Broken tank!

[B00meringue]

Had a bit of a disaster moving home, on placing the tank in its new position it cracked while full and I had to quickly drain the tank, luckily there were no fish but loads a lot of plants!
I’ve attached an image and just wanted to ask is this tank a write off or can I fix the crack in the bottom safetly?

 

[NannaLou]

This is a VERY unqualified opinion, but could you ‘glue’ another piece of glass to the bottom of the cracked bottom piece..? Not sure how that might have impacted on the stability of the other joints though…

 

[Uberhoust]

Don't know if it is safe but I have a 10 gallon with the bottom corner that cracked during a move. I put aquarium silicone on both sides of the split and have continued to use the aquarium now for over 4 years. Your split is larger so I don't know how well it work work for you. I have patched side panels the same way, but, only on small tanks.

I think @NannaLou suggestion makes some sense but I would place the glass plate on the inside so that the water cannot penetrate the layer between the bottom plates.

Unless you take the bottom plate of glass off and redo the bottom of the aquarium you will have a tank that is partially compromised and you should treat it as such.

 

[Retired Viking]

I would check at a glass store and see how much it would cost for them to make a replacement bottom.

 

[Colin_T]

You can either patch the base or replace it. If you are patching it, use slightly thicker glass and make sure the patch covers all the damaged glass and extends past the crack by at least 4 inches.

You can also cut the base out and put a new one in, which is more work but gives you a new base.

Make sure the tank has a sheet of polystyrene foam under it when you set it back up.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Treat yourself to a new one! I wouldn't be confident repairing that to be honest especially as it's the bottom...just thinking about the weight it's got to withstand

 

[itiwhetu]

It is fixable as described by @Colin_T . Also always sit your tanks on high density polystyrene about 25mm thick.

 

[Uberhoust]

It is fixable as described by @Colin_T . Also always sit your tanks on high density polystyrene about 25mm thick.

I have all my tanks on well supported, flat, surfaces without issue, but I can see were unflat surface or a manufacturing defect on the base of the tank could create uneven stress on the tank, especially when filled. When you speak of high density polystyrene are you talking about the rigid foam insulation type product. 1" seems pretty thick. What depth of indentation do you typically get with your tanks into the polystyrene.

 

[itiwhetu]

I have all my tanks on well supported, flat, surfaces without issue, but I can see were unflat surface or a manufacturing defect on the base of the tank could create uneven stress on the tank, especially when filled. When you speak of high density polystyrene are you talking about the rigid foam insulation type product. 1" seems pretty thick. What depth of indentation do you typically get with your tanks into the polystyrene.

High density polystyrene is the sheets you typically find protecting electronic equipment in there packaging. The tank typically would settle on 3 or 4 mm into that. Remember that overtime things move, we also have earthquakes here and this means if the stand goes in one direction and the tank in another we minimize the forces on the base of the tank.