Did I find a steal or... ?

[jrthor_85]

so I found what I thought was a good deal on Craigslist. "4ft tank" for 40 bucks.

I am a little unsure if this tank is suitable for fish though. The glass is in excellent condition (no scratches, cracks, or chips). The tank is 48"L x 16"W x 17"Tall roughly 57 gallons. My concern is the thickness of the glass... the glass is a hair under 1/4" thick and it is tempered (has the green tint when looking on edge). There is also no cross bracing on the lid. the plastic casing around the top of the tank does not have a lip for the normal style glass flip-tops. The tank is fitted with a slide-in screen top. Only work needed seems to be cleaning the glass. It doesn't appear to need resealing, but I think I'm going to do it anyway just to be safe.

The tank does have a label on the glass that says "Aquatic Environments" which I have found is a retailer, not a manufacturer, and there aren't any located near me to ask. No other labels of any kind.

The previous owner told me she used this tank to hold snakes for 6 months, and then it has sat empty for 5 years.

I really would love to use this tank to replace my hazed, scratched, and frac'd out TruVu acrylic 55gal.

My questions are:

1: is the glass thick enough to use as an aquarium rather than just a terrarium? This will not house "glass bangers", only gentler SA fish.

2: The silicone I want to reseal the tank is "GE Silicone 1", correct?

 

[Redbellypiranha]

There should be a little note on the bottom of the tank that is visible looking into the tank at the bottom that should tell you if it's capable to hold water


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[jrthor_85]

There should be a little note on the bottom of the tank that is visible looking into the tank at the bottom that should tell you if it's capable to hold water

What exactly would I be looking for?

I saw no markings of any kind on this tank, and just to be sure I also checked my backup tanks (1 10gal and 2 20gal-talls, all three by All-Glass-Aquariums) and none have any markings other than a paper tag that says "assembled by #####"

 

[Chizzle]

Sounds like a reptile tank, but if its temperred it should hold water.

I would do a week garage test to be sure and ge silicone 1 is correct.

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[jrthor_85]

Sounds like a reptile tank, but if its temperred it should hold water.

I would do a week garage test to be sure and ge silicone 1 is correct.

It does have that green tint when looking at a corner, which I assume means the glass is tempered. I will get the silicone tomorrow and clean/seal the tank then. Then I suppose I just follow the destructions on letting the silicone cure and then fill up the tank. So guessing two weeks or so before I can set this up, which will be nice to give some new fish a chance to relax before I swap everything from the old to the new tank.

 

[F1 VET]

Sounds like a reptile tank, but if its temperred it should hold water.

I would do a week garage test to be sure and ge silicone 1 is correct.

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+1, 1/4" is used for 40b max in aquariums. Test fill in garage as said above.
Screen top is a dead giveaway, how can u mount an hob?


Go S. Vettel #1 rb8

 

[jrthor_85]

It's obvious that it's a reptile tank, but my reason for asking is if it would be suitable for aquarium use as well.

If I use no top with suspended lighting, a HOB would work just fine. You're also assuming I use HOB filters at all, which I don't. I use 2x XP3's for the setup this tank would replace. Yes I know that's a lot for for a 55 without any super-poopers in it, but it's what I use.

Your comment that 1/4" is max for 40gallon is what I was wondering about. That was my #1 concern when I first saw the tank. Do you have a chart or something that could be considered an industry standard for thickness/capacity? I'm not doubting you, I'm just wondering if there's something like that out there.

 

[F1 VET]

Prlly just Google it, glass thickness is linked to height, taller the tank, thicker the glass. if your tank is same height as a 40b i think ur good. I've had a lot of tanks so I'm just going by my experience.

Im not sure is trust it in my house, but test fill outside.



Go S. Vettel #1 rb8

 

[chachaman50]

good luck to you!

 

[tomomothy]

Prlly just Google it, glass thickness is linked to height, taller the tank, thicker the glass. if your tank is same height as a 40b i think ur good. I've had a lot of tanks so I'm just going by my experience.

Im not sure is trust it in my house, but test fill outside.



Go S. Vettel #1 rb8

Pretty much what he said, but Ive googled glass thickness vs height before and found different manufacturers have slightly different specs. Just check a few and see if youre in spec. If youre still on the thin side, id say dont try it. Checking to see if it holds water is a good start, but dont forget adding sand/gravel will add more pressure to the bottom of the tank, plus adding a canopy, lid lights, HOB etc will put more pressure on the glass. Plus if any substrate gets kicked up into one of the sides by cleaning or one of your fish it could cause problems if its already stressed.

Theres no good way to see if it will withstand the test of time, all you can do is fill it up and check for leaks or bowing of the longest pieces. Definitely check it outside, and I'd carefully add more gravel/rocks or whatever you can to go a bit further in weight than you plan on doing. Thats about as good of a test as you can get