20 Gallon Hex Tank I bought from Travis S.

[Wildstar1063]

Well, it looks like this tank thread is at a premature end.

I went in to the dining room a few minutes ago, and I heard
water dripping under the stand, and when I felt around the
bottom of the tank, there was a crack. I quickly drained it
in to a rubbermaid trashcan that I use to mix salt water.
Then I pulled the rockwork out, and found that the crack
runs all the way across the bottom.

I'm not sure what caused it to crack today, It has been
running all week with no problem, an I have checked the
bottom several times for cracks, but have seen nothing.

Here are the Pics I took after I drained it and pulled the rock
out.

This sucks!! I really liked this tank.


Chuck E.

 

[dugg]

Looks like an over tightened bulkhead. If i remember right Travis replaced the bottom when he started that tank.

 

[Wildstar1063]

I don't know, I only hand tightend the bulkheads, when I put them on, because I was afraid of it cracking. And when I removed them
they were not tight at all.

Wonder how much it would cost to have a new bottom cut.

For those interested in the rock Kuring, when I removed the rock
it felt alot lighter than when I put it in. I wish I had weighed it
before.

Chuck E.

 

[Russ Braaten]

Chuck is the bottom glass or acrylic? It really looks thin.

 

[Wildstar1063]

Russ,

The bottom is glass, it appears to be at least as thick if not
thicker than the sides.

Chuck E.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

:eek1: :eek1: :eek1: OH NO, CHUCK!!! That sucks! I'm so sorry that that happened. Chuck, let me know if you want to give it another go, and we can work on it. Nick (nIx_tank) might remember how much that piece of glass costs and can help give you a general price estimate. I'm positive it was no more than $20, but it had to be special ordered from a local glass shop. FWIW, you might talk to glasscages.com about possibly making a new bottom and shipping it to you with the next order that goes through Oklahoma. It should be a quick and easy project for them.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8775246#post8775246 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Russ Braaten
Chuck is the bottom glass or acrylic? It really looks thin.

It is untempered glass. It's 1/4" glass. The glass the tank is made of is either 1/4" or 3/16". The original tempered bottom piece was 3/16" tempered.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

That was a little confusing. We special ordered a rectangular piece of glass, and then cut it to the hex shape.

 

[Wildstar1063]

I wonder if I could have a piece of acrylic cut for the bottom?

I would definitly like to have it fixed. I teally like the tank. I guess
I could cut the bottom off and take it to a glass shop and have them match it.

Chuck E.

 

[nIx_tank]

Yeah, I had ordered a piece of 1/2" (maybe 1/4") square 24" glass.

I then cut the glass to spec., drilled the holes, and siliconed in the bottom.

I am pretty sure that the glass was at least as thick, or thicker than the sides.

I still actually have the left over glass in my shop, as I ran across it as I was doing some stained glass this past weekend.

The overall piece of the glass was around ~$25, w/ tax.

I am actually surprised that it broke, as it was very stable.

I wonder if there are any sharp points on that concrete column, and the vibration from the pump might have caused the glass to vibrate. Then, with the glass vibrating on the sharp point, maybe that caused the crack?

Otherwise, it really looks like a bulkhead cracked it.

I am sure that you could have a piece of acrylic cut for it, if you knew a person who does acrylic work.

In lieu of that, glasscages could probably knock out the piece relatively quick.

If they won't work with you, then I could always cut another bottom for you, but we could go even thicker glass.

That does suck though, as that was really looking like quite a good tank!

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

I wouldn't go with an acrylic bottom. Not because it is or isn't weaker than glass, but because silicon doesn't stick to acrylic very well.

FWIW, I don't know if a chip of rock could have gotten under the column when you installed, but I made the rock directly in the tank, so the bottom was 100% flat. and even fit around the bulkhead.

 

[nIx_tank]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8793683#post8793683 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Travis L. Stevens
I wouldn't go with an acrylic bottom. Not because it is or isn't weaker than glass, but because silicon doesn't stick to acrylic very well.

FWIW, I don't know if a chip of rock could have gotten under the column when you installed, but I made the rock directly in the tank, so the bottom was 100% flat. and even fit around the bulkhead.

I figured that was how you made that column, so I really don't understand what could have cracked it, other than a problem with the bulkhead.