# acrylic tank repair person needed



## aquaticdiver1 (Aug 5, 2017)

Hello 
Well i just put a big scallop crack in the bottom of my tank. 
Anyone recommend someone to repair it? Or am I best off cutting my losses and selling it?
Tank is made of 1" acrylic. 96"x29"x44"

Thanks


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

Contact JT Custom Acrylics and talk with him, he can tell you what your best option is.


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## aquaticdiver1 (Aug 5, 2017)

Will do defiantly a good place to start. I am just so mad at myself right now.

Thanks


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*repair*

that sucks large man , take some pics .. there are a few other guys on here who work with acrylic , it can never hurt to have a few diff ideas or multiples of one repair ,which itself is a relief ....


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## aquaticdiver1 (Aug 5, 2017)

Yes I will post pics later I'm at work now. Yeah it does suck. Just really careless on my part. A heavy glass lid slid into the tank and caused the Crack. It's about 12 " in a semi circle right at the bottom end of the tank


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*crack*

lets hope someone can help u out , such a shame for such a big tank to have a crack .....


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## aquaticdiver1 (Aug 5, 2017)

Hard to capture in photos but this gives a general idea of the damage.


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## Dis (Apr 16, 2010)

Don't be too hard on yourself. I did something similar moving in a 220 glass. Took a chip right out of the corner. Definitely sucks but live and learn.

I met someone awhile ago who had a 96x36x20 or so and he had to replace a panel and he found someone who did it for $800. I'm not sure who did it for him though. Goodluck 

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk


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## aquaticdiver1 (Aug 5, 2017)

Update.
I spoke with John from JT Acrylics. What a very nice man he is. We are truly very fortunate to have someone like him involved in our community.

I sent him many pictures and he is going to come down maybe next sometime to repair. He wont know if it truly viable until he sees it in person. But at this stage it might be doable. I have learned a great deal about acrylics though our conversations.

The crack is in the worst spot possible, but if anyone can do it it is John.


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

Oh man...that blows some serious chunks.

I'm pretty sure the best course of action is to cut out the bottom pane and put a new one on. Would be unweildly doing it on a table saw with those dimensions so a track saw would be the best bet getting a dead on straight cut. Not going to be fun to do and may lose a few inches on the height (44"?).

JM2C


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*Lightbulb idea ...*

Wilson just gave me a idea..
How about scrapping the bottom .. as Wilson says cut off the bottom and glue a new bottom piece on the top edge ....basically reversing the bottom to top and vise versa ...just a thought...


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## aquaticdiver1 (Aug 5, 2017)

I too had some of these ideas. Problem being is that this acrylic has been under load (not a new tank) so when the bottom or top is removed there is great potential for all the panel to go out of alignment.

I think a serious patch in that corner might be the only viable option.


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## aquaticdiver1 (Aug 5, 2017)

Plus 4x8 sheet of 1" cell cast acrylic was $1000 last time I checked.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*acrylic*

I have not priced out acrylic that thick so have no idea if that's a good price or not .. lets see what j.t has to say and what he does or recommends for a repair ...personally myself a tank that big id be replaceing the bottom pane but for a g note ,id prob be thinking of some alternatives ...hopefully he can patch it with a piece of acrylic ... please follow up with pics of rec or repairs done to tank ...
cheers and good luck 
tom


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

yeah...Any large acrylic aquarium built or repaired in such a manner should be put in the oven for annealing from the stress.

Patching...my eng brain says:
- draw a straight line and cut the chipped section out trying not to remove the vertical pane material. Replace with new section, drill hole for bulkead. 
- exterior base, laminate a 2-4" wide 1/2-3/4" strip around the base. It would help brace the outside edge of new to old and look like it was a decorative design.
- Inside bottom, laminate a 3/4" plate, that "X" x "Y" from the corner out 4-6" past the "field" seam on the bottom pane. Before gluing down, drill hole that the bulkead flange will pass through.
- maybe bottom EB with 3/4" strip.

Just tossing it out there if it is any merit.


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## aquaticdiver1 (Aug 5, 2017)

wtac said:


> yeah...Any large acrylic aquarium built or repaired in such a manner should be put in the oven for annealing from the stress.
> 
> Patching...my eng brain says:
> - draw a straight line and cut the chipped section out trying not to remove the vertical pane material. Replace with new section, drill hole for bulkead.
> ...


Sounds very good and through. I would prefer to have to have this tank repaired on site(the thought of moving it again doesn't appeal to me, and I dare say no one would want this thing taking up their shop space for very long. So I think that removing the damaged portion although ideal, might be beyond what is practical if that procedure were to be done here. It also would be time-consuming Re$$$$$$ Not that I think John could not do it. Same with the annealing process.

I do very much like the idea of the reinforcing trim strip around the outside edge of the tank.
I can loose the bulkhead hole and not loose sleep.
Gotta take more detailed pictures and converse with John some more.

Maybe best option is to break the tank down and rebuild one to smaller dimensions?

Or maybe sell as reptile tank or sell as scrap?

Every time I walk past it I say to myself "What a shame".


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## aquaticdiver1 (Aug 5, 2017)

John saving one old acrylic tank at a time! Step one of a two part repair process. Drop adhesive into the crack.


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