Disaster 2

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Hey Guys,
Yesterday I purchased some live rock about 150 lbs and placed them in my 135 gal tank, everything went well. This morning when I went to check out the tank, I heard a loud pop. I thought one of the rocks had fell and slammed against the glass so didn't think anything of it. Shortly after, I started to hear little popping noises, and then another big pop. The loud pop was from the center glass brace breaking off from the back glass and falling on the rocks. And all the little popping noise was from the seams breaking apart on all four edges. I flipped out and didn't know what to do. Gather myself and said to myself, "I better do something quick or you will have lots of water to clean up." So I quickly grab the Mag 12 pump and drain some of the water. Now I have about half of my live rocks without water.
So guys.. what should I do? take apart the tank and reseal?
I'll post a pic later tonite.

Kenny
 
Sounds pretty bad. I guess you can reseal it. But I would be worried as to why a tank would come apart from the seams like that so quickly. Hopefully someone with more experience fixing tanks will chime in.

Does this mean you wont pick up the snails today?
 
Kenny,

If there is no empty totes available, you could moist newspaper with saltwater and wrap liverocks with it. As long as it is moist you could salvage most of it. Good luck...hth.
HW
 
The tank is an old tank I purchased. It has been sitting outside for months. I put some silicone on all the inside edges to replace all the hardened silicon. The new silicone held the tank together and when the center brace broke, it put a lot of pressure on the seams, which had old glue.
I should have done it right the first time by ripping all the pieces apart and re-glue everything.
What do you guys think?

Jedininja - Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ll PM you.
 
Yeah, I think that the silicon has to be applied to the actual seam, like BETWEEN the glass pieces, not just like caulking. The weathered old silicon was what was holding the glass together, your new silicon wasn't doing much. That's my guess anyway!

If the glass is not broken, I'm guessing you can rebuild it. Clean the old silicon off first though! I think most tanks last a LONG time. For instance, I know my Dad's 55 gallon fresh tank is at least 20 years old. It was probably the "leaving it outside" that cause the problem?

V
 
Thank goodness the glass didn't crack, and the new glue I used held the tank together when the glue in between the seams gave way.
I had fresh water in the tank for about 2 months without any problems, but the day after I put all the live rocks in this happens. :(
I guess I know how I will spend my long weekend now.
 
If you can get some really long clamps (atleast the width of your tank) you could put those on for a short term solution while you fix the top brace, you should use clamps regardless unless you completely drain the tank. Sounds like a job of resealing the whole tank though not just the center brace if you heard the seems popping.

Did the tank have anything other than rock in it?
 
The seams have all come unglued, only the new glue I put on the inside corners are holding it together.
I drained all but 8" of water hopefully it is still in one piece when I get home today.

I didn't have anything in it, I just added salt in the water last week and added the rocks last nite.
Any tricks on getting off all the silicone off?
 
I'm guessing that scraping the silicon off with a razor blad scraper is the best.

What kind of "glue" did you use? Aquarium silicon? Or some other stuff?

V
 
pic

pic

BEFORE
tank full of water
DSC_0013sm.jpg

AFTER :(
DSC_0011.jpg
 
I think UV played a big role too.
sooo.
anyone know where I can get replacement trim molding pieces for the top and bottom?
 
I'm thinking you'd be best off asking All-Glass (or whoever the manufacturer is). Alternatively, but an old broken tank and pirate the trim off it.

V
 
Did the trim break on you too? If not just be careful in removing it, the silicone is the only stuff holding the trim on too.

As to removing the old silicone, remove everything, get a bunch of razor blades and be prepared to have some back pain as you go to working on every inseam of the whole tank.
 
The trim didn't break. But i'm just planning ahead just incase it breaks when I take it apart.
I don't know the maker of the tank, it is pretty old, but I'll call up All-glass.
thanks again for all the input.
 
Its not that uncommon for center braces on older tanks to break .. that doesn't necessarily mean your whole tank need to be rebuilt. In many situations simply replacing the center brace is all that is necessary and thats pretty common/easy to do.
 
kevin2000,
sections from every corner edge, i can slide a piece of paper between the seam of the two pieces of glass. So the old glue has come unglue. Right now the tank is held together with the new glue I put on the inside edges. Will the glue on the inside edge be enough to hold the tank together? It wasn't leaking at all, but it sure was really scary hearing the glue coming undone on the corners.
 
well guys I took apart the tank last weekend and glued it backup. It was a lot of work getting all the old glue off.
I used the GE I windows and doors, 100% silicon from Homedepot.
tankapart.jpg


filled with water for a week and no leaks!
holdingh2o.jpg


I will move it back inside the house and fill with RO water now.
Really hope there won't be any more problems going forward.

Oh I also painted the back glass black while I had it outside.
thanks guys for all your suggestions.
 
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