# Cracks/Chips in tank...



## aviatorhi (Nov 5, 2010)

Recently purchased a tank off of Craigslist (75 L, spent $75ish on it, as it came with a filter and stand), anyway, didn't notice a pair of cracks/deformities on it when I bought it, both seem to be about 1 cm and are on the 2 front corners (1 on each corner), I'm attaching photos with the areas of concern outlined, should I be worried?


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## Amie (Sep 15, 2010)

That's about 20gals. I can't really see anything in the pictures. Is there some place that you can fill up the tank and if it leaks it won't damage anything?? I would fill it up somewhere like that. Maybe a garage or outdoors if you live somewhere warm and leave it for probably a few weeks to see if it gets any worse. I would also check the inside to see if it is something on the inside or not. Feel the outside to see if you can figure out if it's a crack or an imperfection in the glass. I would think an imperfection would be smooth and a crack would be rough. If your really concerned you could reseal those sides with silicone or whatever it is they use on tanks but you have to be very careful to make sure you get the one that is safe for aquariums. If you do that seal the inside and the outside. Better to be safe then sorry. I think you caught a little bit of a break with this tank being a 20gal. The deeper the tank the more pressure on the glass on the inside so you've got that going in your favour.


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## aviatorhi (Nov 5, 2010)

75 L = 75 gallon "long" tank.

The circle with a line on it (first pic) is about 1/4 from the top, while the "round" indentation (2nd pic) is 1/2 way down. Currently sitting in a less than ideal spot and filled up, no major issues, I'll monitor to see if there is anything getting worse.

Would using a silicone and/or glass cement and placing a reinforcement on the outside (ie. glass covering the worrisome areas) help, I'm not going for looks, just function.


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## Amie (Sep 15, 2010)

LOL sorry.....we really need a universal measurement on this site so L always means long and not liters it gets confusing LOL. 75 gal worries me more then a 20gal would. I would say seal with the silicone but if you want to add more glass, if it was me and to feel comfortable I would add a full pane of glass and silicone it to the inside of the tank. That will take some pressure off the damaged spots. Of course, if your going to go that extreme then why not just replace that glass with undamaged glass anyway. If you find out what thickness of glass you need to hold that much and silicone it in then that would work fine.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Since we really can't see what the areas look like, hard to say. If there was dried hard water spots around the area, I would say don't use or replace that pane of glass. Personally, I think I could deal with a chip better than I could a crack....but hard to say that without being able to see it. What it will really come down to is your confort level since we aren't able to see the extent of it.

I'd put 150lbs of gravel in it, fill it, and let it sit for a month. If no issues from that I'd use it. Again, nobody can really say what to do.


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## aviatorhi (Nov 5, 2010)

Thanks for the input, there are no stains whatsoever in any spot, and I have the board that was under it when I originally went to look at the tank (so to my knowledge it's definitly been dry for a week), I think I'll leave it as is for now, and watch for any expansion. Reading a bit more about this I see that it's not entirely uncommon to see this sort of damage on a tank (I always bought brand new tanks before, so I never had to deal with damage), which gives me some comfort.


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