Aquarium seams

[ReefNoobie88]

Hey all, so I picked up my new tank that I had custom built. 48x30x24 rimless with modular marine overflow. Well upon inspection after I got it home I noticed a couple very minor scratches, but checking the seams I found voids/gaps/bubbles as follows in the photos. The place who built the tank is hanging out the LFS I bought it from and saying its his problem but theirs. They can replace the front pane for the largest scratch, but cant guarantee the silicone will come out any better. They said it could be better, or it ould be worse. The builder stated that either black silicone is impossible to guarantee no bubbles because it's not like clear. I'm just worried about the seams coming apart and ruining my $10,000 hardwood floors, along with everything else and losing my livestock. Theses are all 4 vertical seams, starting with front right, front left, back left, back right. What do you all think?? Any tank gurus or seam experts? Thanks in advance!

 

[jtl]

Not perfect seams but not all that bad either. Seams are a crap shoot, some better some worse. That tank is not going to come apart nor will it leak because of those minor imperfections. I doubt if the bubbles are even noticeable with out searching with a light. I have built a few tanks and there is always a minor flaw somewhere. After you put your own scratches in the glass you will forget about this. I would not mess with having it rebuilt, just ask for a few bucks to make you happy and buy some nice coral.

 

[dhuynh]

It's because you got a Visio. They are not known for craftsmanship. It should hold water just find.

You could always have them enforced the top with a eurobrace to make it safer.

 

[ReefNoobie88]

Not perfect seams but not all that bad either. Seams are a crap shoot, some better some worse. That tank is not going to come apart nor will it leak because of those minor imperfections. I doubt if the bubbles are even noticeable with out searching with a light. I have built a few tanks and there is always a minor flaw somewhere. After you put your own scratches in the glass you will forget about this. I would not mess with having it rebuilt, just ask for a few bucks to make you happy and buy some nice coral.

This is what my LFS has offered also, hes a really great guy and I dont want to stick him with the tank and out the money until he can resell the tank. Just wanted peace of mind for it all. Thanks for the reply!

 

[ReefNoobie88]

It's because you got a Visio. They are not known for craftsmanship. It should hold water just find.

You could always have them enforced the top with a eurobrace to make it safer.

Reinforcing the top would cost more money for my LFS as he would need to ship it down to Sam Diego from Northern California. I may see if they could send me the glass or have some cut and polished then set them up myself for bracing though. Thanks for the reply!

 

[dhuynh]

Worth doing. My last 500gal had a seam bust. It cause so much anguish and destroyed my walls and floor, I quit the hobby for like 8 years.

My new 480gal tank has double bottom, starboard inside the tank, euro brace on the bottom, double euro brace on top, and triangular acrylic rods on the 4 corners. The only thing missing is bulletproof glass. Lol

 

[ReefNoobie88]

Lol bulletproof glass tank.... that's a heck of a selling point. Better safe than sorry at least. This is exactly why I'm being cautious as hell before I set this one up. I dont want to Renovate my house again as its only 7 years old. Acacia wood is very expensive, and I definitely dont want to lay more hardwood anytime in my life again.

 

[DaneGer21]

$10k in flooring, yikes. Should have spent $9k and an extra $1k into the tank haha

 

[ca1ore]

I’ve no experience with that particular tank, but those small bubbles are of no structural consequence. Irritating aesthetically perhaps. No tank can be guaranteed not to fail, but I see nothing in any of those pictures that would raise alarms. Eurobracing anrimless tanks would seem to rather defeat to purpose of getting a rimless in the first place. Assuming the glass thickness is correct for a tank that size, I’d use it as is.

FWIW, my old 180 had silicone bubbles much worse than that and it held for me for 20 years. Notion that bubbles are not visible in clear silicone is nonsense.

 

[ReefNoobie88]

$10k in flooring, yikes. Should have spent $9k and an extra $1k into the tank haha

Unfortunately my floors were there well before my tanks lol. Thankfully I saved a ton on labor doing it myself.

 

[ReefNoobie88]

I’ve no experience with that particular tank, but those small bubbles are of no structural consequence. Irritating aesthetically perhaps. No tank can be guaranteed not to fail, but I see nothing in any of those pictures that would raise alarms. Eurobracing anrimless tanks would seem to rather defeat to purpose of getting a rimless in the first place. Assuming the glass thickness is correct for a tank that size, I’d use it as is.

FWIW, my old 180 had silicone bubbles much worse than that and it held for me for 20 years. Notion that bubbles are not visible in clear silicone is nonsense.

Thatd what else I like to hear. Thank you for the honest reply

 

[joe berkman]

Worth doing. My last 500gal had a seam bust. It cause so much anguish and destroyed my walls and floor, I quit the hobby for like 8 years.

My new 480gal tank has double bottom, starboard inside the tank, euro brace on the bottom, double euro brace on top, and triangular acrylic rods on the 4 corners. The only thing missing is bulletproof glass. Lol

Could you please explain further about the triangular acrylic rods? Are they inplace oof the inside beads?

 

[ReefNoobie88]

They are silicones into the seams inside of the tank to add strength by increasing surface contact area. The larger manufacturers do this for big tanks.

 

[dhuynh]

They are silicones into the seams inside of the tank to add strength by increasing surface contact area. The larger manufacturers do this for big tanks.

Exactly. You can't see the rods.. if done correctly, it just looks like the black silicon seam. CDA does this

 

[ca1ore]

Curious that they’d use acrylic on a glass tank. On an acrylic tank, yes (I had that done on the bottom seams of my acrylic tank). Typically silicone adheres poorly to acrylic. I know C2C does strip bracing on the vertical corners of their very large tanks, but they use glass. Bottom eurobracing with glass is an excellent idea though.

 

[ReefNoobie88]

Curious that they’d use acrylic on a glass tank. On an acrylic tank, yes. Typically silicone adheres poorly to acrylic. I know C2C does strip bracing on the vertical corners of their very large tanks, but they use glass. Bottom eurobracing with glass is an excellent idea though.

If you use the correct silicone it will bond. The aquarium silicone ASi on Amazon bonds INSANLEY strong to acrylic and glass. It's what I use to build sumps. It's easier to get off the glass than the acrylic lol

 

[ca1ore]

Interesting. I’m not familiar with CDA tanks. I decided for my current 450 to go acrylic so didn’t seriously explore glass.

 

[ReefNoobie88]

Interesting. I’m not familiar with CDA tanks. I decided for my current 450 to go acrylic so didn’t seriously explore glass.

I've seen and moved a CDA 500 gallon tank. They do some amazing work, and that glass is stupid heavy. Rimless setup, with a floating bottom that's about 4" thick.

 

[ca1ore]

Yeah that’s why I went acrylic. My 450 was 575 lbs. empty. A corresponding glass tank more like 1,200. My back aches just thinking about it.

 

[ReefNoobie88]

Yeah that’s why I went acrylic. My 450 was 575 lbs. empty. A corresponding glass tank more like 1,200. My back aches just thinking about it.

It was actually that weight. Took 12 of us to move the beast. But it's a heck of a gorgeous tank and cant wait to see it filled in with coral growth. My buddies 225 glass is as much as your 450 lol.