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Hi, I found a guy selling old 60 gallon tanks for 30$

I want to buy one but the only one he has left he says cracked but he sea;led it and mended it with silicone. Is this safe to go by? will the tank last? I really would like to buy a used tank beacuse 75 dollars is alot to spend on a glass box. If not I have friend who is a glazier and I could make a similar tank for probably a similar price.

Thanks,
-Brandon

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

I would run a mile from any repaired tank

Ask your glazier friend about sealing aquarium tanks. The older the tank the more difficult it is for the silicon to form a proper seal.
I took a new 45lt tank back to the maker as it had a small leak, he tested it found the leak picked it up and tossed it straight into the scrap bin, enough said.

It could cost you a lot more if it cracks again and leaks water ever where.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
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true, but I will see what the crack looks like and put a pic up for you guys to see. I imagined it might be so but I had hoped not.

the glazier friend will be put to work!


\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

this is probly the first time ive have disagreed with keith,me on the other,i have enuff common sense and knowledge to seal up my own tanks!
ive have fixed 2 of my own tanks,plus a few of my friends!however,where is the crack,and how big is it?
if its anywhere on the sides,forget it,but if its cracked on the bottom,and its not from end to end,it can be repaired long term.
my 55 gallon i repaired over 3 years ago,and thats still going strong,same as my 29gall.
what i do is ether get THICK perspex,or scrap glass,clean up the site with a wire brush,then hit it with metho,and the scrap glaas too!
then once its completely dry,grab some non toxic silicone,and run a beed over the crack,then apply the scrap glass,adding pressure by GENTALLY pushing down,watching the beed of silicone flaten out,also making sure it covers the whole crack!i normally like a good few inches all round,so the crack is rite in the middle of the scrap glass!
then go around all the edges of the scrap glass with more beeds of silicone,also be sure to cover any sharp edges,as some fish dig and mite cut themselves.
then run your finger along to get off the accsess silicone,being carefull not to cut your finger!
this will also help smooth over any sharp bits,and dont worry to much what it looks like,you wont able to see it once your gravel is in the tank.
once you have done this test it,and if you have done it corectly it should be water tight now!
this is the exact way i fixed the tanks ive done,
one other thing you can do for extra support(depending on how handy you are,and if your stand is timber)is,
when the tank is sitting on the stand,place another support peace of timber rite underneath where the crack is..but i chose not to do this,and all my are fine...hope this helps..

in my experiences,a broken seal is different from a broken tank.that being said, one can repair a leaky seal, if the glass is cracked its very hard to repair,over time the water prressure could just make the glass give way.

ck,what are you talking about?im talking about fixing a tank crack,not a seal!sealing it up,is just another way of saying that your repairing the crack,and as for pressure over time,this is what the scrap glass in for,so the glass takes the pressure and spreads it out!then the silicone underneath the glass,SEALS up the crack../:'

OK lets talk about experience after 10 years in the trade and 26 years trade teaching and that included Glass one of the major subjects plus many years of life experience I think that stands for some thing.
Also my best mate only had one job in his total working life and that was a glazier, and he never repaired a fish tank or would any of the firms he work for.

A crack in glass is a weakness it can be caused by several things a knock/chip, a bad scratch, twisting, over loading, poor quality manufacture 2nd grade glass, too thin for the designated job, and no matter what you do it will start moving again either by pressure or movement.
Glass can vary in thickness in one sheet and often does especially cheap imported glass, A glazier will pick it a mile away he knows what to look for and a small measuring tool helps a lot.
My last experience I watched a vertical crack in my tank moved as fast as I was draining the tank.

Sealing is totally different it is usually caused by the sealing product breaking down or being applied incorrectly having a bubble in it, dirty glass surface, even cheap glass, finally old glass especially in a fish tank.

Then you go to the sealing product there are plenty on the market today and naturally different qualities.
No glazier in our are will guarantee a repair job, reason being it will break sooner or later and naturally you going to blame them. This information came from several glaziers, a tank maker and an insurance assessor.

For all the above reasons I would never buy an old tank or even think of repairing a tank either.
A used tank if set up corectly with all good glass correctly sealed by a professional is excellent "UNTIL" it is moved it can twist easy and crack the seal also when it is reset up it only requires a fraction out of alignment to what it was previously. I once saw a tank with a small crack across a bottom corner and as soon as it was picked up the crack became very large it only took a slightest of twist to do it.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

I have a few repaired/resealed tanks, but 20gal is my absolute maximum. Above that, you'd want the heavy duty silicon and to use the tank in a way that meant if the seals gave out, then it isn't a big deal.

I personally wouldn't risk it on a 60.

That being said, if the tank is somewhere like a garage or basement and the crack is in a place where there is little to no pressure on it, then it could be an OK purchase.

I'd be more inclined to use a repaired tank of that size for a terrarium or other specialised habitat rather than a full aquarium, especially when you don't know the person selling the tank, the quality of their workmanship or the quality of their tools and materials.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I thin I am just going to give up on the pursuit of the cracked tank. It seems like the risk is too high and the guy would not respond to my questioning emails. I will instead reenter my pursuit to build an aquarium if I do this I will probably do a 75 gallon tank and go all out with CO2 and etc but we'll see what the year brings me (if I get a job then maybe i'll just buy the 125$ tank with light fixtures at petsmart...) other than that thanks for all of your help guys and I really appreciate it!
-Brandon

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

found a used 55g about 10 miles away from me on ebay so i will be buying that. it will need some good scrubbing and it also comes with a cannister filter and some other odds and ends but the listing was 1$ so i will see what the seller wants for it.

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

make sure you use a watered down bleach solution to kill nasties

already planned to. frank and i talked about it on chat earlier today.

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Well done I hope it is what you want.
Frank possibly told you to test it before you buy it by that I mean fill it up and wait a little while also ask how old is the tank, and how long has it been empty.
Am I correct in thinking it is a on going tank if that is the case just question how old it is.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

And fill it up on an even surface. You'd cringe at the number of people that just plonk it down on the ground and fill it up, great way to crack the base!

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

well i lost the auction by a dollar stupid having to spend the day at school and them blocking everything except encyclopedias and government references! oh well it looks like I am back to square one... asked my LFS manager how he builds tanks and using that along with the info i got from some other members I am going to build a tank, unless of course I find out its cheaper to buy a 75 gallon tank than to make it...
then I think I am going to build some sort of plant filter along with some other sorts of filter to give it a little less maintenance. it should get interesting, so I will definitely have many more questioning threads coming up!

-Brandon

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"