# 8 foot plexi tank blew at seams.



## Aswain (Mar 20, 2011)

What a nightmare. I had this tank set up for only a two months and lucky me I was in the room when it blew. I quickly set up a long drain hose and passed it out the window. Then I holded the seam closed, as tight as I could for about a hour and a half. I was able to stop most the water flowing out the broken seam. Ahhhh!!!!!!


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## koodevil (Jul 13, 2010)

sorry hear to about that
these stories are what stop me from getting a bigger tank


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

Oh wow, good thing u were there


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## JohnnyAppleSnail (May 30, 2010)

I know the feeling,happened to Me with a 125 gal. custom made Tank,even though My existing Tanks are Newer I still have Nightmares this could happen again.


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

That is a nightmare I keep having.Do people live below you or are you in a house?Can you imagine that you were not there?


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## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

Sorry to hear about your tank . How old is your tank? Do you have any pictures of it?


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## Flygirl (Jul 23, 2011)

Yikes, sorry to hear that. Don't even want to imagine that happening, let alone have to experience it. Were you able to save the fish? 

Once you get in a better space, would be interested to hear your lessons learned, if there was anything that could have prevented it, anything the rest of us could learn from your experience/misfortune.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Wow that had to suck holding it together for so long! Sorry to hear that. Glad to hear you were there, otherwise would have been a nightmare to wake up/come home to.


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## Adz1 (Apr 21, 2010)

wow...
my nightmare come to life.
sorry to hear about your disaster


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Wow, that's nasty business. Sorry to hear. Was this a DIY or a bought tank? Still warranty on it maybe?


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## Aswain (Mar 20, 2011)

I am very luck I live in my dads house with a carport under me. I am just dreading telling my dad, his hardwood floors are ruined. I don't even wanna picture it if I wasn't there. I would estimate I lost only five gallons to my floor. If I wasn't there and all of it leaked, man the problems could be alot worse.

As for age of tank I am not sure. I bought it off here and was told it would be good for long time.i bought it about five months ago but took me a few months to get all the equpiment to get it going . I finally got it set up at Christmas time with the help from some gifts. I'll post pics at bottem.

Lucky I didn't really started to stock the tank. Some fish got put in my 46 gallon bowfront some in a ten gallon and some in a rubbermade bucket.


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## Aswain (Mar 20, 2011)

Homemade for sure.


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## Dietmar (Dec 15, 2011)

Are you going to reglue it? There is some solvent/cement made for that. Sticky somewhere


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

The only good thing is that you were there, but that is a very good thing because that would have been a LOT of water! And I can see that your tank was beautifully set up, and now you've got to rebuild or replace it. What a lot of work. I hope that the hardwood floors can just be sanded or something. Maybe your dad's household insurance will cover the damage to the floor if it needs replacing or refinishing? Anyway, the important thing is that you weren't electrocuted or injured (as a parent, my mind always turns to disaster when I think about things like this!). Good luck with the next step.


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## Aswain (Mar 20, 2011)

It's is a nice tank in my eyes so I would Like to get put back together. It blew at vertical seem. It was a clean break with no cracked or broken plexiglass. What I was thinking is putting weld on liquid in seam. Then buying weld on 42 and using it on inside like silicone in a glass tank. I was even thinking of using a 24 x 18 pics at each end to hold seams together. I would glue it on outside at ends of tank. I was even thinking of building a wood or metal frame for around the tank. Dose this sound ok? Do I need to do more reinforcement?

Here is pic where failed seam is.


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## skrick (Apr 25, 2010)

OMG!!!! could have been alot worse I feel your pain sorry to hear I left the hose on filling once and it ran through my house sux


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## rich16 (Mar 25, 2011)

Ugh, I can definitely feel your pain, my tank seam went as well, but not nearly to the extent of yours...


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## Aswain (Mar 20, 2011)

So ive fixed my tank by gluing the split seam. I also added 1 inch square dowel to the corners. I also built a frame from 2x4 to keep it from flexing and splitting the seam again. I will stain the stand all one color after it holds for a few months. From what I understand it should b as strong as new. 

It's been three weeks roughly since I filled it back up and it is holding water. Fish are back in the tank. Some didn't make it, but all the fish I really cared about survived, except two killifish I liked. I am just glad I could fix it. 

Big thanks to uaru Joey for his great ideas to help me fix it. The process was easy, and end results looked nice before I added the wood frame. The square corner dowel was a perfect solution.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Can you post some pics of the repairs? I think it would be very educational for many of us on how acrylic tanks may be repaired.


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## Aswain (Mar 20, 2011)

@2wheelsx2 I will post all pics and instructions of what I did. I didn't take pics of what I was doing. But I do have a pic of dowel. And can get a few pics of finished project.


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## waterbox (Nov 26, 2011)

Just wanted to add my sympathies to your nightmare, Aswain.

I, too, have a home-built acrylic tank and so I also wake up occasionally in a cold sweat, imagining the worst. In fact, I was nervous enough about the prospect of the tank springing a leak that when I built mine, I glued square dowels inside all of the bottom seams, and triangular dowels inside the vertical seams--although my dowels are only about 1cm on a side, so they are much thinner than yours. Hope it's enough.

Hard to tell from your photos, but is your aquarium made of 3/8 inch plexiglass? That may be a little thin for a tank of that size. How many braces are there across the top?


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## Aswain (Mar 20, 2011)

Sad to say, but it is 3/8. It shoulda been built with atleast 1/2. That's why I added the 1 inch corner dowel. And built a wood frame to add strength to hold it together. Was gonna get my brother to weld me a stainless frame but my stand is wood so I figured I would build stand hood frame all in wood. 

As for bracing it has strips along inside walls. And then 4 inch wide and two pieces of 3/8 at ends or corners of tank. One in-between walls one on top edge of tank. Same thing but six inches wide about two feet from ends/corners of tank.


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## shady280 (Oct 17, 2011)

i read this story when you first posted it and thought it sucked badly that your seam blew, then a week ago my lower silicon seam opened up on my 120 and i got the experience, the carpet and padding just is dry today (saturday) with heaters, fans and a dehumidifier running in my basement. i was in the house and i too lost about 5 gallons. its this sort of thing happening that can scare off people from the hobby. wife told me if it happens again were just going to buy a brand new 90 instead of used tanks.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

How about coming back from a weekend away and my 150g is half empty and the pump in the 100g sump is pumping dry. That is 100g water on my basement carpet !

Accident in this hobby does happen 

Glad you fixed that Aswain. Eager to see picture as well


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## Aswain (Mar 20, 2011)

This is 1 inch square dowel. I used weld on 16 to glue it in place. One in each vertical corner.










This is shot of one corner of tank with square dowel. Tank is filled. Hard to get good pic cause of wood frame covers all corners. 


















This pic of tank and stand.


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## waterbox (Nov 26, 2011)

On the plus side, Aswain, I think the new wood-wrapped tank looks beautiful--and solid, too!

Nicely done.


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

my sympathies for this disaster! i'm glad you were able to save some of the fish... good thing you were in the room for sure! 

Your repairs look great, the wood frame around the tank looks very nice indeed. Well done.


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## JohnnyAppleSnail (May 30, 2010)

Excellent Job,looks great and pretty much full proof sealing!


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