Disaster help.

[flgoose]

I have a diy tank 83 inch x 27 inch x27 inch. Roughly 280 gal. It is made of 1/2 inch glass all around with top and bottom trim. This morning after my morning routine there was a loud bang that nearly gave me a heart attack. Of course water was leaking. So i rushed to get the tank empy.

Aftet cleaning everything, i discovered a crack on the bottom glass. Starting at 6 or so inches from back corner running for the lenght to about 10 inches from the left panel toward the front. The crack is sort of s shaped.

Now i saw some official video showing that a bottom crack can be patched by adding a piece of glass bigger than the crack and silicone it in nice and solid. I also read other articles of tanks being patched that way. But most of those tanks were no where near my size or gal.

Replacing the bottom could be an impossible task as the trim is made of wood wrapping from sides to bottom in one pice per side. Also there are 2 1 1/2 inch braces also siliconed in quite good. The tank itself is about 10 years old but i refilled in after a move about 4 months ago.

The question is, should i patch it or scrap it? The wife wants me to get a smaller one but i love my big tank.

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[BlackTip]

Scrap it, it is not worth the risk.

[ZenAqua]

I wouldn't want to patch it, if only for the constant raised blood pressure of anticipating that next loud bang!

Build a new one, maybe? Obviously tanks should last longer than 10 years, but getting that amount of time out of it is still great for a DIY.

[thegrun]

scrap!

[Balletomane]

I agree with the sage folks above. It might be helpful to know if the bottom pane was tempered. My guess is no, as tempered glass basically explodes when it goes, not a graceful 'S' fracture. Not that any of this will help your current situation...that sucka is toast. More for future reference. Determination of tempered vs non-tempered is not as easy as some would have you believe. If you have a nearby art glass shop they can be very helpful for future DIY builds. As for the current mess I might suggest entering it in a Punkin Chuckin contest. I'm entertaining visions of the tank vs a 12# pumpkin thrown by a Trebuchet. If you can do this the motley crew in The Lounge will ply you with many adult beverages if you can supply video.

[Smokey Stover]

Maybe get a new pane of glass for the bottom, Strip/clean the four good sides and re-build it. Although 83x27x27 is pushing the limits of 1/2" glass even with bracing.

[sleepydoc]

Agree with the others - scrap the tank. The underlying question here is why did it crack in the first place? Either the glass was undersized or the tank was not adequately supported. Or both. Unless you fix the underlying issue there's no point in trying to fix the tank.

[flgoose]

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, 1/2 inch glass was at the very limit but it worked well for 10 plus years. I did find out why it cracked. The reason is almost unbelivable. The tank is sitting on a tiled floor. I noticed one of the tiles near the corner where the crack started, is cracked. I was able to pull the shims out with no resistance what so ever. So it must have been a bad tile job. With the weight of literally a ton of water, the tile cracked and sunked down enough to cause stress on the glass which eventually failed. It had nothing to do with the leveling or the tank when i put it up. I even measured the water line as it was filling up and it was perfect all around.

Now i'm left with the task of getting rid of the thing. The tank alone weigh in the 400 plus pounds and i dont want to pay anyone to get it out as i did to put it up. I had moved to different state so family and friends are not available to help. Sooo i guess a well planned sledge hammer beating will have to do.

On the plus side, i did locate a used 125 gal to replace it.

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[Darthv247]

downsize? never!

[flgoose]

Yeah i know downsize is going to suck big time.

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[FishN00b83]

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, 1/2 inch glass was at the very limit but it worked well for 10 plus years. I did find out why it cracked. The reason is almost unbelivable. The tank is sitting on a tiled floor. I noticed one of the tiles near the corner where the crack started, is cracked. I was able to pull the shims out with no resistance what so ever. So it must have been a bad tile job. With the weight of literally a ton of water, the tile cracked and sunked down enough to cause stress on the glass which eventually failed. It had nothing to do with the leveling or the tank when i put it up. I even measured the water line as it was filling up and it was perfect all around.

Now i'm left with the task of getting rid of the thing. The tank alone weigh in the 400 plus pounds and i dont want to pay anyone to get it out as i did to put it up. I had moved to different state so family and friends are not available to help. Sooo i guess a well planned sledge hammer beating will have to do.

On the plus side, i did locate a used 125 gal to replace it.

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That scares the hell out of me because I have a 180 on a tile floor. The tile is directly on the slab in the bottom floor of my house. I always thought slab+tile=rock solid, but apparently that's wrong. Thank god you were home to hear it.

[ThRoewer]

I fixed tanks with cracked bottoms before, but those were smaller and set up over an emptied out swimming pool so leaks or overflows were nothing more than a slight nuisance (had plenty of those from letting tanks overflow when re-filling them.)

If the crack is end to end (= has split the bottom pane into 2 pieces) you could patch it. The real danger comes from the crack spreading to one of the upright panels (front, back, sides). While it is doable, I would only do it if the tank is in a room where leaks are not a catastrophe.

[flgoose]

That scares the hell out of me because I have a 180 on a tile floor. The tile is directly on the slab in the bottom floor of my house. I always thought slab+tile=rock solid, but apparently that's wrong. Thank god you were home to hear it.
Yeah, i would have never believe it either. I taugh tiles over cement cant be any safer than that.

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[flgoose]

I fixed tanks with cracked bottoms before, but those were smaller and set up over an emptied out swimming pool so leaks or overflows were nothing more than a slight nuisance (had plenty of those from letting tanks overflow when re-filling them.)

If the crack is end to end (= has split the bottom pane into 2 pieces) you could patch it. The real danger comes from the crack spreading to one of the upright panels (front, back, sides). While it is doable, I would only do it if the tank is in a room where leaks are not a catastrophe.
I was thinking about this. The crack is from righ side panel to left front panel. It is cracked all the way so i dont think it would travel up the upright panels. The 1/2 inch glass bottom is well supported by the outer rim and 2 braces. Both made out of 3/4 inch wood. Lets assume that everything is pefectly leveled once again. I was thinking of placing a sheet of acrylic siliconed in to the bottom glass and seal it all around. This should fix the tank. If its feasable what thickness you guys think i should use? I was thinking maybe 3/8 or even less.

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[ThRoewer]

Acrylic won't stick well to silicone, what you need is glass.
As long as the silicone seams to the front and side panel are thick enough, there is no high risk of stress being transferred to the crack adjourning panels.

If the patching is done correctly it should hold up just fine. In the end need to evaluate the risks and if you are willing to take them.

BTW, split bottom panels are quite common with larger tanks in Germany. It's to give the bottom some flexibility and reduce the risk of cracking. IMO it's a better solution than using tempered glass.

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[flgoose]

Acrylic won't stick well to silicone, what you need is glass.
As long as the silicone seams to the front and side panel are thick enough, there is no high risk of stress being transferred to the crack adjourning panels.

If the patching is done correctly it should hold up just fine. In the end need to evaluate the risks and if you are willing to take them.

BTW, split bottom panels are quite common with larger tanks in Germany. It's to give the bottom some flexibility and reduce the risk of cracking. IMO it's a better solution than using tempered glass.

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Could i get away with 1/4" glass?

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[uncleof6]

Could i get away with 1/4" glass?

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Absolutely NOT!!! There is only one repair for this tank, and respectfully, I am not overly concerned about what anyone else thinks. I built tanks professionally (along with other contracting) for 20+ years. The only acceptable repair for this tank, is to replace the entire panel that is broken, which will require that you basically rebuild the entire tank, less trouble than starting to build a tank from scratch, but non-the-less, it is not a task that should even be considered by someone that is not a professional builder, especially if they have no experience at all.

As far as "two piece bottomed tanks" go, tanks are engineered to be built using a certain configuration. It is not something that is just done, it is not something done because someone said they did it, or said someone else does it. Your tank was not properly built for what you describe as a "full floated bottom" (raised by the rim.) The bottom panel should have been thicker (15mm - 19mm) or perhaps used tempered glass. (which is really only used to save shipping costs.)

Further, the tank is ten years old, and enough stress was placed on the tank to break the bottom panel. The stress that broke the bottom panel was also transferred to the side panels, and any bracing on the tank. (Newton's laws of motion.) There is no way for you to evaluate whether or not the rest of the tank has in some way been compromised, even if visibly you see nothing that seems odd or different. There is no way for anyone else sitting behind a computer screen to evaluate the integrity of the tank either.

Let's look at this realistically. You got 10 years of service from a tank with questionable integrity from the word go. Any attempted repair, especially with no experience, is not going to restore the tank to its original integrity. Even with a "good patch job," the bottom panel will not be anywhere near the strength of the original glass panel unbroken; it just doesn't work that way. (The tank certainly is not engineered to use a two piece bottom; a practice that is questionable at the very best anyway, and is really just part of the "one up them" game.) A pro builder could probably save the tank, (complete rebuild) and make it better than original, with a price tag probably higher than the complete replacement cost. I appreciate that ThRoewer included a disclaimer. Although replacing the entire panel is a calculated risk, patching it is not: it is an unacceptable risk.

However, the tank has reached its EOL. Put it out of its misery and YOURS! If you are not the wasteful type, take it apart, take the glass to a fab shop, have the glass cleaned up, tempered and make tables out of it. You will still have a story to tell, but the outcome will be better than the tank letting go worse than it already did.

[flgoose]

Absolutely NOT!!! There is only one repair for this tank, and respectfully, I am not overly concerned about what anyone else thinks. I built tanks professionally (along with other contracting) for 20+ years. The only acceptable repair for this tank, is to replace the entire panel that is broken, which will require that you basically rebuild the entire tank, less trouble than starting to build a tank from scratch, but non-the-less, it is not a task that should even be considered by someone that is not a professional builder, especially if they have no experience at all.

As far as "two piece bottomed tanks" go, tanks are engineered to be built using a certain configuration. It is not something that is just done, it is not something done because someone said they did it, or said someone else does it. Your tank was not properly built for what you describe as a "full floated bottom" (raised by the rim.) The bottom panel should have been thicker (15mm - 19mm) or perhaps used tempered glass. (which is really only used to save shipping costs.)

Further, the tank is ten years old, and enough stress was placed on the tank to break the bottom panel. The stress that broke the bottom panel was also transferred to the side panels, and any bracing on the tank. (Newton's laws of motion.) There is no way for you to evaluate whether or not the rest of the tank has in some way been compromised, even if visibly you see nothing that seems odd or different. There is no way for anyone else sitting behind a computer screen to evaluate the integrity of the tank either.

Let's look at this realistically. You got 10 years of service from a tank with questionable integrity from the word go. Any attempted repair, especially with no experience, is not going to restore the tank to its original integrity. Even with a "good patch job," the bottom panel will not be anywhere near the strength of the original glass panel unbroken; it just doesn't work that way. (The tank certainly is not engineered to use a two piece bottom; a practice that is questionable at the very best anyway, and is really just part of the "one up them" game.) A pro builder could probably save the tank, (complete rebuild) and make it better than original, with a price tag probably higher than the complete replacement cost. I appreciate that ThRoewer included a disclaimer. Although replacing the entire panel is a calculated risk, patching it is not: it is an unacceptable risk.

However, the tank has reached its EOL. Put it out of its misery and YOURS! If you are not the wasteful type, take it apart, take the glass to a fab shop, have the glass cleaned up, tempered and make tables out of it. You will still have a story to tell, but the outcome will be better than the tank letting go worse than it already did.
Thanks for your input. Yeah i know that the wise thing to do is putting it to rest. Still part of me is hanging on to the hope of saving it. The tank was my pride and joy for so long and it is very hard to let go. The wife thinks is a bad idea fixing it. Most of the comments here agree with her. A second fail could be even worse disaster. It is so hard to let go but i do know that i have to.

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[Shotter]

I repaired my sump with the same issue.

The crack went from side to side and all i did was buy a piece of glass which fit as a patch from side to side wider than the track of the crack by a few inches either side.

I cleaned the sump bottom as much as possible with acetane, then pushed silicone into the crack. Zig zag silicone along the size of the patch and fit the glass with pressure and sealed all the sides.

6 months on, I'm OK. However - this is in my sump which is 30'' x 12'' x 15'' - the water pressure is not high at all and I would be indifferent about doing this on a larger DP.