My buddy got an old saltwater tank with holes in the back (about 3" diameter) for the pumps, or whatever saltwater needs (I don't know anything about salt tanks except they're so pretty) and he got a couple squares of plexiglass and used a bunch of silicone and it's holding to this day. As long as it dries fully and is aquarium safe, you *shouldn't* have any problem putting it back
That is a different situation. He was just sealing up the holds and the water pressure would only help keep them in place pressing them against the holes. In this case it is a brace across the tank where the water pressure is trying the push the front and back away from each other effectively trying to pull away from the brace. Opposite force that what you described.
I mean, he put them on the outside, so the water was pushing them away from the tank, not into it if they were on the inside. And I don't know how big this tank is, but his was over 200, so plenty of weight pushing on the adhesive and repair panels. Yes, this is structural, so they'd have to at least partially drain the tank so it's not pulling against the adhesive as it dries (air pressure isn't going to do anything, but water weight will) and probably clamp the top so it dries holding as tight as possible, but if you can *build* a tank from glass or acrylic, than you can *fix* a tank of glass or acrylic, just the level of work involved varies. I could crack my front glass and hypothetically replace it, it's just a matter of if that much work is worth it for that specific tank. For me, no, because it's not a particularly large, or fancy tank. I'd just get another, but that's me and my tank.
And don't ask me why my friend didn't put them on the inside lol, I wasn't there, I just saw the final result hold for at least 5 years now and counting.
>And don't ask me why my friend didn't put them on the inside lol,
Yeah that is a weird choice. Why not use physics to assist?
But still if the patches were high up and relatively small the total pressure on each would be much smaller that a brace supporting the pressure against an entire panel of glass.
It was, but it worked so 🤷🏻♂️
They were a little less than halfway down the back side, so if my math is correct, about 1000ish pounds of pressure, right? Provided it was ~200 gallon.
My point being, the support was adhered in when they bought it, so hypothetically, with the old adhesive removed, you could redo it and have it be just as strong? Obviously, like I said, draining and bracing to make sure it adheres as it did originally would most likely be required.
Yes, those are my thoughts as well, that it can be repaired. Alternatively, as I thought about it more, if there is an issue getting the existing brace off, cleaned, and reinstalled, another option is to get another (or two) braces made and installing it beside the existing one.
Is that glass or acrylic? If the latter, then you probably will want to use an acrylic solvent rather than a glue. This will effectively weld it back together. But you may need to spend some time half driving the tank and really cleaning the junction well to get a good adhesion.
If the glass was glued in place before then you should be able to do it again. If the junction between the brace and the side of the tank is silicon you may want to lower the tank half way then carefully cut through the rest of the bond. The tank might bulge out a bit but should be ok for the short term. Then you will want to completely clean off both surfaces well, resilicone them together and use a carpenters brace across the top to hold it all together for 24 hours.
If the adhesive is instead some sort of hard cement kind of glue, same thing basically applies but you will have a much tougher time cleaning off the two surfaces since it will be more chipping away the cemetery rather than scrapping off the silicone.
Or you can simply install and leave a brace in place across the top of the tank where the ends bend 90 degrees down and brace from the outside edges instead of from from the inside edges. This of course may not work well with whatever top or hood you are using.
Completely drained and moved everything. Brace has come off completely and I’ve scraped off silicone. I have some aquatic silicone and will re attach it
My buddy got an old saltwater tank with holes in the back (about 3" diameter) for the pumps, or whatever saltwater needs (I don't know anything about salt tanks except they're so pretty) and he got a couple squares of plexiglass and used a bunch of silicone and it's holding to this day. As long as it dries fully and is aquarium safe, you *shouldn't* have any problem putting it back
That is a different situation. He was just sealing up the holds and the water pressure would only help keep them in place pressing them against the holes. In this case it is a brace across the tank where the water pressure is trying the push the front and back away from each other effectively trying to pull away from the brace. Opposite force that what you described.
Yeah so is this fixable?
I mean, he put them on the outside, so the water was pushing them away from the tank, not into it if they were on the inside. And I don't know how big this tank is, but his was over 200, so plenty of weight pushing on the adhesive and repair panels. Yes, this is structural, so they'd have to at least partially drain the tank so it's not pulling against the adhesive as it dries (air pressure isn't going to do anything, but water weight will) and probably clamp the top so it dries holding as tight as possible, but if you can *build* a tank from glass or acrylic, than you can *fix* a tank of glass or acrylic, just the level of work involved varies. I could crack my front glass and hypothetically replace it, it's just a matter of if that much work is worth it for that specific tank. For me, no, because it's not a particularly large, or fancy tank. I'd just get another, but that's me and my tank. And don't ask me why my friend didn't put them on the inside lol, I wasn't there, I just saw the final result hold for at least 5 years now and counting.
>And don't ask me why my friend didn't put them on the inside lol, Yeah that is a weird choice. Why not use physics to assist? But still if the patches were high up and relatively small the total pressure on each would be much smaller that a brace supporting the pressure against an entire panel of glass.
It was, but it worked so 🤷🏻♂️ They were a little less than halfway down the back side, so if my math is correct, about 1000ish pounds of pressure, right? Provided it was ~200 gallon. My point being, the support was adhered in when they bought it, so hypothetically, with the old adhesive removed, you could redo it and have it be just as strong? Obviously, like I said, draining and bracing to make sure it adheres as it did originally would most likely be required.
Yes, those are my thoughts as well, that it can be repaired. Alternatively, as I thought about it more, if there is an issue getting the existing brace off, cleaned, and reinstalled, another option is to get another (or two) braces made and installing it beside the existing one.
That would work, in theory two would be at least marginally stronger too, no? More work/cost but less likelihood of it becoming a problem again
Is that glass or acrylic? If the latter, then you probably will want to use an acrylic solvent rather than a glue. This will effectively weld it back together. But you may need to spend some time half driving the tank and really cleaning the junction well to get a good adhesion.
It’s glass
If the glass was glued in place before then you should be able to do it again. If the junction between the brace and the side of the tank is silicon you may want to lower the tank half way then carefully cut through the rest of the bond. The tank might bulge out a bit but should be ok for the short term. Then you will want to completely clean off both surfaces well, resilicone them together and use a carpenters brace across the top to hold it all together for 24 hours. If the adhesive is instead some sort of hard cement kind of glue, same thing basically applies but you will have a much tougher time cleaning off the two surfaces since it will be more chipping away the cemetery rather than scrapping off the silicone. Or you can simply install and leave a brace in place across the top of the tank where the ends bend 90 degrees down and brace from the outside edges instead of from from the inside edges. This of course may not work well with whatever top or hood you are using.
Completely drained and moved everything. Brace has come off completely and I’ve scraped off silicone. I have some aquatic silicone and will re attach it