cracked tank

Man tonight I hit it blessed.

I just knew that I needed to come to my restaurant to get some work done on the 3 new tanks I am setting up.

Got the 2 magnum 350 and uv sterilzer hooked up to my 230g no issue. So I proceeded to start on salting my 180g which will become a folr. Only problem was when I crawled under my new 10ft 300g that I filled 5 days ago to check the seals, I hit wet carpet .

Initially I was hoping its just water spilt from me working on the magnums, but no such happening .

I am never setting another tank over 100g up without foam under the tank ever.

Now you may be asking yourself how can I see this as a blessing to find a crack in this 300g. Well imagine if I had not come in tonight and the crack actually blew out the tank 300g is a lot of water.

I will take a pic and document this as we fix it. Basically the crack is almost straight and runs from the front of the tank to the back of the tank right where the middle brace is under the tank, almost like the bottom was a graham wafer cracker .

I do have a glass guy who used to make super huge tanks that does work for me, and I will for sure be calling him first thing in the morning. Yet, here is my idea.

Check with the window repair people and see if there is a repair epoxy that I can get to go into the crack. Get a piece of 1/2 glass cut to 1 foot larger than the crack on either side wait for the crack epoxy to seal up then get the best silicone that money can buy that is aquarium safe and use gobstopper amounts of it and affix the 2 foot piece of glass and let it cure up for a good week or so. Then when it is cured get me some glass cups and six of us to lift up the tank so another person or two can slide the foam under the tank and then gently place it down on the foam. Then refill the tank and hope for the very best

I have a guy that has done work for me before, who is coming by tomorrow. He used to build monster tanks in calgary. This is the last tank that I got him to do work on.



The guy I got it from had made his own stand where the tank overhung by 1/2 inch and he also tried to move it 1 inch closer to the wall and basically blew out the entire back seam. I bought it from him for 150 bucks. I gave it to cal and he took out the front panel that was calcified somewhat and then replace it with brand new glass and used the old glass to do a nifty bottom and top brace job. Total cost was $168 bucks.

I am pretty handy at stuff but I am no glazier nor glass professional, so without a doubt I will be getting cal to take care of this! I have no need to do a diy on this tank 10 feet of glass is way to imposing, and I really don't care to come in one day to 300g on my floor and $1200 of dead frontosa.

One idea I do have is that if we replace the bottom entirely that would leave me with 2 4 foot pieces which I can then use to build a 4 foot wide tank with.

Now I ask you how many of you have had a tank this size crack on you and how did you fix it?

Pics to come gonna take them and load them up

front half of tank



back half of tank



pretty much the crack is straight on the brace with a bit of curve.

will have to wait and see what cal says

piranhakeeper69;3493176; said:

buy a new tank

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Sorry but that idea has got to be the stupidest thing I have heard regarding this tank. Not meaning to offend at all please see my reasons for thinking this is a silly idea.

From my supplier a 96x30x24 new glass tank is $1075.00 my cost with approx $500 for shipping. I am almost certain that I will be able to fix this tank for under $1500

This is a simple easy fix that my glass guy (who used to make massive tanks custom built for people in calgary 500g+) will very easily fix. The fix just depends on which route he says to go.

In any way I look at this, it is all good.

If I replace the entire bottom, I will be able to reserve the 2 halves at 4 1/2 feet each which makes them the sides for my future monster wide tank. Cost $800

If I patch a piece over the entire bottom, I end up with a very heavy tank for sure, but a tank which I dont intend to actually ever move from its present spot. Cost $500

If I do the interior patch overlap the crack by 1 foot on either side, I end up with an exceptionally easy fix that will be covered by the substrate. Cost $160

Any way I look at it I am in a win win situation. Heck If i decide to cut the tank apart and use the 2 remaining 10 ft portions I have ready made viewing windows for 2 massive plywood tanks which as far as I know are very easy to make.

But according to your great wisdom I should just go out and buy a new tank simply because of a crack I think not.

What this is for me is a chance to learn from this happening to make sure that it never happens again, which by the way ever since this tank popped and I made this thread I have been doing much study into this happening to other people so as to learn from what they did. It is also a chance for me to look at this as a chance to cut my teeth shall we say on how to do a monster tank properly, as with this tank I have truly in my thoughts begun to head in the deeper waters of monster fish keeping. Thankfully this is not the 430g that I will be bringing in a few months.

One other thought I do have about this tank is that I really dont like these welded metal framed stands. Judging from the crisp straight line crack that has happened in this tank I am forced to really investigate what would cause such a straight line stress fracture. With this in mind I am actually very thankfull that this crack went almost in a straight line rather than diagonal or circular as I have seen other people tank nightmares.

I do know from what I have been reading on the forums that I will definitely not be using these stands without building a base for the tank to sit on when it gets placed on the metal it will have a cushion of protection as it were.

Is there anyone else out there that has had problems with tanks stress fracturing due to bare metal stands. I am left to wonder is there a weld that was not ground down enough etc....

abarilot;3494225; said:

Sit back and enjoy the bacon sandwich while your guy replaces the sheet of glass

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love the answer friend

Im wondering who the person was whos tank went boom and what size it was that would really suck.