450G 1" glass panel cracked FML need advice

[blazin_dragon18]

hey Guys,

I got a 450gallon glass, it's a monster and I have so many great plans for it.




After an intense labor to move the thing inside my house, I set out to make a few changes to the way I want it to be. Now, this is a used tank, and it was for a saltwater setup. it used to be a wall tank, so it has an overflow on the back side of the tank. I want to make it a three side viewable show tank, therefore, i need to clear the back paint and take out the overflow on the back side.

long story short, I finally was able to take the damn overflow out by stripping the silicones and melting them with a heat gun. i was so dumb that i completely overlooked the heat expansion property and pointed the heat gun at one spot for too long. you probably guessed what happened by now. the panel cracked with an excruciatingly loud noise that I would never want to hear again. at first it was just a round area of the size of a fist, but overnight, i guess as the tempt cooled down, the crack extended to the bottom all the way from the top.

I hope the pictures can show the crack well enough.



so here are my questions:
1. for a major crack like this, is the panel even salvageable? mind you, the glass is 1" thick and the height of the tank is 3', so the panels will exert tremendous pressure.

2. if it is salvageable, can i repair the crack to have it less visible or at least make it less obvious?

3. if i were to get another piece of glass, say 10" by 36" with 1/2" thick, to cover the area of the cracks and silicone it in place, will the tank leak in any way? or would that piece of support hold the pressure?

4. finally, what will it take to replace the panel? I know to replace it, it pretty much the same if not more effort to build a new tank. anyone knows any professionals who are in LA that could provide the service or give me an estimate?

I appreciate any and all help, thanks!!

Mark

 

[davenmandy]

Damn bro what a buzz kill. Sorry that happened to you.

I will defer to the experts here, but sorry that does not look salvageable. Maybe short term, but if you consider the pressure on a 3' tall tank I feel like you are playing with fire.

Call every glass dealer in your area. Get the best price you can, get the glass, put an ad out on classifieds to have a fellow tank builder or diy guy help you replace it. It will be a task and a half but you will learn a lot, and I feel it's your best shot unless you find another deal on a huge tank, in which case you should strip down that tank and sell the remaining panels off to help offset causes.

That sucks man I feel for you.

 

[millerkid519]

I agree with D davenmandy but on another note I have to ask how old the tank is and how hard the silicone feel on the internal seal... there is a method to my madness with this question

 

[jsodwi]

That sucks. All you had to do was cut and scrape the silicone with a razor. No way would I try to fix that. Maybe call a tank builder in your area to cut out the old panel and put a new one in

 

[millerkid519]

I will explain my theory and reasoning when someone tells me I am dead wrong..

 

[millerkid519]

I think jsodwi might understand what I am getting at. All you need is a few of your buddies to come back and the pain of glass and 4 tubes of scs 1200

 

[smitty03281964]

Not sure what happened to my earlier post but again I feel your pain because I have the same problem and am figuring out what to do next. But it is my bottom pane.

 

[blazin_dragon18]

Damn bro what a buzz kill. Sorry that happened to you.

I will defer to the experts here, but sorry that does not look salvageable. Maybe short term, but if you consider the pressure on a 3' tall tank I feel like you are playing with fire.

Call every glass dealer in your area. Get the best price you can, get the glass, put an ad out on classifieds to have a fellow tank builder or diy guy help you replace it. It will be a task and a half but you will learn a lot, and I feel it's your best shot unless you find another deal on a huge tank, in which case you should strip down that tank and sell the remaining panels off to help offset causes.

That sucks man I feel for you.

thanks man! i figured that the panel was probably not salvageable...sigh

I agree with D davenmandy but on another note I have to ask how old the tank is and how hard the silicone feel on the internal seal... there is a method to my madness with this question

the tank is probably 6 or 7 years old. the silicone is pretty hard, but not like it's disintegrating or anything, still holding very strong. the over-flow was a ***** to remove...i can only imagine the task of replacing an entire panel...god help me...

That sucks. All you had to do was cut and scrape the silicone with a razor. No way would I try to fix that. Maybe call a tank builder in your area to cut out the old panel and put a new one in

sigh...i was so freaking dumb...this will probably hunt me for a good while. i will search for a tank builder locally then, thanks for the advice!

I will explain my theory and reasoning when someone tells me I am dead wrong..

please do!

I think jsodwi might understand what I am getting at. All you need is a few of your buddies to come back and the pain of glass and 4 tubes of scs 1200

well, i don't have experience with sealing glasses, and for a tank of this size, i would hate to have to deal with my beginner mistakes after water goes into it...

Not sure what happened to my earlier post but again I feel your pain because I have the same problem and am figuring out what to do next. But it is my bottom pane.

thanks man! this is surely a nightmare coming true for me...i can only comfort myself with at least there's no water and fish in the tank yet

 

[millerkid519]

If you remove the back panel and clean the silicone completely you will be fine to replace just the one panel as there is really no place the new silicone will be bonding to the old silicone.
Then all you have to do is reseal the hole inside of the tank

 

[mscamp02]

Sorry to hear about the crack but I would say go for it yourself and replace the panel with the help of a buddy or two.

I cracked the back of my 300 a little while ago and replaced the panel with the help of my wife. Took a ton of time to get the old one out and scrap off all of the silicon and then some wax and grease remover to insure a proper seal. I used about a tube and a half of SCS 1200 clear for the seal and 4 Irwin clamps to hold the panel to the rest of the tank (not gonna lie, I went to lowes and bought them, left the tags on and took them back a week later for a store refund but that saved over 100 dollars). After about a week I filled it and havent had a problem since. Just be generous when using the silicon because you can come back with a razor blade to clean up whatever excess pushes out the seams.

It's really hard to mess it up since all the other panes are intact and the tank will still be square so everything will line up perfectly. I never messed with sealing glass before but would definitely do it again versus paying a builder.