120 gallon tank glass questions.

rlf_racing

New member
I found a 120 gallon glass tank a few days ago in someones trash. I did notice a small amount of damage to one pane of glass and a damage to a corner of the decorative frame along the bottom. I did fill the tank all the way up with water while it was outside to see if it would hold water. It held water for 8 hrs with no issue.

My questions are. With the one pane of glass that has a chip in it,how would I go about repairing it? Is there a thread here with step by step instructions on something like this? And as for the decorative frame work on the bottom of the tank. How hard would it be to pull it off and replace it with real wood?
 

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You can order resin that they use to repair glass online. Fairly inexpensive but you need a uv light to cure it or maybe you could just leave it in the sun for a couple of days.
 
Would the resin be strong enough to be a permanent fix? The chip is on the left corner of the front pane.
 
For me the risk of using the tank would depend on the room and potential damage...

example
free 120g tank with possibility of $5k damage to hardwood floors... OR MORE :eek1:
vs
$500 new tank and you can sleep at night.. :smurf:

its your risk and your reward.

:wave:
 
The resin is supposedly harder than glass. They use to repair plate glass windows.

Who knows if the tank has other damage that is not visable at this time, but I broke a corner of one of my end panels during assembly of my rimless. Repaired it with resin and it was fine.
 
Where would I find a resin repair kit to give it a shot? Ill test it with water for a week or so. Im not going to be setting it up any time soon. Still have other thongs going on first. If the resin trick doesn't work I know I can get a sheet of glass from glass cages for 108 picked up near me.
 
That tank wouldn't be in my house. To break a corner like that... It had to have been dropped... maybe not far... but dropped. And then there is the chip... 60% of the width of that glass has been compromised. For me, the tank is the cheapest part of the this hobby which is probably why the original owner dumped it and didnt fix it.
 
indyman99 is completely right, he brings up a very good point, you might be able to find a good deal in classifieds or just buy one for 300$, my aquarium was brand new 150 aga and it was 350$.

Better safe than sorry - the time your gona spend fixing it up and blah blah blah - it might just be better to buy one.
 
Fixing up the tank doesn't bother me. As I have the time to repair it. Would it be better to completely tear it apart and rebuild it? I am willing to do this as I want to learn how to build my own tanks and sumps. Im willing to even try the resin fix. As I can set the tank up temporarly outside and let it go for while to see how it goes.

As for it being dropped, I spoke to the former owner. It was never dropped. The broken corner on the decorative frame was damaged moving it into another room. Thank you for all the responses. Im open for more opinions.
 
ok well i guess you can give it a try, the silicone looks worn out from the pics, the silicone looks as if it is receding, you can try to re-seal it, any ideas for fixing the plastic support/frame of the aquarium?
 
also that one chip that dips to the inner part of the glass (first pic) bothers me the most, the others are fine... If you re-seal it, i would take that plate of glass and turn in over and place it in a way where the chip is located closer to the top of the aquarium instead of the bottom(less pressure at top), cant tell from the pic.

good luck
 
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