Did you ever own a chipped corner aquarium?

Dieselhybrid

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Mar 31, 2010
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Just added a second chip to one of my glass 200 gallons. Luckily just fine
 
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Ghandi_bl

Feeder Fish
Nov 22, 2018
2
2
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27
Banja Luka, BiH
Hi, everyone! I'm new here, and I couldn't find any rule thread, so I'm sorry if I broke any (would be helpful if someone gave me link to the rule thread). I've recently got new tank (250l, unfortunately, I don't have space for anything bigger at the moment), and I screwed it up on the very first day I got it lol. I would appreciate if someone could help me and give me some idea how to fix it.

I've accidentaly chipped 2 bottom corners of my 250l aquarium. Is there any way I can fix that without replacing the whole bottom panel? Both chipped corners are under the front panel. Pictured is only one, second one is similar, but smaller piece is missing.

24becac6fd14.jpg eea84d14c2d0.jpg

PS, I love your forum, and hope to stay here for a while :)
 
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tiger15

Goliath Tigerfish
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Oct 1, 2012
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I once owned a 30 gal used tank with a chipped edge. It held water for 6 months, then one day it it blew spontaneously and flooded the carpet.

A friend of mine bought a used 500 gal tank with a chip on an edge. He tested filled it with no leak. Then he set it up with fish all evening and went to sleep at mid night. Then around 3 am, there is a dam break with the chipped side of the glass yielded. All 500 gal of water flooded the room with no way of stopping. He spent the rest of the night to safe the fish in another tank and still had to go to work in the morning with no sleep. He gave up fish keeping afterward.

Buying used tank is taking unknown risk, and with a chipped side, a sure disaster waiting to happen.
 

skjl47

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
May 16, 2011
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Hi, everyone! I'm new here, and I couldn't find any rule thread, so I'm sorry if I broke any (would be helpful if someone gave me link to the rule thread). I've recently got new tank (250l, unfortunately, I don't have space for anything bigger at the moment), and I screwed it up on the very first day I got it lol. I would appreciate if someone could help me and give me some idea how to fix it.

I've accidentaly chipped 2 bottom corners of my 250l aquarium. Is there any way I can fix that without replacing the whole bottom panel? Both chipped corners are under the front panel. Pictured is only one, second one is similar, but smaller piece is missing.

View attachment 1345545 View attachment 1345546

PS, I love your forum, and hope to stay here for a while :)
Hello; I personally have never had a tank chipped out that bad. What you have is visually pretty bad. Much will depend on the risk you are willing to take. In a house on a wood floor or on carpet I would not much trust any sort of patch. On a basement slab with a floor drain then sure.

My first thought is to find a water safe place and put about 15 cm of water in the tank to see if the tank actually leaks the way it is. If by some chance it is water tight then I might try some epoxy on the chipped corners. Maybe with something to reinforce the epoxy. I have used Kevlar thread and epoxy to repair a crack in a plastic car radiator. The repair held up for a few weeks.
 

Niki_up

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MFK Member
Jan 5, 2018
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Hi, everyone! I'm new here, and I couldn't find any rule thread, so I'm sorry if I broke any (would be helpful if someone gave me link to the rule thread). I've recently got new tank (250l, unfortunately, I don't have space for anything bigger at the moment), and I screwed it up on the very first day I got it lol. I would appreciate if someone could help me and give me some idea how to fix it.

I've accidentaly chipped 2 bottom corners of my 250l aquarium. Is there any way I can fix that without replacing the whole bottom panel? Both chipped corners are under the front panel. Pictured is only one, second one is similar, but smaller piece is missing.

View attachment 1345545 View attachment 1345546

PS, I love your forum, and hope to stay here for a while :)
I personally would not trust that chip! That tank scares me haha

I do agree with skjl47, if in a basement maybe I would try after a leak test.
 

skjl47

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
May 16, 2011
4,402
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Tennessee
Hello; I have chipped the corners of glass tanks and used them without problems also. however the photos of the tank in question show more than the more common chipping. Looks more like the corners are crushed. I have never used nor had a tank with damage which looked like that so cannot compare to the more ordinary chip. Tank may still hold water but is questionable is other than a water safe place.

Hello; On a related issue; protection. I have for many years been covering the corners of my all glass tanks. I found a clear plastic which is used to cover the outside corners of a wallpaper job. I cut it to length and use clear silicone to adhear it in place. Because the plastic is about an inch wide, on smaller tanks I use a straight edge to score and then a tool to cut down the width. This make for a cushion on the exposed glass edges.
 

Nick Park

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Jul 11, 2017
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Drogheda, Ireland
Hi, everyone! I'm new here, and I couldn't find any rule thread, so I'm sorry if I broke any (would be helpful if someone gave me link to the rule thread). I've recently got new tank (250l, unfortunately, I don't have space for anything bigger at the moment), and I screwed it up on the very first day I got it lol. I would appreciate if someone could help me and give me some idea how to fix it.

I've accidentaly chipped 2 bottom corners of my 250l aquarium. Is there any way I can fix that without replacing the whole bottom panel? Both chipped corners are under the front panel. Pictured is only one, second one is similar, but smaller piece is missing.
I've got a 600l tank with a chipped corner, and no problems yet, but that picture scares me. That's more of a chunk than a chip!
 

Ghandi_bl

Feeder Fish
Nov 22, 2018
2
2
3
27
Banja Luka, BiH
Thank you everyone for your answers. That's what I was afraid of. I was thinking to fill those gaps with epoxy or something similar, but if that's to risky, it will be new bottom panel. I've never glued tank myself, so I have a question about that (hope it's not a stupid one). Is it better to glue side panels on top of the bottom panel, or around it? Tank dimensions are 1m x 0,5m x 0,5m, and glass thickness is 10mm (is it better to get 12mm for the bottom?) What kind of rims do I need for this aquarium? (logitudinal on long panels or H rims? Top and
bottom, or top only?)

Sorry in advance if there are some mistakes, english isn't my native language.
 
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monkeybike

Aimara
MFK Member
Mar 13, 2015
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Thank you everyone for your answers. That's what I was afraid of. I was thinking to fill those gaps with epoxy or something similar, but if that's to risky, it will be new bottom panel. I've never glued tank myself, so I have a question about that (hope it's not a stupid one). Is it better to glue side panels on top of the bottom panel, or around it? Tank dimensions are 1m x 0,5m x 0,5m, and glass thickness is 10mm (is it better to get 12mm for the bottom?) What kind of rims do I need for this aquarium? (logitudinal on long panels or H rims? Top and
bottom, or top only?)

Sorry in advance if there are some mistakes, english isn't my native language.
Glue side panels to the top of the bottom pane.
 

mrPickles

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 2, 2023
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39
So I came across a 120 gallon tank, but it has a weird chip in it and I'd like some opinions. He is willing to let it go for $20, and it's going to be in my garage, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if it shatters, provided I haven't added fish yet. Is it worth taking a chance on?

Edit to add: This is a 48x18x32 so it's a pretty tall tank and this is 10" from the bottom if it makes a difference.

IMG_4895.jpeg

IMG_4896.jpeg
 
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