Cracked Tank

J

jonathan03

AC Members
Feb 12, 2005
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I have a 55 gallon tank that was cracked when I was moving it. The problem is that this crack is more than just a little one. The crack is half the length of the tank on the front of it. The crack is within the top 4 inches of the tank. Has anyone ever fixed a crack like this? I would assume that the cracks that are fixed are usually much smaller than this. Can this tank still be used - aka fixed? I could sell it to someone with a snake, but I really want to use it. Some live plants will pull a hudini on the crack :-p Thanks for the help.
 
Pull out a razor, remove all the tank trim, then cut all the silicone that is holding that piece of glass in place. Purchase a new piece of glass from a local glass shop, and use 100% silicone to seal it in. Put the trim back on and your all set.

Of course, its not nearly that simple, cutting the silicone and removing the glass can be a major PITA, I personally would just buy a new tank. You can find 55s pretty cheap, but that choice is up to you.
 
What are the chances of breaking the border when taking it off? I know that those are expensive too. What is used to hold the border in place? I would assume silicon?

Where can I get the glass from and does it have to be a special kind? Will a place like home depot or lowes have the glass I need?

I am willing to fix the tank as long as the cost in parts is less than a new tank. I haven't seen a new tank for less than $80. To me, fix it projects are fun and seem more rewarding than just getting a new one. But whey would I fix it if a new one is less? I think I can get the glue and glass for less than $80 ... hopefully.
 
jonathan03 said:
What are the chances of breaking the border when taking it off? I know that those are expensive too. What is used to hold the border in place? I would assume silicon?
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Depends entirely on how brittle it is. You can get replacement trim pieces from a company like all-glass for not that much money at all.

Where can I get the glass from and does it have to be a special kind? Will a place like home depot or lowes have the glass I need?
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Any glass shop that can order and cut thicker pieces of glass. Standard float glass is fine, as long as its the same thickness (or thicker) than the original. The original is probably 3/8" or maybe 1/2"

To me, fix it projects are fun and seem more rewarding than just getting a new one.
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Until you deal with the frustration of removing silicone. ;)
 
Jon, I haven't had luck with repairing things like this in the past with vivariums and aquariums, both times I tried it had a very slow leak, I thought I sealed it really well with silicon aquarium sealant, but I guess not..... my advise ( unless your a handy man or really good at reparing things because I am not) would be to look at www.craigslist.org for a used aquarium to replace it with (it may be even cheaper than the repair) also check your local classifieds. thats just my 2 cents. :dance
 
Should the silicon be scraped from the inside or outside of the aquarium? I would imagine both maybe? I was scraping from the outside and some of the glass was chipping. Not at lot - but I can hear a little scraping. Is this ok? I guess it has to be done to get the silcone off.

Last, is there a polymer to break down silicon glue? That would make the job take only a few minutes and no minor chips of the glass :-)
 
You need to remove all the silicone, inside and out. The silicone bewteen the glass is actually the most essential.
 
Well it looks like this is going to be a snake tank after all. I found two other cracks besdies the larger one I was trying to fix. They were hidden on the lower part of the tank in the back under the boarder. :mad: All that scarping for nothing.
 
That's too bad, sorry to hear it can't be fixed. Any way you could take this as an opportunity to upgrade? When I sold my old 45g and stand, I managed to convince my husband that I could use the same lighting, filter, substrate etc. in a 65g, with just a few minor upgrades (a few more bags of flourite) and he went for it. Little did he know, soon I'd ask for a new PC light fixture because the old one just wasn't powerful enough for the new tank! He's so good to me :D
 
Ok so I made a bad mistake before. What looked like a crack was just a string of the silicon glue. I was working in the garage in low light so it looked like a crack.

I found that a razor blade mounted in a holder works really well for the corners. However, I'm having some trouble getting the trim off. The razor blade can't reach the top of the trim with enough room for me to move it around. There is only 1/2" or so and I got it stuck a few times. So can anyone offer any advice about removing the trim in particular? There are huge clumps of glue in the corners of the trim which isn't helping.
 
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