help please! need to repair tank

[Alex55]

Hello guys my i came home today to my 150g tank that ive been waiting to set up and it had a huge crack on the bottom glass. How can i repair this? Is there any shops in sd that do this kind of glass repair on tanks? Please point me in the right direction. Ive been working 12hr days 7 days a week and when i finally get off early to set it up i find this.. very discouraging but im hoping theres a solution. Thank you very much

[maze531]

I've never done this but I've seen tanks were they cut a new piece of glass that fits perfect in the bottom set it on top of the cracked one and seal it up.


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[FDdragon]

Wow. Ive never ran into this but i would imagine a new bottom piece. Depends on price, might be better off buying a new tank.

I have no idea the price of repairs but good luck.

[unbereefable]

Tank is toast. Unless it's a crazy custom tank, starfire, diamond edges, starfire euro bracing, stuff line that. If it's a regular plain 150, buying new will be better. Please do not repair by putting a new piece on top. Think about it like this, if the foundation on your home is cracked, you don't add more cement on top to fix it. The cracked part needs to be cut out and replaced.

[maze531]

Good call like I said I've only seen a tank like that before it was huge though but that would almost seem worse.


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[Alex55]

I have no idea the brand, i bought it second hand. Its reef ready and has a black background with center over flow and black silicone if that helps. I dont really wanna give up on it. Might try to repair it myself if there are no shops i can take it too

[Bogg]

You seriously need to re think of the flood damage you may cause also

[Alex55]

Yea looks like this may just be converted to a terrarium. I would like to find another 150g 5ft long if anyone knows where to find one. I dont wanna let the stand goto waste

[acbaldwin]

Sucks, but the right choice. PM Mantis, he might still have his 150.

[unbereefable]

This is the best thing to do. Mantis did have a 150 with a nice tall stand for sale. Don't know if he still has it. Pm him.

[dannyboy760]

Type in fix cracked aquarium on YouTube. I think the guys name is Joey he explains how to fix. If it were a side peices there is no fix besides panel replacement.

[RussM]

Layering in a another bottom panel in a tank that sized is not a good option. If you don't know why it cracked, it could have been due to stress from heat or from not sitting evenly, or both; in either case, the side seams may be weakened as well.

The only proper way to repair it to tear the tank down entirely, clean every last trace of silicon off (not fun), and rebuild it. The time & effort involved if you do it yourself or labor costs if you have someone else do it are probably not worth it. I agree with the "look for a new tank" concept.

[unbereefable]

No offense to Dannboy, but that video is some of the worst advice I've ever heard/seen. a simple patch like that may work for 30 gal or less, but not for a bigger tank. It's pretty well known that you NEVER put foam under a rimmed tank. What's dude say, "put foam under a rimmed tank." The dude also makes no mention of a tank size this "fix" would be appropriate for. With the patch you pretty much convert the tank to a rimless tank. Meaning the entire bottom pane of glass makes contact with the stand, or in this case, foam. No biggie for a small tank. But on a larger tank, that would mean the bottom pane would need to be eurobraced to do away with the trim. This is also not mentioned in his vid. "JOEY" should make mention of an appropriate tank size this could work for. It looks like the tank they're fixing is 30gal. And not to be mean, but there's plenty of used tanks to be bought off CL. Who goes thru the trouble of fixing a cracked 30?!

[DaveMorris]

While I agree with 99.9% of the "replace the tank" advice, I do differ in my opinion of using foam under a rimmed tank. I did that on my 300g for several years. It was custom made for me by Leemar and it was built as a rimmed tank. I asked if I could put it on foam and the guy that built it said it didn't matter. I never had a problem.

[unbereefable]

Foam not thick enough to touch the bottom of the glass is a different story. If the foam is crazy thick and compresses under the rim and bulges up to touch the glass, you just created a point load on the bottom of the tank. I've been lucky and have never needed to run foam on a rimmed tank. But I build my own stands so they're just about as level, square, and planar as can be.