My new tank just broke

[corals b 4 bills]

I called Lemar and they were Zero help, All they kept saying was can't tell you what you should do, not covered by warrentee, bring the tank down and we will see what we ca do (Los Angeles), I need a tank manufacturer here in the Bay Area, anyone know of one.

 

[tuberider]

Glass manufacturers are few and far between in this area, I've held tanks together with sandwiched glass in the past, however none as big as yours.

That sucks man, usually I can find humor in just about anything, not right now though :-


BTW, Please don't get out of the hobby, your wife will quickly get tired of you hanging around all the time instead of hanging out under your tank.

 

[corals b 4 bills]

I feel sick.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Alright, here's what I would do given the situation, mind you this is not a quick fix but a really long drawn out one.

1) clean out some room in the garage for a while put down a sheet of plywood, basically a flat area you can work on this tank.
2) I'm assuming it's rectangular in which case you're good to go.
3) That overflow is most likely just siliconed right into place, so remove all that silicone and the overflow, put it asside (if it's glass wrap it up in bubble wrap or something to keep it from breaking)
3b) I'd put some sort of corner bracing near the bottom on each corner, because when you remove the bottom you're removing a lot of lateral strength.
4) Remove the silicone near the bottom where the piece is attached, glass should slide free with nothing holding onto it.
5) Get a new pane of glass (or hell I'm betting you can do a PVC panel like the AGE(??) tanks.) put that on the bottom and slide the rest of the tank on top of it (this why I suggest plywood on the floor, a tank this large is gonna be a heavy SOB and moving it is going to be a pain! But use wesson veggie oil or something to make it slide smoothly, don't need to chip the sides!) (make sure there's cushioning under!!!!)
6) Brace up all the sides of the tank so that they won't fall, and remove the rest of the silicone (you can NOT simply apply over the old stuff and expect a nice leak free seal)
7) Tape up along all the edges (a tank that size luckily you can stand inside and do this) to make a nice clean look
8) Gets some black 995 and reseal the whole damn thing, before it dries up toss the overflow back in and seal that up.
9) THen get it on a table so you can work under. And drill an overflow hole (be careful you don't want to go through all this crap over again!) You could also drill that hole before moving the tank.
10) If you manage to get this done, kiss the ground and wait a LONG time for the 995 to fully cure.

Again this is the LONG solution, it is not a weekend job. The size of this tank alone is going to make this a pain in the butt DIY repair job. If it were regular glass, I'd say just scrap it, but it's a nice tank, so ... if you don't feel confident you can do any of this, don't do it.
Of course my first thing would be to try to find a glass tank manufacturer and ask about a fix on this. Unfortunately I don't know who makes tanks in this area in glass.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Also I doubt the sun itself broke it, if I had to guess it might have had some micro-fracture that you couldn't see when you moved it, and the sun caused the glass to expand and the crack when "kink" glass is really strange that way, it's super hard and tough, but it'll give absolutely no warning about breaking.

 

[tuberider]

It's a little far off, but you could use tank repair for an excuse to go the Reef-A-Palloza. Drop the tank off, drop some bucks, pick up tank. This is only a setback, or as Ricky would say a "major situation".

 

[corals b 4 bills]

Thank's Mike, I am confident that I can do it myself just needed some inspiration from someone like you. That was a GREAT plan of attack! How long do you think something like this would take for me to fix? If I got it all preped four guys with glass suction cups could lift it out and set it back into place right?

 

[Elite]

LMK if you need help. I can help you on one of the weekend. I don't think it's hard. We just might have to do it couple times ;D .. Don't give up man. We are here for you.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Yup, 4 guys should be able to lift it with suction cups and place it back on your new base without much of a problem.. I still say put down some vegetable oil just so you can slip it around if it's not EXACTLY on.

How long? I honestly couldn't tell you. The size of that tank alone would scare me, simply because I don't have 4 guys on standby to help me move it around However removing the silicone while labor intensive, not too long, just enough to remove the bottom pane remember, you want to keep those sides as strong as possible! If you have the glass/PVC bottom no problem. Putting it back, Re-bracing so you can remove all the silicone, labor intensive x 4! But all the above if you had the bottom in place, could be a weekend job.
I would take a lot of care in making the re-silicone job go good, so a minimum of one weekend just to set everything else back up and resilicone with Dow 995.
The cure process could take a while though, not sure exactly how long, but for a FULL cure, more than a weekend.
Then (and I didn't mention this above) fill it with the hose after you're 100% sure it's cured, and let it sit for a long while just to see if anything breaks/leaks, best in your garage than in your living room!

 

[iani]

That really sucks. I hope everything works out well. Just remember to use the GE rtv-108

 

[corals b 4 bills]

Oh Oh, Witch one Dow 995 or GE rtv-108?

 

[iani]

From all that I have read the ge rtv-108 is the best silicon to use for an aquarium. I've never done it but its just what I've read.

 

[sfsuphysics]

oh yeah get some second opinions on silicone to use, my memory might be off on the number. I seem to recall Dow 795(?) for glass to PVC. Definitely don't want to get the wrong stuff after all that work!

 

[sfsuphysics]

RTV-108 will work, as will 795. Not sure I'd skimp though here, so do your homework.

 

[Apon]

wasn't there a Glass aquarium guy up in the sacramento area? He did a glass tank for the Raffle at Pam and Karl's SWAP last year.

 

[alve]

Oh man, sorry to hear that. I hope all will work well with the repairs! I have to work all weekend but pretty much any other Sunday I should be able to help out if you need any.

 

[tuberider]

Too bad Artistic Aquariums is gone it's a long shot but you could see if their master builder is still there (Old County Rd in Belmont) he could help you even though he can be an a-hole at times.....

 

[seminolecpa]

Speachless......



I can be one of your 4 man crew when you decide to repair it.

 

[corals b 4 bills]

Thank's to you all, my wife had to tend to her mother who's in the hospital that's why Iv'e been gone for a while, OK my heads on straight again, I'm going to look into having someone repair it, if not I can do it-no problem. Wow what a wild mind F for the past several hours.................One thing I failed to mension to you all...............I drove 810 miles to Los angeles to buy this tank on Sunday because it was my only chance to own a 225 gallon tank, If I were to order one the wife would only stand the 180, this was my only shot! and I F'd it up! Yea 12 hours there and back to buy a tank.............Well my plan worked for a while, at the end of the evening Susan said lets fix this tank and sell it, then you can buy the tank you really want.........This IS the tank I really want! ARG, I am just going to have to push on, Thank's Mike your idea about how to repair the tank came in VERY handy when it came to discussing the tank repair to my wife, Thank you.

 

[hooked]

juts my two cents for what its worth . go with the plywood on the garage floor idea . cut loose all that you can from the inside . snap out the shape of the tank on the plywood in the center of the sheet using the factory edges of the ply for square . screw down 2x kleets on all four sides of your snap lines making a frame to flip your tank upside down into , keeping it square and movable . then you can cut from the outside of the tank nice and square . pull the broken piece off , set it on butcher or rosin paper . trace it for a "true" template . have your local glass shop cut a match of it . get it with beveled or eased edges so its easier to move into place when your done building the fish room .

and ill help move it if the timing is right . when and where?