Buying used tank advice

[Retro Reefer]

Hello everyone, I haven’t been active on the forum for quite some time because we have an adult child suffering from debilitating neurological issues that seems to have overtaken our lives.. fortunately she has had a wonderful young man come into her life and taken some of the burden off of us allowing me some extra time to devote to my Reef. My Biocube has been growing out of control for the last couple years and I’m sick and tired of pulling stuff out because of the lack of room so it’s time to go bigger.. I need some advice on buying a used aquarium that I came across, the seller doesn’t know much about the tank as they purchased it used but they think it’s a 50 gallon that’s about 8 to 10 years old and manufactured by perfecto but for the life of me I can’t seem to find any information on it anywhere.. my biggest concerns are the old silicon seams and the unsupported glass bottom as the tank is just held up by just the edges sitting on a open top cabinet.. they only want $50 for it but I’m somewhat concerned about potential tank failure after it’s set up. I plan on checking it out in the next couple days so anyone have advice on buying used or what I should be looking for with the silicon seams?

 

[Retro Reefer]

Picture for your reference..

 

[cracker]

Tank looks Ok from he pic at least. the stand could use some TLC . As for the silicone, If it looks all white / opaque could be a little old. are the edges of the seams (slicone) coming a away from the glass ? Let's seee what others say. Also I wish Your Family the Best.

 

[Retro Reefer]

I would be completely restoring the stand and doing away with the light canopy so that’s not going to be a issue.. checking the silicon to see if its separating from glass would be my first priority for the actual tank inspection but beyond that just wondering if there is anything else I should be looking for. I guess the biggest fear I have is the unsupported bottom with all the rock work placed in the center of that big glass panel, the tank will be bare bottom for the first few months until my rock has cured to allow for easy cleaning and the thought of my rock work falling and crashing through the bottom I think is my biggest fear beyond the silicon seams failing.

 

[cracker]

Good question, I'd "think" the tank was designed that way & should be ok. there isn't a lot of surface area on the bottom. If there was more I bet there would be a brace. Again I think the bottom braces are more about keeping the side panels from bowing, more than supporting the bottom. some sort of something between where the rock & bottom glass meet would be nice.