240gal...CRACKED SIDE!
- Thread starter fishman646
- Start date
For me, the reason I will always use something under my tanks (all glass) is that I can't trust the stands/furniture they are on to be 100% flat. Wood will sag slightly, more so over a longer distance. Glass does not sag, so if you have a wood surface with a glass container directly above with a LOT of pressure, this MAY cause a crack. I use polystyrene foam for the same reason I like suspension and inflated tyres on my car. If I drive over a pebble, I don't want the car to fly up into the air and the axle to break. Glass and acrylic are not all that flexible... if you have a filled 6 foot long glass tank on a hard surface with a 2 millimetre grain of gravel underneath the centre of it, and nothing to remove the strain, you will get at least stress fractures, at most, a crack. For me, this is the application of physics with the addition of a few years of experience. Not saying this this is a definite, just asking you to consider the possibility.
Glass is able to store stresses. That panel was originally damaged and had its strength compromised when the chunk was taken out of the bottom panel (assuming the chunk wasn't removed during the move). An occurrence in moving the tank added enough stress to the panel to add to the previous stress and this total stress allowed the crack propagation.
The crack is a form of stress relief. It may be finished cracking but you won't really know until the tank is filled. The procedure for arresting the propagation is drilling the hole as previously stated. A patch panel of equal strength of the original should then be glued over the crack. However, there is still strength/support from the cracked panel so you can get away with a patch thinner than the original glass. The strongest way of making the repair would be to use two patches half of the original thickness, and putting one on the inside and the other on the outside.
The crack is a form of stress relief. It may be finished cracking but you won't really know until the tank is filled. The procedure for arresting the propagation is drilling the hole as previously stated. A patch panel of equal strength of the original should then be glued over the crack. However, there is still strength/support from the cracked panel so you can get away with a patch thinner than the original glass. The strongest way of making the repair would be to use two patches half of the original thickness, and putting one on the inside and the other on the outside.
Bderick67;2908914; said:
good point. I believe this is because Glasscages tanks that have bracing on top (standard plastic cross braces) do NOT have the same bracing on the bottom. thus they are not a 'floating bottom' tank unlike Aqueon and Perfecto which have the bracing on the bottom - thus foam is NOT recomended for their tanks.
Aqueon did not recommend the use of foam for my 150 so I did not use it.
ps if It were me I would try and save up the cash and replace the panel..how urgent does this tank need to be set back up?
I just hope you understand that the idea of the patching is a educated guess at most. No one can tell you exactly if the patches will work or not. Like said before that crack was from stress. The stress may be gone and it may explode that panel completly once it is filled. Just keep that in mind. The only thing I see wrong with the patch idea is that this sort of repair is more or less a ticking time bomb. At any given time the panel can give out the rest of the way. Once repaired it may last years and it may last days. Its a gamble.
I no this! and I found the stand had a crown in the top...I have now got it perfectly flat and will be adding some type of foem! any suggestion on foem
I think you got enough advice on how to patch the tank up...
I recently just repaired my 150 gallon with a crack... but mine was on the bottom.. the side.. can be a bit different.. but it seems like the crack is just a small portion, not split down the middle...
If your interested in foam for protection.. try using sound buffer foam.. they use them in recording studio and music rooms... or the type of foam they use in psychiatric hospital.....
just my 2cents...
best of luck...
I recently just repaired my 150 gallon with a crack... but mine was on the bottom.. the side.. can be a bit different.. but it seems like the crack is just a small portion, not split down the middle...
If your interested in foam for protection.. try using sound buffer foam.. they use them in recording studio and music rooms... or the type of foam they use in psychiatric hospital.....
just my 2cents...
best of luck...
