110 Gallon Glass Aquarium Repair

[joethehoble]

Hi. I am new to this site and wanted to share my attempt to repair a 110 Gallon glass aquarium. A little background about myself, I have an an amature-intermidiate level experience in keeping aquariums, currently I have 2 freshwater tanks. The first in a 55 gallon standard with a Pacu and a Pleco in it. The other is a 35 gallon tall with an angle, parrot and six barbs. I previously had a running 65 gallon tall saltwater tank but my mischevious son, doing what he was told not to do in the house many times over and over, shot a bb into the lower center portion on the front pane. I am sure you can imagine my distress.

I am currently repairing a 110 gallon 60 x 17 1/2 x 22 aquarium which I found on the side of the road about a year ago with the manufacturer labels still attached, when I found it I soon realized why it was left there. the back pane was broken. Being the aquarium newby that I was I decided to go ahead and bring it home anyway. I figured I should be able to find the glass I needed somewhere cheap or free. Well here I am a year later now and found my source of glass. I found a place online that is the least expensive I have found and I think it was well worth it. I have included some pics of where I am in the repair process...

[Smitty]

Now that is DIY! Good luck with the repair!

[joethehoble]

Thanks.

[mike47517]

Good luck. I'm guessin you dont care about the air hockey table

[joethehoble]

That air hockey table has been in the garage for years now, holding up boxes of my ex's junk... Guess what, she doesnt need the table as bad as I do... HAHA!!

[joethehoble]

Just a note that today I glued the first side. See pics. A couple of things that may help. I used a single edge razor scraper to clean all the glueing surfaces to remove all the old silicone. Take your time doing this and carefully inspect to make sure all the old silicone has been removed at least 3 times the thickness of the glass. Use acetone to clean the glueing sufaces to remove all of the unwanted dust. When running a bead of silicone to the glueing surfaces, it is better to have too much than not enough. As you can see in one of the pics I have a small spot where this a little missing but I dont believe that will be a problem. After glueing in place, check and adjust for proper fit and alignment, adjusting as neccessary. One I got the piece where I wanted it I used electrical tape to hold it in place while it cured. I then ran a bead on the inside corners and smoothed out at a 45 degree angle as best as possible. The silicone surface dries in around 5 minutes, sets in 1 hours and cures in 24 hours. After 24 hours I will glue in the remaining side. I will let that sit for about an hour and glue the 2 overflow tanks. I will update this tommorow sometime with more pics.

[joethehoble]

And now the back side is glued in

[joethehoble]

One last pic of the back!

[Frogspawn]

Dang dude thats looking good! Is like your a Pro or something. I tried to repair my old 65 Hex tank, O Boy we had a Huge mess! LOL i never do that again! LOL

Great job though, keep up to date on the postings!

[joethehoble]

Thanks. I'll keep updating the post... FYI, once I figure out how to plug the drains, I will be leak testing it. But I am gonna let it sit for 7 days before I fill it, so plan on seeing an update hopefully next Saturday.... See you then... and thanks again

[joethehoble]

Well I forgot to glue in the top brace, so I did that tonight. It was not as bad as I thought it was gonna be. I also installed one of the overflow tanks. I am including some pics, although they are a little dark so I may take some more tommorow with the sunlight and post them too.... Will get the other overflow installed tommorrow after work.

[joethehoble]

A few more pics. I was short of all the neccesary clamps, but made due with what I had as you can see.

[joethehoble]

Ok as you will see in the following pics, the top center support and both overflows are installed. Better pics this time.

[joethehoble]

Will be leak testing this weekend.. I hope... Anyone want to give me a hand lowering it to the ground?

[Ziggy953]

Nicely done!

I trust this is going to be a reef tank right? Looking forward to your build!!!!!

[joethehoble]

Nope, not this time. Will be a FOWLR.

[joethehoble]

Ok.. Leak test time... Wish me luck!!!

[joethehoble]

Here are a few more pics. Have one small problem and one potential problem. First the small one. There is an ever so slight leak from the inside of the tank into the overflow box.. This is no big deal since it goes down to the filter and there will be a stand pipe anyway. The other problem is that there seems to be what looks like a scratch or possible crack on the bottom glass.. I ran my finger nail on over it and I dont feel anything catching and with my finger up against the glass and looking at it from an angle, it looks like its on the other side of the glass. I'm gonna let it sit for 24 hours and then check for leaks, drain it and then look at that "hopefully" scratch...

[Ziggy953]

My fingers are crossed for you!!

[ccCapt]

Nice job! But.....I notice it has a glass centerbrace, which is good, but what about the rest of the trim? Usually tanks that don't have the top plastic trim to hold the sides together are Euro-braced. What is going to hold the sides from blowing out?