Frag tank with busted seam: help needed

[GhostCon1]

First off, thanks for taking the time to look at this.

Now to the issue: I recently purchased a used 48x24x12" acrylic frag tank and leak tested it and water leaks from one of the seams. There are no cracks or any other leaks. The seam appears to be just missing the bond holding it together as I can slightly push the two connecting acrylic panels against each other.

I will be resealing every seam with weld on 4 (read about issues with weld on 16 that steered me away from it).

What is the best way to do this? Can I just have the seams to be resealed angled down so that gravity pulls the weld on into any imperfections and clamp it and leave it there for 72 hours and be good?

Or do I need pins? Or should I also get acrylic braces to put inside the seams for added integrity? Also should I put some weld on outside the tank along the seam?

Thanks for any help and sorry for the long read, I just don't want to have a seam bust a few months or years down the road and ruin my floor.

Tank has been dry aprox 6months and it was one of the first acrylic pieces the builder built so maybe there was some inexperience at play I'm not sure.

 

[dattack]

try to place weldon 4 first in the seam and see if it stops the leaking. Just let is soak into the seam at 45 angle. only clamp if the seam can be passed with a needle.

 

[GhostCon1]

try to place weldon 4 first in the seam and see if it stops the leaking. Just let is soak into the seam at 45 angle. only clamp if the seam can be passed with a needle.

Thanks for the advice. I will do that after my finals.

I assume you mean inserting a hypodermic needle? Or a sewing needle? As it sits now, it looks flush but I can manipulate that to slide a needle through... which I assume you are not talking about, but hey, just trying to cover my bases as this is the first time I have done anything like this.

 

[bansawbandit]

When looking at the seem that is leaking, you will see a path of air bubbles which water is traveling through to leave the tank. Use the Weld On 4 and the correct applicator and you'll see the seem seal right up. You can do all the seems with no harm, just make sure you clamp down a seem if your going to run an entire new bead. If your only patching the clamps prob aren't as necessary as the rest if your seem is already in place.

 

[jimmyj7090]

WO#4 will dissolve the material, then it welds together as the solvent evaporates out. Just squirting it into a broken seam is far from an ideal repair. Fresh, clean surfaces clamped together is what WO#4 is good for. Reparing a damaged and dirty broken seam is quite different.

You should add a guesset inside the corner. Cut a square or triangular strip of acrylic material and use the WO #4 to weld that into the corner. This way you will have nice clean welds along the whole seam, and it will reinforce the failed original seam which won't be as solid as it was before it broke.

Then look into why the one seam failed. Was the tank built using adequate materials? Was it designed properly. Do the other seams need to be reinforced too? Does it need some additional bracing?

 

[GhostCon1]

When looking at the seem that is leaking, you will see a path of air bubbles which water is traveling through to leave the tank. Use the Weld On 4 and the correct applicator and you'll see the seem seal right up. You can do all the seems with no harm, just make sure you clamp down a seem if your going to run an entire new bead. If your only patching the clamps prob aren't as necessary as the rest if your seem is already in place.

The busted seam isn't complete from bottom to top as there can be about 2 inches of water with no leaking.

WO#4 will dissolve the material, then it welds together as the solvent evaporates out. Just squirting it into a broken seam is far from an ideal repair. Fresh, clean surfaces clamped together is what WO#4 is good for. Reparing a damaged and dirty broken seam is quite different.

You should add a guesset inside the corner. Cut a square or triangular strip of acrylic material and use the WO #4 to weld that into the corner. This way you will have nice clean welds along the whole seam, and it will reinforce the failed original seam which won't be as solid as it was before it broke.

Then look into why the one seam failed. Was the tank built using adequate materials? Was it designed properly. Do the other seams need to be reinforced too? Does it need some additional bracing?

I feel I should do this for every seem. Now I just need to find some acrylic... thanks for the advice guys.

 

[GhostCon1]

Ok, so I am going with cleaning every seam with a gusset. Is there a recommended thickness for gussets?

Now, should I

A.) use the weld on 4 in the original busted seam

B.) Use weld on 4 on every seam

C.) Use weldon 4 to repair seam/strengthen other seams and then use weldon 40 to put gussets in

D.) Just put gussets in and use weld on 40 for them and call it good

Option C seems to be the best bet, but I may be overlooking something here

Thanks for helping

 

[GhostCon1]

Bump

 

[jimmyj7090]

Adding gussets to all the seams will reinforce them. Running new WO#4 over existing seams will do nothing other than to stress the material some.

 

[GhostCon1]

Adding gussets to all the seams will reinforce them. Running new WO#4 over existing seams will do nothing other than to stress the material some.

So option D but with Weldon 4 and not 40? Also would I not doing anything to the busted seam but put the gusset over it?

 

[jimmyj7090]

I have no experience with WO#40 so I can't offer any advise on that vs #4. WO#4 should be fine for the job, but I don't know if #40 would be superior in some way(s).

 

[GhostCon1]

I have no experience with WO#40 so I can't offer any advise on that vs #4. WO#4 should be fine for the job, but I don't know if #40 would be superior in some way(s).

Alright, thanks so much for the help. And everyone else as well.

Should be repairing this weekend or next.

 

[cvcoda]

How did this turn out?

 

[GhostCon1]

How did this turn out?

Finally got off my lazy bum(more like I have a job that gives me time off finally) and just finished the side with the busted seam. I have a lot of air bubbles on the first one I did, because I used way too much weld-on #4.

Second gusset I welded on is much cleaner. Neither of my guessets were 100% flush so that could play in to the air bubbles.

Will update in two days.

 

[cvcoda]

Hope it works. I ended up getting rid of mine. Tired of dealing with multiple leaks in a month's time.

 

[GhostCon1]

Hope it works. I ended up getting rid of mine. Tired of dealing with multiple leaks in a month's time.

Oh no, what happened?

 

[cvcoda]

I tried to use some of the thicker stuff to close the gaps and it only made it worse. I didn't have time to mess with gussets so I just bought a 45g cube and transferred everything over the same day. I don't have anything against acrylic, I just had bad luck with this particular homemade tank. It's too bad too, because I loved the dimensions - 28"x28"x10"

 

[GhostCon1]

I tried to use some of the thicker stuff to close the gaps and it only made it worse. I didn't have time to mess with gussets so I just bought a 45g cube and transferred everything over the same day. I don't have anything against acrylic, I just had bad luck with this particular homemade tank. It's too bad too, because I loved the dimensions - 28"x28"x10"

Ah, yeah I read that the thicker stuff wouldn't work for me.

I water test tomorrow so fingers crossed.

And I looked at the seam I made with the gussets... Bubbles everywhere, I wish I had used less Weldon.

 

[cvcoda]

Ah, yeah I read that the thicker stuff wouldn't work for me.

I water test tomorrow so fingers crossed.

And I looked at the seam I made with the gussets... Bubbles everywhere, I wish I had used less Weldon.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[GhostCon1]

So I repaired the busted seam, only to be left with a small trickle.im wondering if I put Weldon 16 over my gusset if that would seal it?
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