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  • #1

    Chipped tank

    Hello!  I am as new as they come, and have wanted my own aquarium for many years (my parents had 2 in the basement when I was little).  I finally used my birthday as an excuse to buy one, so to save money I looked on Craig's List for a used set-up.  

    I am kicking myself now for not asking more questions before buying the dirty 60 gallon, "no cracks/leaks," tank with stand and miscellaneous aquarium stuff.  

    My husband and I got it home, and I removed the blue background from the tank only to find 3 chips on the back corners.  Upon closer examination, there are 2 more chips on one of the front corners.  This tank looks like it is at least 25 years old.  I filled it yesterday and left it for a couple of hours while I went to Lowe's for aquarium stand refinishing supplies.  It didn't leak at all, so I drained it and began cleaning it with a razor blade and 10% bleach solution.  It looks a lot better, despite a lot of scratches that aren't noticable when it's wet.  But it's the chips that are stressing me out.   :?

    I planned on resealing the tank (some of the silicon is peeling up in one of the side corners), but I don't know if I should just bite the bullet and put it back on Craig's List as a terrarium.   I did a lot of research yesterday and today, and as one of the chips reaches the silicon seal between two panes (though only about 2 mm deep where the seal is exposed), I don't trust it enough to bring it in the house.  My husband thinks it'll be fine, but he's no expert.  So here I am!

    Any advice, suggestions, questions, comments would be most appreciated!  

    I have taken some close-ups of the chips in question and have uploaded them to:
    Chipped Aquarium Pics

    Thank you!
    ~Angela
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Chipped tank

    Welcome to the HFB colandergirl, nice of you to join us. I would not be too concerned about the chips, I have a new tank that I bought from a Local Fish Store, and it has small chips in the edge's as well. As long as your tank does not leak, that is the main thing.

    If you feel adventerous, go ahead and strip the silicone and clean the edges' and corners well with alcohol and reseal them, if not, set the tank up for a while and let it cycyle, a term you may or may not be familar with, but basically means the time in which the bacteria which is beneficial to fish takes to establish in a tank, more on that can be found here as well.

    Anywho, personally, I'd say go with it for now, live and learn and go from there, those of us here on the box will try to be as helpful as possible. I'm no expert, so you may want to hear from a half dozen others before buying the farm....

    Good Luck...

    CF
    Truth is the cement that holds the bricks and stones of a sane and civilized society together. Remove the former and the latter will crumble.

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Chipped tank

      Welcome to the fishbox :)

      I agree with CF -- get your tank started, and you filled it with water which tells you it does not leak which is the # 1 part.  If you want to reseal the tank, only cut down one side at a time, clean with alcohol and reseal it.  Let it sit for a day, then repeat as you dont want stress out the tank by having multiple sides torn down at the same time.   Iamageekgirl and guy (known as the geeks) have resealed two tanks lately and I am sure they will be more than happy to tell you what they did to setup their tanks for resealing.

      Now a 25 yr old tank is no problem, specially if the tank is of a good quality.  Look at one of the bottom corners and many manufactures will put their name there.  Sometimes (a lot) they have been scratched off and gone so its hard to see or find at all.

      There are plenty of known good Oceanic tanks out there which are 20+ yrs old without a problem

      Scratches you cannot get rid of because they are caused by fish scraping the tank for algae or your magnet cleaner which has been used to clear the tank of algae off the front glass.

      I would do like you are thinking, sand down the stand, restain it and make sure that you put a couple of coats of poly over them so they become water resistant.

      Keep smiling and have fun here :)  Welcome to HFB !!

      What fish do Jesper have
      180 WC T. Moorii Chilambo +1 Petro trewavasae.
      110       Cyps, WC Xeno Spilopterus Kipili WC/F1/F2 T. sp red Kiku
      58 S. Decorus
      "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." -Margaret Thatcher

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Chipped tank

        If it is chipped into the silicone I would be weary about it.

        Fill the tank full and let it sit to see if it will hold under pressure. Then once you are sure, re-seal the tank.

        I have a 15g that has a chip almost to the silicone and its been sitting outside for quite some time now.
        700g Mini-Monster tank

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: Chipped tank

          It's hard to tell from the pics....how far up on the side is the chip that goes into the silicone?
          Charles Jones
          http://www.breitbart.tv/obama-dems-i...unders-intent/

          A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have. --Thomas Jefferson
          Guns are responsible for killing people much the way pencils are responsible for misspelling words.

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: Chipped tank

            welcome to the box colandergirl....i see your already getting alot of advice about those chips.....
            i hope it all works out for you in the end.....
            again welcome to the box....


            FL

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: Chipped tank

              Thank you, everybody, for the warm welcomes and the advice!

              More info:

              I tried to find a manufacturers name on the tank but couldn't.  There is a Marineland temperature gauge on the front of the tank, but I'm assuming that doesn't necessarily mean the aquarium is made by Marineland.

              The chip that reaches the silicone begins at 6.5" from the bottom of the tank and ends at 7.5" from the bottom of the tank (I measured from the inside of the tank, from the outside of the tank it's 1" higher).  There is about 2 mm of silicone exposed along the chip for roughly 1".  

              The dimensions of the tank are 36" X 18" X 24".

              And another question:

              If I were to fill the tank up again and wait to see what happens... generally how long would I have to leave it before I can be relatively sure it won't explode?  Or is it something that can worsen with time and suddenly burst apart in a few months or years?  

              Thanks again for all of your help!  

              ~Angela

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Chipped tank

                It sounds like you have a Oceanic 58, a very sturdy tank and reliable manufacturer.  I would not worry to much about the "explosion" factor, a worst case scenario would be a small leak that slowly over time, turns into a steady leak, which can be a PITA, but very fixable.  Fill the tank and let it sit for a few days, if it is going to leak, it most likely will do it immediately after or even during the fill process.

                Grab some fish safe silicone from Home Depot or any hardware store and reseal that chip area since it sounds fairly small. But make sure the silicone  you use is 100% silicone and not the bath or tile kind, make sure it has no additives.

                Good Luck

                CF
                Truth is the cement that holds the bricks and stones of a sane and civilized society together. Remove the former and the latter will crumble.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: Chipped tank

                  I agree with everyone so far...it should be fine if repaired correctly. HOWEVER, if you are like my wife, fearing the worst case scenario of the tank bursting during the night at some point in the future, just go buy a new tank, or nearly new "mint condition tank and sell the chipped one. I was gonna buy a used 215g tank (all my previous tanks were used), but the wife OK'd a NEW tank. If momma ain't happy, nobody is happy  
                  215g Malawi Peacocks and Mbuna
                  180g Tropheus Ikola and Bemba and Clown Loaches
                  58g Bristlenose breeding and grow out

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: Chipped tank

                    FYI -- 36" X 18" X 24" = 68g tank --

                    What fish do Jesper have
                    180 WC T. Moorii Chilambo +1 Petro trewavasae.
                    110                     Cyps, WC Xeno Spilopterus Kipili WC/F1/F2 T. sp red Kiku
                    58 S. Decorus
                    "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." -Margaret Thatcher

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: Chipped tank

                      CichlidFan -- Thanks!   I've got it filled now, so far so good.  I'm all ready to go with 4 tubes of GE Silicone I (I couldn't find any single tubes... just 4-packs!)  

                      SteveCGG -- I am definitely the worrying type.  If all goes well during my test, reseal, test phase I think I'll go ahead and use the tank, but look for every excuse to buy a new one that fits the stand!  

                      Zulaab -- When measuring the tank I took the outside dimensions of the glass -- is that the way to do it?  When I measured from the inside it came to about 35 X 17 X 24, which I couldn't find as a standard size anywhere.  The thickness of the glass is [s:f2535d1a90]5/8"[/s:f2535d1a90] 3/8".

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: Chipped tank

                        5/8's is very very thick glass for those dimensions, but who knows??

                        CF
                        Truth is the cement that holds the bricks and stones of a sane and civilized society together. Remove the former and the latter will crumble.

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Re: Chipped tank

                          My bad!  3/8" glass, there was a gap between my measuring tape and the metal hook.  

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Re: Chipped tank

                            no biggie...smiles
                            Truth is the cement that holds the bricks and stones of a sane and civilized society together. Remove the former and the latter will crumble.

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Re: Chipped tank

                              Its okie.  The std measurement is to measure to nearest inch when talking about aquariums and they tend to stick to the large round numbers when dealing with tanks made on the English scale.
                              ie 20, 24, 30, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96 inches.

                              From http://boonedocks.net/fishtank/ftweb.php  you get the following results.  
                              This website takes into considerations such things as glass thickness etc..

                              Water Type..............................Freshwater
                              Material................................Glass
                              Tank Overhead Shape.....................Rectangular
                              Length..................................36.00 in.
                              Width...................................18.00 in.
                              Height..................................24.00 in.
                              Wall-thickness..........................0.38 in.
                              Volume..................................67.32 gal (US)
                              Tank Material Weight....................116.84 lbf
                              Water Volume............................67.32 gal (US)
                              Water Weight............................560.22 lbf
                              Approximate Total Weight................677.06 lbf
                              Room Air Temperature....................32.00 °F
                              Water Temperature.......................32.00 °F
                              Heating Capability Required.............0.00 W
                              Approx. Total Fish Length...............21.60 in.
                              Mass Required for 1 PPM.................254.11 mg

                              What fish do Jesper have
                              180 WC T. Moorii Chilambo +1 Petro trewavasae.
                              110                               Cyps, WC Xeno Spilopterus Kipili WC/F1/F2 T. sp red Kiku
                              58 S. Decorus
                              "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." -Margaret Thatcher

                              Comment

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