chipped glass

viper693555800

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Aug 28, 2010
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hi everyone im new on here this is my first post on here well my question is i got a 72 gallon bowfront tank and stand for 50 bucks but there is a small chip in the lower right corner back glass i will post some pics to show you all and could u please tell me what i should do! like is it safe? or is the tank trash? any help would b greatly appreciated thanks in advance.... the chip is about an inch long and the pics look worse than it really is!!!!

ftchip.jpg ftchip2.jpg
 
The pics make it look really big. Maybe if you could get one with some sort of comparison like holding your hand next to it or taping a penny niext to it?
 
Being on one of the back 90 degree corners and considering that it looks to me to only be about the depth of a nickel, I'd say it was probably safe. Fill it up outside with your garden hose and test it out. I picked up an absolutely identical tank with a chip similar to that for $35 at a pet store that was closing and it was fine. They had planned on shipping it back to the company but ended up selling it to me as a "reptile enclosure" and telling me not to put water in it.. bah.. worked fine..

Yeah, I'd try it out outdoors and if it doesn't leak.. set it up.. lets see it with stuff in it!
 
I'd fill it in with aquarium silicone and include a couple inches up and down... or just do that entire corner of the tank. Let it cure for 24-48 hours.. until you can't smell the vinegar-ish smell... then fill it up and test it.

Wait.. maybe scratch the above. I just looked at your pics again. Is the chip and pictures from the inside of the tank or outside? At first I thought the pictures were from the inside but the bottom picture looks like it's from the outside. If from the outside, is the black corner angle brace on the inside of the tank.... like a DIY repair for that broken corner? If they did it right, it should be OK from the inside but the chip on the outside, if hit again, could start to spider across the glass.. like a windshield in a car. I would look for some clear epoxy or a DIY auto-glass repair kit and use that *glue* to seal the chipped area so the liquid also gets into any small fissures and seals/glues them to make them less resistant to spidering across the glass... just like they do on repairing little chips in windshields. There's no guarantees though. If this is a back corner of the tank, you could use an outside black plastic corner angle and cover the corners with this to hopefully protect that area from getting hit again.
 
the pics are from the outside and no there is no brace on the inside that the factory seal you see... could i just have the back pain replaced? or is it not worth the money????
 
Is it black silicone or is it the clear and just looks black/dark due to the lighting?

In either case, my second recommendation would be what I would do. Repair the glass with clear acrylic or DIY-auto glass repair glue. Then, if the corner is a back corner, put a black plastic corner brace on it. Heck, even it it's a front corner, it wouldn't hurt if you can make it look OK.
 
yes the silicone is black and ya maybe i will give it a try. i am gonna contact the mfg and just see where i can get the glass replaced... any other comments on the severity of the chip would be greatly appreciated and thanks GOLDLENNY...
 
yes the silicone is black and ya maybe i will give it a try. i am gonna contact the mfg and just see where i can get the glass replaced... any other comments on the severity of the chip would be greatly appreciated and thanks GOLDLENNY...

I thought you wanted to repair it. You can replace the glass yourself if you're a handy-person. There are LOTS of articles about doing this task on the net. Here's a few I have in my Favorites folder and can share... there are many others that I can't share.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/aquariumdiy/a/aa031302.htm

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/aquariumdiy/ht/htrepairsmleaks.htm

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/aqrepairfaqs.htm

Several YouTubes...

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=aquarium+repair&aq=f
 
how far does the chip pretude onto the other pannel? ive seen chips that go almost to the edge of the side pannel still hold water. hit it with a flashlight from behind so we can see how far the chips go inward
 
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