Tank Repairs

Right, my Rio 180 leaked this morning and after much leakage, panic and a replacement tank later I'm left with a glass box of little use.

The glass box in question has a small crack about the size of my little finger, in the base sheet of glass beside the back panel. I assume it's repairable? I was thinking of getting a sheet of glass cut to the internal floor dimensions of the tank and silicone that in. Does this sound ok? And where would I get the glass in Dublin?

How long have you had the tank.....? any ideas how this happened you could be covered by the warrenty depending on what happen. Are you planning on replacing the bottem sheet or just put glass cut to size to fit into the tank.

You cound get some prespecs( spelling ) and cut a sheet to fit over were the crack is and glue it into place

its a second hand tank but the crack is my own fault. Too much live rock pushing down on one point. I only had it up and running a few months but this all happened last night.

I'm not sure wat to do, do I get a sheet cut to the full size of the bottom of the tank and silicone it in place. Would a strip of glass be enough to cover the crack? And where would I get the glass.

Id go with putting a sheet of perspecs(spellin) into the bottom of the tank, cut it to fit right into the tank then use aquarium glue to fix it to the bottem of the tank. Id get it cut to match the inside size of the tank then glue it from the under side around the crack then around the sides to stop any leaking. Get a nice thick bit of perspecs so it wont coz any problems.

Alan

now where would i get perspex?

B&Q or any similar diy store i would guess

Yeah homebase etc shouldnt be a problem

I would use glass. Perspex need a special adhesive and i think perspex is more expensive.
I'm not sure what thickness the glass is on the 180 but 8mm-10mm will do nicely.
Measure the inside of the tank and take 4mm of the length and 4mm of the width. This is so you can get the piece in to the tank. The silicone will fill the 2mm gap around afterwards.
You will need to purchase some aquarium safe silicone. Contact some of the sponsors to see who has some in stock.

Before you put the piece in you need to make sure the tank is dry and clean.
Spread some silicone over the crack in the base. Then using about half the tube put a heavy bead of silicone in a zig zag up and down the original base. This will help support the new base.
Then you can place the new base in. Let one end right down in to the tank and then lower the other end as much as you can with a suction cup. An aquarium suction cup will do, just put some wire through it in a loop so you have something to hold.
Once it is in place make sure the gap is even all around the edges. You now want to push it down as much as you can on to the zig zag of silicone on the base.
Now run a heavy bead around the edges. Once you have done this use either your thumb (wet) or the back of a tea spoon to smooth out the silicone.
Leave this for at least 24 hours before testing for leaks.

You will be able to get the glass in any glass shop or glaziers. I use Hennessy glass near the KCR (south Dublin) Ph. 01-4925920
Just let them know what it is for and mention it is for the base of a tank so it dosent have to be perfect. They might be able to use some old glass that other wise would be skipped. Might just save you a few quid.
Also ask for the corners to be polished or cut off. Only a couple of mm so you dont damage the corners of the silicone when you are putting it in to place.

Sorry for the long winded answer. If this dosent make sense PM me your phone number and i will talk you through it over the phone.

and i'd try to get yourself some perspex or old plastic egg crate to put under those rocks for the future so this doesent happen again... best of luck with it and nice response platty better it explained than not