55 Gallon Tempered Glass Support Structure Broken...to worry or not???

Jkrutherford74

New Member
Hello All!

I have a rather old (about 9 or 10 years) tempered glass 55 Gallon Tank that I am currently cycling as a reef tank. I do not know exactly what brand it is, but as I was performing the weekly maintenance of removing salt creep today, I noticed on the rear section of the plastic frame that goes around tank, right where what I would call a cross brace is located in the center of the tank, is about a 3 1/2" "tear" that is moving laterally with the back of the tank. This concerns me as I would think that if this cross brace were not performing its structural duty, there could be a threat of the corners of the tank ripping apart (since they are only glued/ silicone d together in the first place). What are your thoughts? I attempted to epoxy it back together, gently applying enough pressure to the location with a bar clamp as to make it meet the way it should again, and when I removed the clamp after the epoxy had cured, it popped right back apart with a rip just as big, or possibly even larger than before. The epoxy was rated at 4,400 PSI. This in itself disturbs me. Please shed any light you may have on this situation as I would like to either move on with this tank, or make a mass exodus to a new one. Thanks! :)
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
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to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members
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Start a new tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along - we love pics :)

We have lots of great members that can give you good advise on the support brace and should be posting soon
 

puffermike

Active Member
Hello All!

I have a rather old (about 9 or 10 years) tempered glass 55 Gallon Tank that I am currently cycling as a reef tank. I do not know exactly what brand it is, but as I was performing the weekly maintenance of removing salt creep today, I noticed on the rear section of the plastic frame that goes around tank, right where what I would call a cross brace is located in the center of the tank, is about a 3 1/2" "tear" that is moving laterally with the back of the tank. This concerns me as I would think that if this cross brace were not performing its structural duty, there could be a threat of the corners of the tank ripping apart (since they are only glued/ silicone d together in the first place). What are your thoughts? I attempted to epoxy it back together, gently applying enough pressure to the location with a bar clamp as to make it meet the way it should again, and when I removed the clamp after the epoxy had cured, it popped right back apart with a rip just as big, or possibly even larger than before. The epoxy was rated at 4,400 PSI. This in itself disturbs me. Please shed any light you may have on this situation as I would like to either move on with this tank, or make a mass exodus to a new one. Thanks! :)

The good news here is that you're only cycling the tank. The bad news is you need new trim around that tank. The center brace is like you said very crucial for the structure of the tank. If you post a picture it could help us a lot more but if the trim is damaged and tearing apart the seals around the tank will soon go with it. It's a pretty slow process but one that truly sucks when you have a tank full of fish and corals with no place to go. The only thing that will be going anywhere is water, all over the house. Be glad you noticed it now and not a year or two from now when it suddenly springs a leak.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Considering that the tank is about 10 years old, and that you can usually get a new one at the $1 per gallon sales at various pet store chains, your best course of action is to replace the tank. You can either discard the tank, or use it as a planter, or something similar.

BTW, if you are going to replace the tank, and want to make a big project out of it, consider getting a 70 gal tank and stand. It has the same frontal size as the 55, but is 18 inches front to back. It will cost a lot more, but you'll be able to put a big sump under it, and you'll be able to do a much better aquascape with it.
 

cracker

Well-Known Member
Agreed! Ok is there another glue or adhesive we can use to repair the crack Is the plastic ABS? . If its PVC you might try some pvc cement. I think these two actually weld the pieces together.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
You really can't mend a cross brace with most normal glues or adhesives. This part is needed for the structural integrity of the tank. You might be able to take a thick piece of acrylic, like 1" think. Cut deep notches in it and make a replacement center brace that way. This would be fairly expensive, unless you can find an acrylic place that sells scraps cheep.

In some cases, you can replace a frame, but it's got to be identical to the broken frame, and it's a big job to remove the old frame. In an old 55 gal tank, it's not really worth the time and effort and money.
 

Jkrutherford74

New Member
Thank you all for the insight. I do not trust trying to replace the frame, and the footprint of the tank is awkward compared to the models sold today, so I will have to replace the entire thing, tank, stand, sump and all. Now I am trying to figure how big I can go and not worry about it busting a hole in my floor! (-: I would LOVE to go 90 gal or larger, but it looks as if it would be exerting somewhere around 90 lbs /sq ft on my joists, and considering my house was built in the late 60's, that unnerves me a little. I guess I will have to get a contractor to come out here and evaluate things and give me a professional opinion on the load bearing live weight of my structure. I have perused the forum, and there is much controversy over this matter. I just wish there was a straight forward and concise answer to this question! LOL!
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
If you can place the tank so it spans as many joists as possible, you should not have an issue with any modern house.

I have my 125 gal reef and my 90 gal planted along one wall of my living room. The tanks do span as may joists as possible since the tanks are placed so the joists are perpendicular to the front of the tank. I put them in place almost 20 years ago now, leveled them at the time, and have never had to make any additional leveling adjustment.

My stand is a typical wood one that you'd get at your LFS. The base runs the entire length and width of the tank, so the weight is distributed. If I had a stand build out of 2x4's or angle iron, where all the weight is at the 4 corner points, I might feel differently. In that case, I'd want to put the tank on a thick base to distribute the weight on the floor.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
I should also point out that the load on the joists is not that much different for my 90 gal tank and my 125 gal tank. The 90 gal tank is 4 feet long so it will span 3 joists on 16" centers. The 125 is 6 feet long and will span 4 joists.
 

bullet

Member
I would replace the tank a few dollars now will save you a lot of time and aggravation later on plus you will probably want to upgrade later on anyways so why not just do it now and save yourself the time and money of setting up a broken tank to only have it fail down the road plus if you shop around there are great all in one systems and there are great tank manufacturers that sell tank and sump set ups you just add your own equipment again don't settle for a smaller tank because that's what you can afford at this time if you have to wait a extra week or 2 or even a month or so it will be worth it and you will be much happier. When we upgraded to our Deep Sea Aquatics 110 pro our LFS let us put it on layaway so to speak and they set us up with a package price that included equipment including return pumps, heater, circulation pumps, wave surfer , live sand, and I told them we didn't want cheap equipment so we went with Sicce pumps also had them figure a ro/di unit so as we paid it off every weak we also got to check out new arrivals and ask questions at the same time once we paid the tank off and picked it up every week it made us save more so we could pick up something new every week and we just marked it off as we went it definitely was well worth the wait. Sorry this was so long but just wanted to give you another perspective Good luck and Happy reefing.

PS Remember this hobby isn't cheap to get into but with
great patience will come great rewards in the end
 
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