Okay... it is not a complete DIY as it is a used acrylic aquarium that I am refurbishing. My friend who a general contractor by trade that remodels old homes is helping me with this project. I also posted this question on goldfishkeepers.com and was told I was a complete nut case. Okay... maybe they didn't say that exactly but that is how it came across to me. LOL
The aquarium has a crack in the acrylic that one can see but not feel at one of the drill hole sites on the bottom. My plan to repair this was to drill a boar hole at the end of the crack and use weld on 3 or 4 to seal it thereby preventing it from cracking further. From the youtube videos that I have seen of a repair of this kind the next step would be to weld an acrylic sheet over the crack. The people over at goldfishkeepers.com suggested this as well. My contractor friend told me this is what need to be done to fix it as well. But I want to paint the bottom of the tank with pond shield armor.
The reply I got on goldfishkeepers.com is as follows which incidentally my contractor friend essential said the same thing:
"it is designed to bond to concrete, do you want to risk your living room? If silicone doesn't bond to acrylic well, I suspect the pond shield will have a similar or worse performance. Again, it's not just about preventing a leak, it's structure is faulty and with a faulty structure the failure could be catastrophic. A simple lamination of 1/8 inch acrylic will make the structure sound and seal any leaks. You have to remember acrylic tanks flex and bow when filled and drained. If there is any give in your stand, repeated flexing will more likely lead to failure. Or you'll be just fine...I'd put this tank in my garage but not in my house."
Now I called pond shield armor and they said the paint can be used on acrylic. I will just need to rough it up with 60 grit sandpaper. I can't remember the name of the person I talk with. But I did find a very old post here on monsterfishkeepers.com from one of the owners, Butch. He said the following in his length comment that make me think that Pond Shield may even be better than another acyrlic sheet welded over the crack:
"When Pond Shield is squeegeed on the surface area, it is like thousands of tiny fingers that grab hold. With a tensile bond strength that literally exceeds the internal strength of concrete, one would not have to worry about delaminating problems that latexes or rubbers can go through."
"Pond Shield can be flexed and can withstand a certain amount of flex all the way down to -78 degrees."
"Yes it can be used on plywood or acrylic."
Now the reason why I am fixing on this problem is simple. This tank is in my apartment. I can't have it leak. And I don't have a garage to put this tank in. When this tank was in the previous owners home, it did not leak. Apparently that crack has been there for awhile. It was sealed with copious amounts of silicone and he hid it with substrate. I have since scrape the silicone off. As the crack is not all the way through I am sure it will not leak as is. But I just want to repair it so that the risk is further reduced in a way that is ascetically pleasing.
So what do you all think? Should I repair the tank the old school way with an acrylic sheet or will using pond shield work just as well or better?
Cheers,
Kayte
The aquarium has a crack in the acrylic that one can see but not feel at one of the drill hole sites on the bottom. My plan to repair this was to drill a boar hole at the end of the crack and use weld on 3 or 4 to seal it thereby preventing it from cracking further. From the youtube videos that I have seen of a repair of this kind the next step would be to weld an acrylic sheet over the crack. The people over at goldfishkeepers.com suggested this as well. My contractor friend told me this is what need to be done to fix it as well. But I want to paint the bottom of the tank with pond shield armor.
The reply I got on goldfishkeepers.com is as follows which incidentally my contractor friend essential said the same thing:
"it is designed to bond to concrete, do you want to risk your living room? If silicone doesn't bond to acrylic well, I suspect the pond shield will have a similar or worse performance. Again, it's not just about preventing a leak, it's structure is faulty and with a faulty structure the failure could be catastrophic. A simple lamination of 1/8 inch acrylic will make the structure sound and seal any leaks. You have to remember acrylic tanks flex and bow when filled and drained. If there is any give in your stand, repeated flexing will more likely lead to failure. Or you'll be just fine...I'd put this tank in my garage but not in my house."
Now I called pond shield armor and they said the paint can be used on acrylic. I will just need to rough it up with 60 grit sandpaper. I can't remember the name of the person I talk with. But I did find a very old post here on monsterfishkeepers.com from one of the owners, Butch. He said the following in his length comment that make me think that Pond Shield may even be better than another acyrlic sheet welded over the crack:
"When Pond Shield is squeegeed on the surface area, it is like thousands of tiny fingers that grab hold. With a tensile bond strength that literally exceeds the internal strength of concrete, one would not have to worry about delaminating problems that latexes or rubbers can go through."
"Pond Shield can be flexed and can withstand a certain amount of flex all the way down to -78 degrees."
"Yes it can be used on plywood or acrylic."
Now the reason why I am fixing on this problem is simple. This tank is in my apartment. I can't have it leak. And I don't have a garage to put this tank in. When this tank was in the previous owners home, it did not leak. Apparently that crack has been there for awhile. It was sealed with copious amounts of silicone and he hid it with substrate. I have since scrape the silicone off. As the crack is not all the way through I am sure it will not leak as is. But I just want to repair it so that the risk is further reduced in a way that is ascetically pleasing.
So what do you all think? Should I repair the tank the old school way with an acrylic sheet or will using pond shield work just as well or better?
Cheers,
Kayte
