Best way to fix chipped edge of 210 gal tank.

[jasen222]

Just got this tank today, (for a really good price) was perfect until the trip home. It slid a little bit on the trailer and chipped the edge as seen in the pictures. Its about 2-3 inches mostly intact. So the question now is whats the best way to remedy, high pressure glass epoxy, extra brace/patch of glass and silicon on inside and outside, cut all sheets back an inch or so and put back together, buy new sheet, or other suggestions? Silicon seems intact, it does go all the way to the seal tho. Also it is in the overflow, one of the duals, not sure if this makes a difference. It is located in the back which wont be seen, so addition bracing or anything on the back and side where chip is located can be possible. This is my first thread, so sorry if I made any mistakes. I have look around and got some ideas but they all seem to very depending on where the chip is, how deep, and other factors. Any help would be extremely appreciated. I would love to get this up and running, my cichlids need a new home!

 

[chefjamesscott]

Welcome to the forum sorry to see that happen to your new tank

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

First off welcome and sorry about the self made crack. I always think I take way too many blankets and tie-downs when picking up many large CL tank but they obviously have paid off with no additional damage.

First things first. make sure its on a strong platform outside and fill the tank to the top for 24 hours for a stress and leak test. having the crack inside the overflow boxes which are attached 3/8" glass laminated over with 1/4" acrylic is a big plus since it acts as a structural stiffener that contains low pressure environment, in other words provided the crack it is moon shaped and not spreading splintered will have no serious pressure requirements. After 24 hours cap and fill the overflow as well and ensure no leaking there also.

After the initial stress test with NO leaking go ahead and determine if the crack glass actually is open to the silicone basically a potential vent. If there is at least some glass not cracked intact glass (1/8") between the silicone and atmosphere, just silicone the outside flush and leave it alone. If however there is a vent 0 to 1 inch vent to the silicone, go to a store that sells glass cocktail coasters as they are usually 3/8" to 1/2" thick by 3X3" and cost about $2 to $6, use 2 to make a corner intersecting patch on the inside which means you will have to remove and replace ONLY THAT vertical silicone inside seal which includes the special intersecting patch. Normally any inside seal removal requires a complete inside seal replacement but with your installed overflow corner bulkheads (in the navy (me) bulkheads are watertight walls) taking 99% of the water pressure off the corner, that one vertical corner-seal is all that is needed to be patched and replaced.

After curing 72 hours test again for 24 hours with overflows plugged and if it passes testing silicone the outside to look normal take inside for use and keep the crack to yourself lol.

PSS With respect to your thread topic, this method is not the best, only the simplest and cheapest. Insetting the end panel past the damaged area of the long panel without cutting would be the 2nd cheapest and better, followed by having the the one long panel (the one with 90% of the chip damage replaced or cut and replaced) which is the most expensive, labor intensive but the most assured method, but for recreational use not really worth it as my patch job would have a 98% success rate over 100% of the other methods mentioned..

 

[jasen222]

Started patching!!!

Thanks CWO4GUNNER for the reply. It's helping alot, and a great idea. I just seen your post today (not sure why I missed the email alert. I'm in the processes of patching it now, doing It a little different tho. So far I applied epoxy to the chipped area just for a little piece of mind. Then I used 1/4 inch glass sheets (had lying around the house) about the size of the over flow box to patch and recreate corners, I did this to the inside and outside. I used alot of silicon, especially in the corner near the chip. Seems a little overkill, but im feeling more confident with it now. Its curing now. Also its in my basement so there is minimal chance of taking it outside for test. Should be fine, for a test in case of a disaster, its next to two floor drains. I wish I seen your post sooner, it would have saved me alot of time haha. One question, Should I have taken the old silicon off still? There wasn't much, but a good seal. Any how I'm taking pictures along the way and will post results. Hopefully this can be useful for others with this problem. Thanks for all the help. Sorry that was long winded.

 

[Lillyan]

Don't mean to be rude or anything, no one freak out on me, please.
Uhm, about the pictures themselves, can we please learn that you can right-click the thumbnail in the folder and select "rotate clockwise" or "rotate counter-clockwise"? It's a very quick and easy way of editing the pics. You can even do that while uploading pictures to an image hosting site in their image uploader.

I thought we had a begging smile icon, guess not.:huh:

Anyway, I hope you can fix the tank. Can't wait to see it up and stocked! :clap:

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

Since you don't have photo's I have to speculate what your describing so let me give you some important fundamental rules about patching. Patching the outside is usually just for looks and to protect jagged sharp edges from snagging someone and what I meant by siliconing if the test revealed no leaks and the crack had not penetrated the inside seal. A reliable patch against an actual leak or vent must always be done on the inside where the water pressure can act to hold the patch in place. So assuming your patch in inside where it should be using liberal amounts of silicone between the glass patch and panels, yes that corner seal should have been thoroughly cleaned out so that the glass patch on the inside would hold and work properly. then the corner seal replaced and going around the newly cured glass patch.

Outside patches intended to stop water are not reliable and in most cases if it leaked prior to the patch will leak again. This is why it is so important to pre-establish the severity of the leak by filling the tank fist so you can attempt the correct fix.

 

[jasen222]

Still curing...

Sorry lilyan, something obvious I did not notice. I just took them off of my phone and posted. Thanks for letting me know, I see how it would help to see the image from the right angle. Also I did patch the inside (first patch job I have done) it came out better than I thought it would. I also did the outside just for added strength, and so there would be silicon over the chip directly I know it doesn't help much, but just a little added protection. I will post images of it later tonight or tomorrow. Also I would have done a water test first thing, but I did not want to chance the chip spreading or making anything worse. I knew I wanted to patch it or something when I first seen the damage, for peace of mind. I just jumped in to finding fixes rather than trouble shooting, normally that is not like me, but I'm overly exited about this tank ha. Thanks for all the replies, will post updates soon.

 

[SubRosa]

Oceanic Granite, eh? Nice find! Btw it was rated at 215 gal. I picked a 75 up a couple of years ago with the matching stand for $50!

 

[Chrisk-K]

How about using an automobile windshield chip repair kit?

 

[dudley]

How about using an automobile windshield chip repair kit?

Those kits are made for laminated glass and can only 'repair' a chip that is surrounded by 'good' glass, due to the way the chip is repaired.