It is a full "U" profile, or a full channel. The channel is filled with silicone, and it is pressed into place. So depending on how much silicone that particular assembler used on that particular tank, it is sometimes virtually impossible to remove. You can find that even after completely slicing through the silicone, both inside and outside, it can still be impossible to remove because of remaining silicone on the TOP EDGE of the glass. It is impossible to get a blade in there. 
Unfortunately, the last 40 breeder I worked on, was very firmly attached. That is when I came up with a plan allowing a Euro conversion without removing the trim. Matt and I first tried it here http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/pa...w-40breeder-vert-euro-sherman-conversion.html Take note of how the conversion is siliconed directly to glass, rather than relying on a silicone to plastic bond which is prone to fail.
I have also used the same conversion on a 40 breeder horizontal, turned on it's side, as a plant only tank.

If you still decide that pulling the trim is something you wish to try, I have some tips for you there, too. My best tip is modifying your putty knife into a "glazier's slide", which is a completely made up name for my completely custom tool. I don't know how any glazier works without one. As you slide a normal putty knife between the glass and trim (be it plastic viv trim, or any type of window trim), the corner of the tool eventually goes all the way through the bond and it's corner hits the stopping point. It tends to dig in and stop, rather than slide smoothly along between the glass and the trim. You need to remove the corners, rounding the blade, to make one of my glazier's slides. Like this http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/75674-cracked-viv-repair.html#post668527 
If they have used too much silicone, it still won't help much.

The vast majority of tempered tanks are only tempered on the bottom. Tempering tends to distort glass, making for a poor viewing surface. Go stand a couple inches away from your patio door, which should be tempered. Look _through_ the glass, not _at_ it, at about a 45 degree angle (or more) to either side. Now move your head side to side and watch all the freaky distortions you see from your tempered glass. That is unacceptable for the viewing surface of fish tanks and vivariums. It is generally cheaper to use a thicker, annealed pane, than to use a higher quality, non-distorted, tempered glass. "Annealed" simply means "normal" glass.


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

The side panels of the 40 Breeder are not tempered.

Just leave the tank in one piece and drill right through the side.


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## Pubfiction (Feb 3, 2013)

How to tell if glass is tempered.


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## BlueDacnis1 (Jan 17, 2012)

All you need to do is look at the glass with a pair of polarized sun glasses and you will see if it is tempered or not, the tempered glass will show a circular pattern on it. if you want to check the difference just look at any automobile front or back glass, like the windshield! That 40 breeder is not tempered on the 4 side walls!
If you must remove the frame use a single edged razor blade around the inside seam,working it up into the silicone bead until you think it might be against the inside top of the trim, set the tank on the panel you are working on and take your time going completely around the entire rim then use the putty knife around the outside edges you can also sharpen one of the edges of the putty knife, once you have done that set the tank upright and grab the top trim in the middle of one of the long sides and role it towards the center of the tank like rolling up a news paper, it will normally pull lose from the top edges that way then just work your way around the top slowly. if you can get the trim up far enough then you can work the putty knife around the trim to remove it. I have remove dozen of trims from many different manufacturers this way!

Regards Jerry


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## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

Thank you for all the awesome information. Very helpful.


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