911, HELP! My DIY 300 gallon Goldfish Aquarium
- Thread starter Kayte
- Start date
so the reason why I advised against using pond shield is because its basically putting a giant band aid over the problem. What a company claims will work is completely different from what will actually work. Pond armor I don't believe can bend as they claim, it is an epoxy and most epoxies don't work well in tensile stress and strain. Personally I agree with wednesday and any movement within the tank will more then likely open up the crack again. You are not trying to seal the tank you want to make sure the crack stops and is structurally secure. I would use 1/4" acrylic if your on a budget, shouldn't be that expensive. I'd go with the thickness of the bottom personally so more then likely 1/2" acrylic
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It works better then you think, everyone seems to be doing it now!!!!
I would go for the 1/4 inch (may be overkill for the application) and cover the entire bottom. It will look awesome too. Much better than the pond armor.
Kayte, if that is your real name, if you continue to put timelines on these sort of things and want everything done in a hurry and in the cheapest way, you are setting yourself up for failure. Please change your perception of this project to a little bit more of a long term product, and maybe that will allow you a bit more time to save up for the proper thickness acrylic as well. Your fish will thank you for it, do you really want to do this in a hurry and cheap out on thin acrylic and then have the patch fail? There will be a tremendous amount of pressure, just because something "CAN" be done in a certain thickness, manner, or time frame doesn't mean it should.
priceless 
, i love u guys! haha..... all joking aside ....o.p. are you certain u can fit an entire new bottom piece in through the top bracing of the tank?? I would go with 1/4" minium... You still need 2 adress the crack properly with #40. Even if u glue all the way around the new bottom piece with #4 it is very unlikely it will last forever. Any missed spot will leak underneath and out the bottom hole causing a bigger problem since u wont be able 2 remove the new bottom piece even if its poorly glued in. I highly advise flipping the tank over and filling that said hole with #40 after the full bottom patch. The proper way to install a new bottom piece would b 2 glue over ur crack with #40 after its drilled 2 stick it on... then tip the tank at 45° angles using #40 to create bevels of glue 1/4" thickness one seam at a time all the way around the bottom. Some may say #4 or #16 will work but i promise u ur settin urself up for failure. been there, done that... Ive put tanks back together that exploded in peoples homes...this isnt my 1st rodeo... im currently working on a tank for a friend where someone put in a sheet of 1/4" black acrylic on the bottom and back walls... they were glued in terribly with #16 and water leakes behind the pieces. Theres a crack underneath the black pieces that leaks and no acess 2 repair it... much harder job than if that piece wasent there. I now have to repair from the outside and inside... basically make all new seals around the bottom and back wall using #40 bevels...
This process all seems like alot for u and ur contractor to comprehend.... I strongly...strongly advise u to have your contractor drill out ur existing hole using a hole saw made for wood that removes ur crack all together... put in ur bulkhead and ball valve/check valve and ur good to go. Paint ur bottom black as u wish and never worry again. I have a feeling ull make the issue worse covering it up and forgetting about it so to speak. New bulkhead and a hole saw bit may run u $20-30...
, i love u guys! haha..... all joking aside ....o.p. are you certain u can fit an entire new bottom piece in through the top bracing of the tank?? I would go with 1/4" minium... You still need 2 adress the crack properly with #40. Even if u glue all the way around the new bottom piece with #4 it is very unlikely it will last forever. Any missed spot will leak underneath and out the bottom hole causing a bigger problem since u wont be able 2 remove the new bottom piece even if its poorly glued in. I highly advise flipping the tank over and filling that said hole with #40 after the full bottom patch. The proper way to install a new bottom piece would b 2 glue over ur crack with #40 after its drilled 2 stick it on... then tip the tank at 45° angles using #40 to create bevels of glue 1/4" thickness one seam at a time all the way around the bottom. Some may say #4 or #16 will work but i promise u ur settin urself up for failure. been there, done that... Ive put tanks back together that exploded in peoples homes...this isnt my 1st rodeo... im currently working on a tank for a friend where someone put in a sheet of 1/4" black acrylic on the bottom and back walls... they were glued in terribly with #16 and water leakes behind the pieces. Theres a crack underneath the black pieces that leaks and no acess 2 repair it... much harder job than if that piece wasent there. I now have to repair from the outside and inside... basically make all new seals around the bottom and back wall using #40 bevels...This process all seems like alot for u and ur contractor to comprehend.... I strongly...strongly advise u to have your contractor drill out ur existing hole using a hole saw made for wood that removes ur crack all together... put in ur bulkhead and ball valve/check valve and ur good to go. Paint ur bottom black as u wish and never worry again. I have a feeling ull make the issue worse covering it up and forgetting about it so to speak. New bulkhead and a hole saw bit may run u $20-30...
Plz move back to Alaska and keepOkay, Okay. You all win. Butch doesn't have a clue about his own product. He obviously doesn't know that his product cannot adhere to plastics and his claim that it can flex with movement (i.e. moving ground due to freeze and thaw conditions which I do believe can be quite extreme at times...I grew up in Alaska) is quite possibly incorrect.
Yes... I completely mean to be sarcastic. Do give me some leeway here. It is 1 in the morning and I am really stressing over this whole aquarium refurbish. You all completely understand that this tank is in my living room and thus cannot ever leak . Trust me I thankful that you all looking out after me. This is why I came to this forum. I am a risk manager by trade and by that I don't mean just financial risks. One of the things that the previous owner did with this aquarium and stand is add an alarm to it. If one drop of water hits bottom of the stand which is lined with pond liner and can hold about 90 gallons of water, an audio alarm sounds. Now with that said, you all clearly don't understand how important the aesthetics are. I want this aquarium to be clean and beautiful and full of life mainly big beautiful fancy goldfish. Check out this youtube video to see what I mean. This aquarium is my inspiration for this project.
So now that I am off my soap box (or some might be thinking my high horse), I am switching to the acrylic sheet method of repair... I found a company online in which I can order sheets of Opaque Colored Cast Acrylic. That way I can have my black shine bottom. I think I will be able to cover the entire bottom at a reasonable cost depending on the thickness of the acrylic. So how thin can I have this acrylic sheet. The bottom is already 1/2" thick. So can I do a piece that is 1/8" which will cost $94? Or do I buy a piece that is 3/16" costing $122.69? 1/2" which is the thickest they sell this in black will cost approximately $340. That is a bit pricey for me at this time. I will have to save my pennies for the 1/2" piece.
Why do I want to do black instead of just doing clear and using substrate to cover the repair? Simple. I want a bare bottom tank for my goldfish. They are notoriously big waste producers. Being able to easily see the waste will make it easier to keep the tank clean.
So just to reiterate my question. What is the minimal thickness which will work to fortify the acrylic where the crack is on the bottom of the aquarium? 1/8" thick? 3/16" thick? 1/4" thick? 1/2" thick?
Thank you for tolerating my rant. And thank you to all in advance that answer my question about thickness.
Cheers
Kayte
priceless
This process all seems like alot for u and ur contractor to comprehend.... I strongly...strongly advise u to have your contractor drill out ur existing hole using a hole saw made for wood that removes ur crack all together... put in ur bulkhead and ball valve/check valve and ur good to go. Paint ur bottom black as u wish and never worry again. I have a feeling ull make the issue worse covering it up and forgetting about it so to speak. New bulkhead and a hole saw bit may run u $20-30...
Wednesday for mayor! In Wednesday we trust!
