Cracked 380 Gallon Acrylic

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TripleW

TripleW

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
May 5, 2012
632
24
33
46
Iowa
Hey guys. I recently acquired a 380 gallon tank (84x36x29.5). On the way home it cracked on one of the seams. Thought I would shoot this video to show you the crack and to get peeps opinions on how to proceed with a fix. Sorry if the vid is a little dark. Thanks!

[video=youtube_share;mZjut1P8mbU]http://youtu.be/mZjut1P8mbU[/video]
 
Id first wratchet strap the tank back together flush....fill the crack with weldon #4. Let that dry for a day and then reinforce the inside with .5"-1" square stock with weldon-#40. I repaired a 450 very similiar to this. Do not! Skimp out on weld on 40! It is exactly what u need. Lmk if u need pics of repairs i have quite a few holding water for years now :)

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Man, what a bummer.

Curious, was the tank moved in the bed of a pickup truck? If you are in Iowa, I'm guessing the temps were at or below freezing when you moved it...definitely not something you want to expose an acrylic tank to.

Acrylic, like wood, contracts in really cold whether so I bet the cold temps put a lot of stress on the seem and all it took was a little bump and wham...cracked tank.

IIRC, BigRich on here had to store a 4,000G tank outdoors in a cold climate and the manufacturer of the tank suggested running a space heater in the tank to prevent this type of thing from happening. I'm not saying this to be a Monday morning quarterback, but just to share the info to perhaps help others who might read this avoid a similar predicament.

I think Wednesday is giving good advice, but be careful not to overdo the ratchet strapping...if it hasn't noticeably moved or separate away from the side piece and it's just a split seam then ratchet strapping might not be required.

Also something to consider, if you fix it in a cold climate (unheated garage at say 32F), then you should know that the acrylic will expand when you get it up and running (especialy if you are keeping tropical fish at 80F+). In my opinion, you would want to make the repair as close to the operating temp of the tank to avoid stressing the seam further. I am no expert, but I did stay at a holiday inn express last night. =)

Good luck with the fix; it's a nice looking tank!
 
Great advice guys thanks! The tank was actually moved mid summer on a flat low boy trailer so the cold was not a factor. Right now it is sitting in my unheated shop but I am not going to attempt the repair until Summertime again. From what I can tell it was not separated much at all, but I suppose a little bit of ratchet strapping probably wouldn't hurt.

So just to be clear....Weld-On #4 for the crack itself and Weld-On #40 for the square stock? I think I might do the same to the other corners while I am at it. I was talking to someone else and he said that I may need to set the tank up on the side of the crack so the Weld-On will run into the crack with gravity. Wouldn't that put a lot of stress on that already weakened side of the tank?

Thanks again for the replies guys!
 
Wow, I just re-read my post...sorry about the typos (I meant Weather, not whether & seam, not seem). :redface: :screwy:

If the other seams look ok, I would not go over them with the 4. This question was posed to a guy who makes tanks for a living on another forum (this guy knows his stuff when it comes to acrylic) and he said that adding 4 to an existing seam that looks sound may actually weaken it. So if it looks good, I wouldn't bother. If you are really worried about it, I would add square stock to reinforce it.

Don't use 16 for the square stock reinforcement...40 is much stronger and it will come out looking a lot better.
 
aldiaz33 said:
Wow, I just re-read my post...sorry about the typos (I meant Weather, not whether & seam, not seem). :redface: :screwy:

If the other seams look ok, I would not go over them with the 4. This question was posed to a guy who makes tanks for a living on another forum (this guy knows his stuff when it comes to acrylic) and he said that adding 4 to an existing seam that looks sound may actually weaken it. So if it looks good, I wouldn't bother. If you are really worried about it, I would add square stock to reinforce it.

Don't use 16 for the square stock reinforcement...40 is much stronger and it will come out looking a lot better.
Click to expand...

Haha no problem! I should have clarified. I meant just adding square stock to the intact corners with just Weld-On #40.
 
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