looky what i found...

okay, i got the tank today
after cleaning out two dried up dead akkedisse, some old newspaper and the remnants of some gravel, hosed down the dust layers and wiped off the algae. the tank is semi presentable, though i did find a crack on the base plate broken from side to side, a triangle of 3cmx5cmx4cm... now, please advise me on whether i should take this to a glass cutting place and have them cut me an extra base plate of x-thickness to stick onto the bottom aditionally, or, should the bottom be removed, or is there another alternative?

 

how is the base attached?
1) all side rest on the base
2) base fits into the box formed by the sides
3) other?

Might be best to do a full strip down, clean and rebuild tank with new base.

 

agreed

 

this advice is if the glass crack can not spread further. No need to replace the full glass if the crack is just in one corner. I would just cut a rectangle 8cm by the width of the tank and silicone it inside the tank. This should do the job. If you really wanna play it safe you could double the base, from the inside. But thats just more cost.

 

Makes sense .. slayer, would you clean it all of with acetone and put a silicon bead around the flat side of the peace that you are sticking onto the base? If you do this should you silicon over old silicon in the corners or rather reseal the new glued base patch around the edges and sides?

 

clean off old silicone where new glass plate will be. Did this b4 and it worked.

cost of 4mm glass needed to do the fix at builders, cut and cleaned with acitone R5. Hope u got a tube of silicone, and the rest of the silicone is good.

 

Though a redo in black silicon would look bril, i'm not too keen on a rebuild as i will probably do a pisspoor job of sticking humpty dumpty together again.

and the stripdown will no doubt leave scratches if i do it,,,

f-fish, the base has all four sides resting on the base, but also has a thin strip bottom bracing on the inside front and back panes

 

sounds like a good opportunity to strip and rebuild the tank, then you know its ready for water...IMO

 

the question is , why take a chance with your fish? the tanks empty why not do it properly

 

i dont want to take a chance with the fish, lol, i just dont think i'll do a proper rebuild. sigh... so it seems everyone thinks a rebuild stripdown etc is the best option. damn...

 

or try the patch ... fill the tank with water leave it for a week or two (outside in the shade) check that all the old silicon is OK - if not then you have to do a rebuild ..

 

will fill it up tomorrow then
here's some pics
just unpacked my car

dirty as hell

cleaned up a bit now

here's the base

and the top left corner's crack

 

Glad you got hold of it.

 

nice tank - well worth saving .. seems like the corner got banged real hard .. such a small corner a patch might last a few months.

 

if i were to remove the bottom only and clean off the bottom edges silicone, couldn't i just reattach a bottom?

to dismantle this tank, with all the bracing and the slider bracing etc, its gonna be quite a drastic dismantle, isn't it?

i could also take a sharp cutter to the corners and try to cut the silicone clean off in the corners, and redo the inside? e.g. the part you smooth out with your finger

 

Whatever you do you will need to ensure that the sides do not move to much and weaken the side silicon. And you will need to remove all the silicon before you add the new base ..

 

Um... guys.... we are all forgetting two fundimental errors in this thread...

It would appear that the tank has stood outside for some time... judging by the photo's and the condition of the glass and silicon.

1) IF the tank has been outside for a while, the sun damages the glass, and makes it brittle. This has been stated earlier.
2) IF the glass is in actual fact still in fairly good nick, the silicon will be sun damaged. We would all have to assume that the tank was originally built with marine silicon... and sadly, (for some unknown reason), marine silicon is not UV stable. (Neither is 99% of the other silicon on the market... but you would think they would make marine silicon UV stable). SO.. if this tank has even been outside for 6 months, the silicon would have deteriorated.

Ferryman... I personally think your ONLY option would be a re-build. Get the new glass for the bottom, and rebuild. Don't patch the silicon... strip it all off and rebuild from scratch.

Just my 2 cents

 

Rather safe than sorry - besides rebuilding it could then add to your experience

 

sigh, rebuild it is. it stood outside a while, but in a shaded area under the roof,,,

i'll strip and rebuild it next vacation, December

 

u can defnitley strip the tank in 1 day, and clean it another day and asemble another day, can u realy wait until dec to fix that up....theres just no way in hell i can concentrate on november exams with a possible new tank that needs atention.

MTS is a serius condition and needs psychiatric attention or better funding.....