Chipped my new tank. Can it be repaired?

[Reef.]

Could you not find a small round magnet to put over it and use this for feeding station for seaweed? You may not notice it as much if you can see that area of the tank is doing a job.

 

[arking_mark]

I would be very surprised for any company to state any damaged product to be structurally sound, especially from a picture..they could loose more then they could gain from getting involved in this.

You will probably get a answer along the lines of “we recommended replacement to be sure of the tanks structurally integrity.”

If they say this, then it goes to homeowners insurance. I can't risk a tank disaster.

 

[arking_mark]

Could you not find a small round magnet to put over it and use this for feeding station for seaweed? You may not notice it as much if you can see that area of the tank is doing a job.

Looking at 4 solutions:
1. Replace tank if Red Sea says there may be structural issues.
2. Get a glass company to make a repair.
3. Cthulhu sticker over blemish
4. Black glass U Channel to cover rim which will match the seams

 

[Spieg]

If it were my tank, I'd just leave it as a reminder to be more careful in the future.

 

[Fin]

Any sort of patch job will likely be just as noticeable as the chip, if not worse. Since it obviously bothers you, I would just replace the tank and be done with it. It will never look like it did before. I would suspect most glass shops wouldn't want the liability of getting involved with repairing fish tanks anyway, like was mentioned before. Just my thoughts anyway.

 

[JasonK84]

Looking at 4 solutions:
1. Replace tank if Red Sea says there may be structural issues.
2. Get a glass company to make a repair.
3. Cthulhu sticker over blemish
4. Black glass U Channel to cover rim which will match the seams

I like the glass U channel idea. That will definitely give the panel more integrity being that the chip is probably in the worst possible place with the most water pressure behind it.

 

[arking_mark]

I like the glass U channel idea. That will definitely give the panel more integrity being that the chip is probably in the worst possible place with the most water pressure behind it.

U Channel will only be plastic. I doubt it will provide any structural support.

 

[JasonK84]

U Channel will only be plastic. I doubt it will provide any structural support.

You could have it made from some acrylic of whatever thickness. @cromag27 (he is an R2R sponsor) with www.octoaquatics.com does custom acrylic work and does great clean work. If you decide to go this route check him out. He also does custom screen tops called Octo lids. With you putting something in the rim it might make finding a top that attaches or sets on top securely hard to find but if he did both for you you’d be golden. Or he could make the U piece with a lip for a screen. Basically whatever you can dream up.

 

[John08007]

Is this tank drilled? Is it all set up? Can you spin it and put the chip on the back?

 

[Reef.]

Is this tank drilled? Is it all set up? Can you spin it and put the chip on the back?

I don’t think that’s an option as it’s not a peninsula I don’t think.

 

[KrisReef]

clamshell chips are not structural

Loss of glass is not structural? Sorry, and please, I am not trying to argue, but I do doubt this statement since I can observe a "loss"?
(Admittedly, I am not an engineer so for the sake of discussion I ask.)
I also have a little experience with glass and I would want this polished out to remove potential fissures that spawn failures.

The good news is that the tank didn't fail catastrophically!

 

[John08007]

I don’t think that’s an option as it’s not a peninsula I don’t think.

Take a pic of the whole tank

 

[Reefer1978]

Take a pic of the whole tank

John it's a red sea reefer tank. You can see overflow box in the back. This is the front panel, right smack in the middle is the chip.

 

[Softhammer]

If that were my tank Id be immediately draining it and sell it to anyone above who says it’s fine. Have you ever seen the bill for what even a modest amount of saltwater can do? Floors at a minimum cost way more than a tank as well as possible fire hazard. No way I could sleep at night knowing that a salt filled time bomb could be detonating. Never forget the definition of reef keeping, the placement of conductive saltwater within disturbing proximity to foolish amounts of electrical current. In the future get yourself plastic u channel and put that on the rim during maintenance time so it doesn’t happen again, all the suggested repairs minus polishing it out are cosmetic only and offer zero added structural integrity.

 

[John08007]

John it's a red sea reefer tank. You can see overflow box in the back. This is the front panel, right smack in the middle is the chip.

Oh, no fixing that then. Only option would be to replace the panel then.

 

[arking_mark]

Oh, no fixing that then. Only option would be to replace the panel then.

Yes. Its a Red Sea Reefer 525xl.