Slight crazing and bowing 300g

G

Graphicfrost

New member
So I picked up this tank a few weeks ago and it's been holding water without any issues. I don't know if the crazing happened during the move or if they were already there. Can you guys let me know if this is okay? The tank is 1/2 in acrylic. The cracks in the center of the tank do not go all the way through and I can feel them on the exterior but not the interior. The bigger one partially goes into the acrylic where I cannot feel it on the inside or outside.

Please excuse the dirty tank as I just finished making a sump system.

http://s345.photobucket.com/user/GiddyCents/library/Aquarium 300g?sort=3&page=1
 
I feel like there are a lot of details you forgot to mention here, post is rather light on content.

Assuming you have a 300g acrylic tank bowing out almost an inch when full, I would not keep it set up under that condition.
 
sde1500 said:
I feel like there are a lot of details you forgot to mention here, post is rather light on content.

Assuming you have a 300g acrylic tank bowing out almost an inch when full, I would not keep it set up under that condition.
Click to expand...

Full details:
Found the tank on craigslist as the guy sold his house and was moving to Florida from WA. I can confirm he was packing to leave.

I placed a 2" thick piece of cardboard that was styrofoam filled. That covered the entire truck bed. Placed the tank in the truck bed.

Placed the stand on the same style cardboard/styrofoam sheet on my trailer.

Brought it to my house. Carried it inside and placed it on the stand. Filled it with water.

Changed the sump setup as I wasn't happy with how they had it configured and made it better. Tanks had water in it for a couple weeks now....

The guy I bought it from said he had it for a long time and his wife confirmed the fish they had over the years.

When I got to the guys house he was in the process of draining it and I watched him pull a catfish out of the tank which I now have in there while I am working on it. As I don't trust the fish in my other tank.
 
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Okay so I just measured and it's 5/8th of an inch bow at the most center point. I also read that it is very common for them to bow, considering it's only 1/2 acrylic for a 300g tank. What could I do to reduce the bowing if this is actually a structural risk...?
 
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The pic with the board on it scares the living hell out of me.

I would take that crap down ASAP.

Who made it? Do we know?
 
The picture with the board makes it look much worse than it is. Especially with the reflection. The bow is 5/8" at the biggest point. The crazing goes no more than 1/16" deep as well.
 
Graphicfrost said:
The picture with the board makes it look much worse than it is. Especially with the reflection. The bow is 5/8" at the biggest point. The crazing goes no more than 1/16" deep as well.
Click to expand...

Do you have a manufacturer of the tank? Maybe you can work something out with them.

If the mods can move this thread over to the DIY section, you could probably get a little more advice.

I'm by far not an acrylic guru, but some things that will help will be:

1: manufacturer
2: type of bracing
3: panel thickness. (If you have a pair of calipers it will help.)

To me, and my untrained eye, it looks like that front panel is pretty thin, but it could be the pics. Actual measurements will help big time.
 
It looks unsound. If the crazing is new that seems especially concerning.

There is no eurobracing? How long is the front panel? How thick is the acrylic?

Maybe somebody with a similar size acrylic tank can weigh in on the amount of "flex", but every 300 gallon I can find online is braced, substantially.

Will you sleep soundly with it bowed like that? I wouldn't.
 
We have a 290 acrylic and have zero flex of bowing at all. We have eurobracing on the top with only 3 relatively small access areas. Hope this helps being we have similar sized tanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
5/8" in the middle isn't much. I have a 25+ year old ******* (old defunct company that starts with a T) 120 corner that has more than that on the front panel and I've seen acrylic tanks with more than 2" (now that is scary looking). The crazing in the first two pictures was caused by a combination of the solvent type adhesive dripping on the front and aging so they have been there a very long time. The corner joints look pretty good also, the infiltrations are pretty minimal. (If they were a third or a half the way through I would consider reinforcing the joint.)
 
Is 1/2" thickness normal for a 300g acrylic tank?
I thought acrylic tanks tend to be thicker than glass tanks, and 1/2" would typically be too thin for a tank that size.
 
Fwiw, I have a 300g that is eurobraced, 30" tall and made of 1/2" acrylic for a freshwater tank. I have had it running for 8 years + now, it was in use for years as a reef tank before I bought it. It bows about the same and has always had some crazing. We moved about a year ago and while it was down I added 3/4" triangle rod bracing to each interior corner for a little extra piece of mind. You will probably be just fine. ;)
 
How did you not notice that when you bought it, put in on your truck, removed it from your truck and took it inside ????

No, it would NOT do that from transportation. The guy that sold it you was well aware of the problem. I hope you got it for next to nothing ?
 
I'm going to brace it at the seams with Weld 40 and call it a day. I spoke to some people who work with acrylic. Also it's downstairs so it wont ruin anything if it does fail anyways.

pauls said:
How did you not notice that when you bought it, put in on your truck, removed it from your truck and took it inside ????

No, it would NOT do that from transportation. The guy that sold it you was well aware of the problem. I hope you got it for next to nothing ?
Click to expand...


The tank was not full it was only 1/8th filled with water with a catfish in there. The tank was also dirty and with the lighting it's actually really hard to see. I just drained the tank and it is much harder to see. Plus his part of the house didnt have much lighting.

The guy I bought it from is easily a millionaire and I got the tank for really cheap as he is moving to florida. He gave me the run down. I'm not worried.



Thank you everyone for you input!
 
I would not assume the advise you want to hear is the right advise. Just because the guy you purchase from is rich doesn't mean he's not cheap. 300 gallons from a ruptured tank hitting someone heading cannot be good. Is that risk really worth not checking it out a little better. Don't do something today you will regret tomorrow
 
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