Help Acrylic Tank Bubbles and Separations!!!

kok0puffs

Feeder Fish
Mar 1, 2011
4
0
1
washington
:irked:

hey everyone,
my father not knowing what he was buying bought me this 220 gal acrylic tank. At first I was excited then soon after i started seeing bubbles in the seams and even places where the acrylic started to separate! This is my first acrylic tank, and not experience at all with it. if it were a glass tank i would simply reapply silicone sealing. the separations are only at the top back part of the tank and the bubbles are here and there around the tank.
Is this even fixable? I would like to do it myself, ive been searching online and have been reading other forum but i just dont understand fully how to do it. If anyone could please help me out, i would be forever grateful!!!!
So far i only bought Weld-on 4 and 16, didnt want to do anything until i got further input.

thanks
jo~
:grinno:





 

wednesday13

Silver Tier VIP
MFK Member
Mar 2, 2008
4,237
3,817
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The deep south
forgot about ya lastnight sorry lol...

First, Nice tank and even nicer Dad you have, you should be very thankful lol

Second, don't be nervous its not in very bad condition at all. Its a good thing most of the separation/crazing is at the top back of the tank and not along the upright seams or bottom. Pics are a bit hard to decipher but it kinda just looks like stress crazing which is better than seam separation. Since you have the #4, you can try shooting it in the seams where you see white color and try to seal up that bond again. If it becomes clear again on the seam your doing the right thing. This can be tricky on repairs and may not work for all the spots but itell get you familiar with working on the tank and you cant hurt anything by trying the #4 first. This is not a permenant fix but the first step. Second step would be to tilt the tank at a 45 degree angle and work on one seam at a time where you see white spots with a thicker type glue like the #16 you have. #16 is not the greatest and I usually don't recommend it but it holds up for a couple years. I do not think you need a full overhaul with the tip and pour method and #40 as the tank looks pretty new. With the #16 you can add in a piece of 1/2" square stock acrylic inside the tank to beef up that area of separation. You can really do as much or as little as you want, all depends on how much you want to fix it. If it were me id overhaul the whole thing with #40, but I have the glue on hand at all times and have done a lot of tanks so im farmiliar with it. Not sure if ur parents will appreciate you blasting them out with 2 part epoxy lol...
Let me know what your ideas are after reading and I can further help you with what way you want to fix it or help during the process. Good luck! repairing tanks can be fun lol
 

kok0puffs

Feeder Fish
Mar 1, 2011
4
0
1
washington
@muskellunge
thanks for all your input, ill try applying some #4 first and see how it turns out.
my paps alrdy ordered my a few pints of #40 from ebay. apparently thats the only place where he could find weld-on 40 for sale.
ill post some pic of the results after.

thanks again
jo
 

wednesday13

Silver Tier VIP
MFK Member
Mar 2, 2008
4,237
3,817
1,629
The deep south
Well thats good news u have a couple pints on the way, perfect lol. U just need to find some old ketchup/mustard bottles with a pointy nossle to apply the glue with and ur good to go. My gf is a hair dresser and gets me cheap bottles for a dollar or so. Ur gonna want to hit all the inner seams with about 1/8-1/4" of glue. Mix very small batches, tip the tank at 45 degree angles and do one seam at a time. Each seam should dry in an hour or so and u can do the next. Not a bad idea to mix a small practice batch to see what ur working with. The glue heats up alot as it cures and since the tank is so new u dont want to get it too hot with alot of glue or it can actually cause damage/crazing/cloudiness. Start with flipping the tank over and doing the top from the underside and go from there.

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