reconstructing glass 265 aquarium

[2songbirds]

Many issues_ 265 glass, corner reef ready over flow, 30g sumpw.2 quiet ones pond filters/fx5/UV filter, tank has 2 cats and 1 algae eater. Hubby wants to rebuild stand as he's questioning sturdiness, I don't see that, but that's his area as I taught him all the aquarium stuff...I see the middle braces supporting the light strips needing to be replaced, which means the main frame needs replaced..but, the bubbles in the silicone, that's what worries me; I don't want to get rid of the tank but I'm afraid of the bubbles, going down about 4 inches into the inside silicon seams...OCD talking??? BTW our light strip makes loud noises when we turn it on and we changed strips, power strips, bulbs, everything but the glass and braces and lids. So, I need to reconstruct this thing or we're storing it or riddng it. Think I just need to take pics of the dang thing as we all love pics...thanks in advance. I really need the help...I really don't want to rid of this tank, as this was MY baby (and I'm the female btw who bribed him to keep the fish we caught in this tank)

 

[Pharaoh]

Yep, we can't comment on the bubbles unless we see them. My 265 has bubbles here and there in the silicone. To some degree, seems to come with having the larger tanks made in mass manufacture situation.

 

[2songbirds]

let me see if I can get decent pics of the bubbles...I'm not sure how long they've been there so I can't say if they've gotten worse. I've read horror stories of tanks splitting due to this, that's what worries me and now I want to break it down immediately and put the cats I don't know where for the time being...

 

[2songbirds]

I tried getting pics of them-came out ok on my phone, not so good on the screen and I can't figure out where they went on the computer once I emailed them to myself. I'll have hubby find the camera when he gets home and try take better pics. But, it's a line of small, cluster bubbles going down the left side of the front seam.

 

[2songbirds]

Just wanted to post that after I've have the time now to read through the posts on here, looking at other pictures, and read other stuff online, the tiny bubble I have are in the facory seals. I came to this conclusion as before I went vack online, I put my hand in the tank to see if I could feel where the bubbles were, etc. My fingers were nowhere near them as they were inside the glass panels themselves-it's from where the left side glass fits onto the front piece (or however it goes). I also noticed there's "stuff" in there too. On the other side it looks like a small piece of cardboard or something, another spot has a tiny paper like substance in the factory seal. I did not originally buy the tank so I don't have the receipt to complain to the company. I believe the stickers say it's from 2006. I'm just worried about the bubbles making the tank split on me as it's a bigger tank though, and I can't see the back end as it's up against the wall. The top part of the seal has one inch of solid bubbles, looks like a scratch almost, but with the flashlight on my phone and used in a certain angle, it make the bubbles "glisten", then I can follow a weird looking shadow line down to the bubbles that isn't too bad, but is a couple inches long. The bubbles are tiny themselves and in a single line. After that, they are sparadic and scarce. I will get a pic up tomorrow as I couldn't find the camara.

 

[2songbirds]

 

[2songbirds]

the above were the best I could do. The brighter line, made of a bunch of tiny close bubbles as far as I can tell, is directly underneath the black frame, came with the tank I believe, it's inside the main seal. It's the areas that are in alignment beneath that brighter line with the bubbles that I'm concerned about. I dont' know how long they've been there (I had a seizure over the summer that did wonders to my short term memory). It's harder to tell if my 125 has this as the silicone seals are as wide.

Should I take tear the tank down and try to strip it- tear that glass panel apart and reseal it? Or is this common of *all* tanks, just more noticeable with the larger ones? We have to do a lot of work to it anyways (frame, braces, build new stand, bigger sump) along with insulation the garage for indoor pond. Honestly, if this tanks entails tearing a glass panel apart, I'd rather just rid of it...

 

[2songbirds]

The outside seal on the tank on this corner is nonexistant and we both noticed that's where the bubbles seem to be, in that seal. We're going to reapply some sealant on the (outside) of the tank and hope it stops any further damage. I won't be taking off the top frame of the tank at this point as we weren't planning on doing that for a couple more weeks, but also thought the tank was in sturdier condition to do so since the top frame leaks at places as well.

any thoughts on the bubbles busting my tank??

 

[2songbirds]

Ok, so I officially found the source of the bubbles that the pics were taken from above...contacted Marineland about that and the top frame issue. Going to do a 2nd water change on the tank this week and take some pics of the "issues" and send them the pics so they can forward them to their engineers. Finally, going to get some help on this matter!!! I stated how I'm not the original owner, but I did find the anchor symbol stickers on the underneath lids, said mfs 2006 so I was right-tank is from that year...and the stand has the original perfecto stickers on it as well, which I told them. I also told them how I have a 125g and 54g of theirs and described how different the top frames are from the 265g from the 125g as I'm questioning if I should replace just the 2 off center braces or do the entire frame. Plus, I mentioned I really don't want to spend 2k from my LFS, minus the trade in value, plus Uhaul price to swap tanks just to replace this one because of these issues when we're going to be building a new one anyways! I'll see what they say. We've no problems with fixing up the tank, just sucks if it's not regular wear and tear and I as not the original owner don't have any warranty rights. But, I knew that when buying used....

I'm also waiting to hear back as they never did answer my question about the top frame with the 2 braces, if it's supposed to be in one piece or 3 pieces with the braces as the left side of the frame to the one brace isn't aligned properly I saw. Doesn't leak there though...I"ve a feeling I'm going to have to order an entire new frame altogether. I figured it was broken during the move from owner #1 to #2 as they were friends, but resiliconed. Hubby looked at it the other day and said it doesn't look like it was broken cuz it's too even, too clean and symmetrical to be a break, esp the same place on both braces. Hmmmmm