tank seams separating!!! causes???

[geckoejon]

hello,

i have a 145g eurobraced tank that has a couple seams separating... i was wondering if anyone has any ideas as to the cause, so that i can try to prevent it happening again? i drained it, am separating the glass, and having the tank rebuilt...

tank description.... 145g eurobraced, 48"x28"x25", coast to coast overflow, aprox 2 yrs old.

i bought it from the original owner 6 wks ago. it was filled then, and seams looked good.... when i filled it up at my place, both front seams had a 6" cloudy spot right in the middle. it looked like it had micro bubbles in the silicone. i contacted the builder, who stated it was fine. i filled, and saw one seam definitely separating yesterday!

i find it interesting that it's in the middle of both front seams....

thoughts to the cause???

? seams stressed in moving to my place?

? stand slightly uneven on my floor, and causing stress on the tank? the tank is sitting on a 1/2 foam pad though...

? just weak seams?

???

thoughts?

thanks....

 

[royvoss]

imo, find another tank, not worth the risk, or the damage to the house.

 

[geckoejon]

Did you read what I wrote? Tearing apart and having it rebuilt....

Please people, looking for experienced and or educated theories on why it happened and how to prevent in the future...

 

[Fredfish]

.... i contacted the builder, who stated it was fine. ...

thoughts?

thanks....

Sure its fine...

The tank was not built properly. Poor silicone, poor pre-assembly prep, poor silicone application. Your guess really.

Have someone who knows what they are doing re-build the tank.

 

[GimpyFin]

One thing I notice is the glass is only 3/8" thick. Pretty skimpy for a 150 gallon tank with those dimensions. The eurobracing is helping the top of the seam from flexing, but not further down where it's slowly spreading apart. IMO, you'll likely see this again over time even after resealing the tank, unless maybe you do it with 1/2 or 5/8 glass.

 

[ca1ore]

Sorry, how can you tell its 3/8" glass. Not apparent to me from the pictures.

Agree that the cause is most likely to be a poorly made tank in the first place. Probably sub quality silicone, but no way to know for sure. Assuming the glass is 12mm, then a rebuild with proper structural silicone ought to give you a 'new' tank.

FWIW, my own experience with un level or twisted stands is that the bottom seams or panel tend to take the brunt.

 

[davocean]

imo, find another tank, not worth the risk, or the damage to the house.

This actually is the easier choice between buying new and rebuilding to be honest, rebuilding is not easy as it takes quite a bit of effort to remove all silicone completely, and that has to be done properly and 100% removed to achieve a proper bond, so I would not discredit this person or their advice.

My observation looks like that silicone rides pretty far in, so could be either sloppy work, or perhaps someone may have even tried to lay a bead on top which does pretty much nothing.

I also agree out of level or a poorly built stand can do this, and the foam underneath does little or nothing to remedy that.

 

[GimpyFin]

Sorry, how can you tell its 3/8" glass. Not apparent to me from the pictures.

Yeah, I probably should have said the close up of the seam looks kinda like 3/8 to me, but I can't tell for certain.

 

[JohnnyHildo]

i have a 77 gallon tank that i had leak 30 gallons of water on the floor before i caught it... huge mess. i cut it apart, rebuilt it and 5 days later it held water fine so i refilled it with fish that happily lived in it for 10 years.
in december this year it leaked again but this time less than a gallon before i caught it so i figured i've done this once before and i can just do it again... not so lucky the second time as water leaked immediately after my test fill. i retired it and don't have to worry anymore.
bottom line is i'm no longer a starving 20 year old and for the enormous costs of a tank (especially if its a reef tank) i will never risk it again.