195 gallon Split at Seam

[mikeandannie]

I should hope he gets back to you and at the very least offers to fix it at a discounted price. Good luck.

I'm glad you were able to save your fish.

yea i hope so thats what we asked if we could get any sort of deal...thx yea that would have really sucked if i lost the fish i got real lucky it happened right next to me

Something seems off to me that the seam is still open with no water and no weight in the tank. Glass doesn't bend much, so unless more than one of your seams has ruptured, the seam should have closed itself after the weight was removed.

As for the whole foam discussion... it's a whole other thread, but it sounds like it might have helped you out here. It won't fix a tilted stand, but it takes all the stress off the seams in a suspended bottom tank.

when i said i can stick my finger in there i have to give it a good amount of pressure thats only to push in the middle of the seam and maybe only get the tip of my pinky a little in, but i did another inspection today and the seam that is spilt pretty much went down the whole back seam of the tank, good 5 foot it didn't make it to the corners.. yea thats what i was thinking i could have probably used some styrofoam...

 

[Bderick67]

Looks to me as if the is a design flaw in that aquarium. You have no center brace on the bottom. I know older tanks were built this way, but thicker glass was used so it could not flex. Seems to me a 6 foot span just being held together with silicone is not good.

 

[12 Volt Man]

I would agree.

based on the pics, it looks like 1/2 inch thick glass.

I have a 90 gallon old school tank with no braces that has held up fine since 93 built with 1/2 inch thick glass.

new monster tanks (even up to 300g - new perfecto wides look 1/2 inch) are built with 1/2 inch thick glass BUT with braces.

1/2 inch thick glass on a tank that size with no braces to prevent bowing is trouble I would think..

so sorry about this diasaster..

 

[Mattyou]

I have a few old Oceanic that have double glass bottoms. One is under / outside the walls (the walls sit on it) and the second fits in the bottom wall to wall and side to sied, all siliconed to sides and bottom. The trim is gone from around the tank so it is just the glass laying on styrafoam like an acrylic tank would. This is a very old tank, but it does not leak a drop.

My recomendation would be to cut out ALL bottom seals and re-seal the entire bottom plate. For extra adhesion you may scuff the glass with fine sandpaper and then clean thourghly with denatured alcohol or the like. If there is no bottom brace I would use styrafoam.

Best luck, and whatever route you go- Overkill is the Best solution.

 

[mikeandannie]

Looks to me as if the is a design flaw in that aquarium. You have no center brace on the bottom. I know older tanks were built this way, but thicker glass was used so it could not flex. Seems to me a 6 foot span just being held together with silicone is not good.

yes it is 1/2in glass im not sure how old it is, i'm guessing its not too old, but it is from a cutsom tank builder i knew nothing about, it does have a center brace at the top that is 1/2in glass 17x24 and plastic frame at top and bottom, but no bottom brace.

I would agree.

based on the pics, it looks like 1/2 inch thick glass.

I have a 90 gallon old school tank with no braces that has held up fine since 93 built with 1/2 inch thick glass.

new monster tanks (even up to 300g - new perfecto wides look 1/2 inch) are built with 1/2 inch thick glass BUT with braces.

1/2 inch thick glass on a tank that size with no braces to prevent bowing is trouble I would think..

so sorry about this diasaster..

good to know that, is there a brace on the top or bottom of the new monster tanks? and so if i add a center brace which sounds very logical how do i know if bottom is tempered because what i keep thinking is if the bottom is tempered like knowndafish said which makes sense thats why it spilt the seam cause it could flex, i don't know much about glass but it made sense, so ok its tempered for say, now if i add a piece of glass down there does it defeat the purpose of tempered? or is that if i only add it on bottom of the bottom glass cause if i add it on top the bottom glass it would not matter?

I have a few old Oceanic that have double glass bottoms. One is under / outside the walls (the walls sit on it) and the second fits in the bottom wall to wall and side to sied, all siliconed to sides and bottom. The trim is gone from around the tank so it is just the glass laying on styrafoam like an acrylic tank would. This is a very old tank, but it does not leak a drop.

My recomendation would be to cut out ALL bottom seals and re-seal the entire bottom plate. For extra adhesion you may scuff the glass with fine sandpaper and then clean thourghly with denatured alcohol or the like. If there is no bottom brace I would use styrafoam.

Best luck, and whatever route you go- Overkill is the Best solution.

Also good info to know.. sounds like a cool old tank with no trim kinda like that thought. Good recomendation, i really want it to adhear good how fine of sand paper 500,1000,1500,2000,2500, i read somewhere steel whool (fine grade) works well to smooth edges like sandpaper but both are about the same price range. i have a nice degreaser and some acetone, also is there a adhesian promoter out there that is recommended? another recomendation i need is silicone, whats your silicone of choice? so with there being no bottom brace would adding one help? does it have to be 1/2in? i have some tempered 3/8 laying around i think that is the size but i have never cut glass and tempered can't be cut? i dunno just guessing..so i took razor blade and started to cut away sililicone, slide the razor behind it on top and bottom like i've seen and pulled away silicone, well once i did that i noticed that its almost like when the tank was built they took bottom panel and siliconed it in the frame then layed a heavy bead around the top of the bottom glass and put the panels on top of the thick bead, then let it tac up and layed a silicone seal around all the glass edges.. does that make sense? only reason i am asking is when i go to resilicone it how do i get the bottom frame off? and if i don't go that route how do i silicone the seams with fresh silicone without glueing it to old silicone? seem like only safe route is to take bottom off? heres a pic of what i was talking about when i said looks like they just laid it on there its a thick bead inbetween the glass

Heres what the tank was sitting on, there was another cinder block set in the middle but i moved it out of the way for now, sand went everywhere

keep it comeing this is really helping me out thank you again everyone.

 

[Mattyou]

I prefer 3M Silicone that you can buy at Lowes / Home Depot. Even though it says not for Aquariums it works like a champ. On the scuff sanding, I would use whatever I had in my tool box. It is going to be hidden anyhow so it wont matter. Most tanks are glued as you suspected, they run a bead of sealant around the bottom plate and then stand the sides up on top of it. You can cut the bottom loose from the sides by running a heavy fishingline around the entire bottom seperating them or if you have guitar string / piano wire use that. once you clean it up good, lay on a heavy bead on the bottom plate, set the tank on it and apply weight via whatever means you have available. Treat the excess like you would a tub and tile job, run a wet finger around the inside and smooth / tapper it out. I would get an additional piece of glass cut to fit just inside the walls, before the entire set up is dry, lay that in the middle and glue the piss out of it, apply weight and allow the whole thing to cure for a MINIMUM of 48 hours, I would give it 4 days to a 5 day work week myself.

Best of luck

 

[mikeandannie]

sounds good i like 3M products i'll have to check that out....sounds like it will be fun and heavy to move around, also if only do the bottom and leave the sides with old silicone is that still going to be all good? when i add a piece of glass should it be another 1/2in piece and should it be tempered? how much does a piece of glass that size usually run? thx for the info again..

 

[cvermeulen]

sounds good i like 3M products i'll have to check that out....sounds like it will be fun and heavy to move around, also if only do the bottom and leave the sides with old silicone is that still going to be all good? when i add a piece of glass should it be another 1/2in piece and should it be tempered? how much does a piece of glass that size usually run? thx for the info again..

How is the bottom plate glued on, is it surrounded by the sides, or do the sides sit on top of the bottom. If the bottom is surrounded by the sides you won't be able to re-do the seals without completely tearing down the tank and doing all the seams.

I would not bother making it a double bottom. The glass didn't break, just the seam. A chunk of glass that size would cost a few hundred bucks.

I would not scuff the glass with sandpaper. For what it gets you, it also introduces thousands of tiny surface defects that weaken the glass. If it's tempered it will definitely compromise the strength of the pane, and it may even cause it to shatter while you are scuffing it.

 

[Mattyou]

I suggest a piece in the bottom only as a brace, not the entire bottom, just like the top brace, only in the bottom. Scuffing is just that, dont GOUGE the piss out of it, just scuff it. If scuffing would cause breakage, all my tanks are DOOMED since the bottoms are covered with rock scratches..

 

[cvermeulen]

I suggest a piece in the bottom only as a brace, not the entire bottom, just like the top brace, only in the bottom. Scuffing is just that, dont GOUGE the piss out of it, just scuff it. If scuffing would cause breakage, all my tanks are DOOMED since the bottoms are covered with rock scratches..

I guess my point was you are damaging the integrity of the glass to get yourself some extra integrity in the joint. Yeah the glass is designed with a large enough safety factor to cope with it, but a properly cleaned silicone joint should have no need at all for surface prep like scuffing.