I don't think it would be a bad idea to drill the end of the crack with a tiny drill before you put another piece of acrylic behind it.
911, HELP! My DIY 300 gallon Goldfish Aquarium
- Thread starter Kayte
- Start date
How big is the current bulkhead hole? If you can I would just increase the bulkhead size to remove the crack. Say the hole is one inch, drill for a 2" bulkhead to remove the crack. That may work.
Crack doesn't look that big. Run your fingerbail over it, can you get a razor blade or anything to go into it? I would put some weldon 4 to let it absorb into the crack if possible then put some weld on 40 over it
@ Lepisosteus The drilled hole is already 2 inches big. To drill out the crack I would have to widen the hole another 2 to 3 inches. That would make a 5 inch hole. That is one big intake pipe for my canister filters!
And as far as getting anything into the crack as it stands now, I can't. If you closed your eyes and rubbed you hand over the crack on the inside of the tank and on the outside as well, you would not be able to tell there is a crack there.
Kayte
And as far as getting anything into the crack as it stands now, I can't. If you closed your eyes and rubbed you hand over the crack on the inside of the tank and on the outside as well, you would not be able to tell there is a crack there.
Kayte
First off do not use pond shield, waste of ur time and $$ and it will not stop a crack from spreading nor seal it......2nd (very very important) drill a 1/8"-1/4" hole at the end of the crack all the way through the material to stop it from running. Even if u glue an acrylic patch over the crack it can/will continue to run underneath it.. 3rd, after u stop the crack from running with a small hole order a pint of weld-on #40 (a 2 part epoxy used to make tanks) and a piece of 3/8"-1/2" acrylic to patch over the hole and crack completly. mix up a batch of #40, put the patch on and ur good to go.(tape underneath the hole so the glue doesnt run out also) If u need to use the hole, redrill through the patch...if not, for overkill u can flip the tank over and fill the hole with the rest of ur #40... #40 is basically liquid acrylic... it is 98-99% the same composite as the acrylic itself. I Do Not recommend #4 or #16 for this repair... #40 is stronger than them both and very user friendly for a novice. Ull do more harm than good trying to use #4 and end up with a bubbled up patch that fails down the road.. #16 is junk imo and its use is for "arts and crafts" not aquariums.... it is actually weaker than #4. #4 takes practice and skill to adhere pieces together properly. Again weld-on #40 is made for repairs like this and is perfect for ur needs. Its strong enough to pour over the crack itself but an additional patch piece with it will be very beneficial and will outlast u lol...
Prob the easiest/quickest/cheapest fix i agree lol...and ur killing 2 birds with one stone drilling one time to prevent the crack spread
wednesday13
... So how do I make this repair look sleek? I don't want my aquarium look like a hodgepodge of acrylic patches. I have already painted the back with black spray paint. And since I was already planning to use Pond Shield on some wood planter boxes that I will be using as an aquaponic filter, I thought it might be killing two birds with one stone. So I am just kind of curious, why won't Pond Shield work? I had already planned on stopping the crack by drilling a small hole into it. I was going to do a hole smaller than 1/8". So thank you for that little nugget of advice. Next I was going to use weldon 3 on the hole with the hope that capillary action would pull the product through the crack. Are you saying that won't work either?Kayte
