Loaches Online Forum

When we arrived to pick up the 75 gallon tank it was perfect. Very nice. Got it in the hatchback, brought it home. I gave suggestions on how to tie down the trunk and cushion the tank, but my advice fell on deaf ears.

Now one side has four chips. Sigh!. None of the chips go through. I have the tank outside right now, hopefully the sun will burn off any bugs.

In about three days, I will wash the tank, and fill in any chips in the side of the tank with silicone, and let it cure for a few days. Then I will bring the tank to a level concrete flood and fill it to make sure it isn't leaking. I am hoping to pick up a metal stand for the tank. I will make sure everything is level.

Will my plan work? Should I do anything else to make sure the chips are not a weak point for the tank? I would use silicone inside and outside the tank. Should I silicone a plastic sheet inside and outside in the corner with the chips? I plan to have the tank up and running in about 1 month. I will start cycling the new filter on the old tank this week, and I will move the old filter to the new tank to join the new tank.

Thanks for any advice.

If it's acrylic, then it's easy to fix. Just get a piece of acrylic and some acrylic cement to patch it.

If it's glass, then it's going to be hard. IMO, just silicon over the crack won't have enough power to hold the glass from going horizontal (breaking).

can you make pic's? Are the chips still in the car?

I'm assuming that the chips are at the corner, in the cut edge of the pane of glass. I haven't had to deal with this with an aquarium but as a builder, I have dealt with chips in widow panes. These can create a definite weak spot, severity depending on the depth and size of the chip, where cracks can take off across the pane. Depending on the thickness of the glass and the size of the chip, I'd be very cautious.

I will work on pictures. A couple of the chips are nothing. You wouldn't notice them without running your fingers through them.

The glass slivered so there are no actual chip pieces. The chips are all on the bottom 1/3 of the tank. The glass is pretty thick, but I imagine it is only standard glass for a 35.

I am also concerned because I have big clumsy fish going into this tank. A tiretrack eel (10-12"), a bichir (8"), 2 SE's (7-8"), ropefish, a couple plecos, three croaking catfihs, maybe my clowns. I need some bigger dithers. Not fish that would be considered dinner or snacks. All the fish are bottom dwellers.

Here are the fuzzy pictures.

Sorry. Augh!

It has an underground filter. I will be removing it.

Counting from the top of the tank I would think the upper one, the shallowest is not an issue. The lower chips are a bit extreme, IMO.
If they were very clean and round, no ridges, no possible way that a crack could get started AND they were higher up, near the top (less water pressure) then maybe I would risk even chips that deep.

The worry is that a chip that is irregular will lead more easily to the start of a crack, and the lower it is on the tank then the more water pressure there is on that chip.

Covering a chip with silicone is not going to make any difference.

Do you have any suggestions? I thought maybe the silicone would prevent any cracks from forming. I wish they were at the top too. I am not thrilled. The tank will not be full, about 2 inches low, but I know that won't make a lot of difference. I will have a sand bottom.

Any ideas how I can reinforce this tank?

a piece of glass, some epoxy and patch the affected area,
Or, get some aluminum edges and form some kind of bracket/bracing.

I'd still put it in the garage, just in case it does leak/break.

I can try that. I would like to use some kind of bracketing to give the corner extra strength.

I will be filling it and letting it sit a few days to watch it.

I wouldn't be able to set it up in the garage since it is 90-120 in the summer and below freezing in winter.

I didn't know Tampa regularly saw below freezing temperatures.

Last year was especially cold. We lost a lot of our plants, even though we covered them because it was below freezing -- often in the 20's. Brr. . . . Especially for people who don't have winter clothing. An hour north and they were in the teens.

We would get snow, if it rained in the winter, but we are basically dry from November to June (opposite months to hurricane season).

If that tank were brandnew at the store (which also does wholesale for south Germany and is fairly good), there would be no more than 15% discount for the chips.


My tank you have seen has a 1" long chip on the very bottom of a sideglass, which almost goes through. I added silikone inside all inner edges and that was it.
Mechanically seen, stress occors in the middle of the glass, the chips are not as bad as the appear imho. I personally have a tank in use with worse chips.

Independant from the chips, I would add silikone to all inner edges though. Make sure you mechanically clean the edges very well and pedanticly de-greas with acetone. Rather push the silikone nozzle (than pull) and use masling tape. It is not that complicated, but clean surfaces are key.

Good luck.

I would have to agree with Wolfram. It is hard to judge, but I would not be greatly worried. I think that Diana is right that the risk is that cracks could form, so test it in the garage for a few days, with it full to the top, and if it passes that test I would not worry.

Patching over the cracks in both directions with glass would help. Then that corner becomes the back of the tank. As noted: Get the area REALLY clean, and acetone is good to clean it one more time.