1 day old and my first headache - help needed

[diablo243]

So noticed last night the front of my frag tank has a slight bow in it and the center of the top brace in the back came unglued. I have no reason to believe the owner is slipping one by me and that it likely came unglued during the move. I need to re glue the back of the brace but am not sure how to do it. Do I need to drain the entire tank down and clean and prep everything? Can I just drain main display down wipe everything down and glue in place as a repair? Do I need to remove and reflux to whole brace or can I just lift the area that is unglued and glue that specific area? Any help and guidance is greatly appreciated!

 

[Reeferdood]

That is a bummer..
Acrylic is tough if not impossible to glue if not done right.. Is it possible to access all the areas you need to glue??
I would say to drain it so you can attempt to glue it back to the original shape..
If you go that distance would the builder be willing to replace or repair it??

 

[diablo243]

Yeah easy enough to get to the area that is loose, it's the back of the black brace you see in the pic.

 

[Anirban]

Thats possibly a tough thing to fix but experts can comment better.. @cromag08 @Floyd R Turbo

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

Tank dims and material dims (thickness)?

Looks like 3/8" walls and maybe 1/4" top

 

[diablo243]

Assuming dims means dimensions: total tank size is 35.5 x 18 the back chamber is at least 4" of that so the display area with the base is closer to 35.5 x 14 but I'll get exact dimensions of that when I get home. Acrylic is between 3/8 and 1/2" again I'll check when I get home, brace is much thinner than walls obviously. Tank was made by Custom King here in CT and is less than a year old

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

So length = 35.5, depth = 14" display + 4" back section, what is the height?

How is the separation between the main & back section done? Is this an interior baffle of sorts or is it more like 2 tanks kind of bonded together after the fact? Might need a few more pics.

 

[diablo243]

I'll measure it all out when I get home as to not guess anymore. I'll post full details and more pics tonight. Thanks for the response!

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

No problem...I'll watch for the info

 

[DarkTang]

I would not use it. Better safe than sorry. It would cost exponentially more to replace your hardwood floor. I had a 60g cube burst one my hardwood floor.

 

[Salty1962]

Do you have enough room to put nylon nuts and bolts? I repaired a center brace on a 90g where I was able to place nylon nuts and bolts, it held together for the 5 yrs. I had it. I would drain the tank in the mean time to make sure the seams don't separate

 

[diablo243]

Ok @Floyd R Turbo overall 35.5 x 18 x 11.5. Display area 35.5 x 12 fuge area 35.5 x 6. Tank thick 3/8 divider wall between tank and display 1/4 brace 1/4. So here's the weird thing, it's almost like the face is warped not bowed, when I put a 4' level across it the center is not high, the level touches both edges and center and actually has dips inward between the 3. As you can see in pic 2 there is a significant gap that is a production issue and never sat flush, so idk maybe it's fine as it!?

 

[diablo243]

I feel like with that gap there even if the center was ever glued it could not have been a very good bond. The sides are rock solid, any chance the side are enough to hold the front?

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

Sorry I'm having a hard time envsioning how the tank is put together, it's kind of odd.

So where did you place the level, on the eurobrace along the front edge?

So the euro is in contact along the front and sides, but not the baffle there the back edge of the euro passes over the baffle...correct? And from #2 I would agree - maybe it wasn't intended to. Kinda weird that the euro doesn't just go around the entire rim of the main tank.

maybe it's the lighting, but it looks like the back edge of the euro (pic 2) has an inward groove, like an anti-roundover (for lack of a better term)

In your OP, the pic makes it look like the front panel actually is warped outward and when the top/bottom were bonded on this was left as is, then the flush trimming was done, makes it look bowed even though it's not (it's warped)

All in all I think it's OK, 12" deep isn't that much, but I've make 24 x 36 x 8 rimless frag tanks out of 3/8" and I wouldn't do it again, I use 1/2" now. FYI 1/2" acrylic measures 0.472" typically (metric) so if you measure and it looks like it's a bit over 3/8", it's 1/2"-metric. If it's 3/8"-metric then it's actually 0.354" not 0.375"

 

[diablo243]

No I laid the level across the actual face of the tank at the base, the middle, then the top to see if it rocked back and forth to determine how bad the bow actually was. To my surprise it was not bowed at all, it touched both edges and center and actually had gaps dipping in between. Sooooo the long and short is I think it may just be an optical and the euro brace may have never been attached to the baffle panel anyway.

 

[diablo243]

It's in my basement so if it brakes I'll be ticked but it won't damage anything at least. So I'll keep people posted, if you see me post an emergency give away of frags you'll know what happened lol!

 

[diablo243]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone?

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

I think it's probably fine, just really odd construction