Cracked 210, fix or not? pics...

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justinduke

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 26, 2009
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Arkansas
Well unfortunately I managed to crack the bottom of my 210g in transport this week. Crack is on the bottom of the tank. Has a 3/4" bottom I believe. Only been able to get ahold of one glass place and the thickest they could get was 1/2". So what should I do? I would like to fix the tank if at all possible because it was a good deal and I just built a new stand for it. Would it be possible to lay a sheet on top of the cracked sheet to fix it? Maybe acrylic? Not sure, so just let me know what you think.

cracktank.jpg
 
Since its the bottom pain, you could remove the broken pain and replace it with plywood. You would have to fibreglass the plywood first to waterproof it... you wouldnt even notice it once covered in sand or gravel.
 
i think you could replace the broken pane with a new pane of lesser thickness and get away with it, as long as you don't have to move it very often.
 
personally if it were me I'd get the I/2" glass cut the same dimensions as the bottom, take the tank apart, bond it to the 3/4 cracked bottom, bond a piece of glass the length and width of the crack underneath it and then put the tank back together.

definitely heavier to move but would be strong.

btw what are the dimensions of the bottom? http://www.glasscages.com/?sAction=ViewCat&lCatID=42 fancy a road trip?
 
justinduke;3368519; said:
Well unfortunately I managed to crack the bottom of my 210g in transport this week. Crack is on the bottom of the tank. Has a 3/4" bottom I believe. Only been able to get ahold of one glass place and the thickest they could get was 1/2". So what should I do? I would like to fix the tank if at all possible because it was a good deal and I just built a new stand for it. Would it be possible to lay a sheet on top of the cracked sheet to fix it? Maybe acrylic? Not sure, so just let me know what you think.
Click to expand...


damn man i feel u:(

got a 200g fish tank for 100 bucks. with a wet/ dry got home and cracked the bottom of it.. :( good luck on ur problem..
 
here is an easy fix for you

first, set up the tank on your stand with foam under it to keep it lvl.

then for every foot in length of the bottom pane take one tube of silicone, cut them open and use a spatula to spread it the entire bottom of the tank making sure that you have the entire bottom covered to the point that you are at least 1 inch above the bottom seal so that you overlap completely the join on the glass.

Then let the thing sit for a good week or 2 to make sure the silicone is completely cured.

Done deal fill it about 6 inches full, see if it leaks. If it does well you only out some time and about 30 bucks, then go the replace route, but, I am pretty sure it will hold no probs.
 
I wouldn't trust silicone alone. Sure, it will do a decent job of waterproofing the tank, but it will do nothing structurally. I predict that a silicone-only solution would result in a catestrophic failure of the side panel.

My vote would be to get a piece of glass cut that is the same size as the bottom panel, cut out the silicone bead inside the tank (but not the silicone holding the tank together - pretend you're doing a reseal). Then cover the broken bottom panel in silicone and install the new panel on top of it inside the tank. You should be able to get away with a thinner panel (i.e. 1/2") this way.

Otherwise, if you can't get a panel big enough to cover the bottom of the tank, you could probably get away with one that just covers the crack and touches both long sides of the tank. It wont be quite as strong, but it should hopefully so the job.

But please don't just take my word on it, confirm it with some of the smarter people on MFK before you do anything.
 
i dont know man silicone is what holds the glass together and the crack does not look like a massive comprimise of the integrity of all four sides but a touch on the end and one side.

Let me add one more ghetto touch to my fix.

take some marine grade expoxy and paint it over the crack overlapping on both sides by about 1 inch. Let that dry, then take some gorilla glue and gorilla tap and go over the crack again glue first, cure, tape. Then apply silicone fix, with one change gorilla tape staples as it were spaced at 3 inch intervals with a 2 inch overlap the entire length of the crack.

I am almost so sure this would work that I would pay for the above materials just to see, or would crack a tank on purpose just to see. After all this is a 210 not a 500.
 
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