Acrylic Crazing Help

[The new fish on the block]

Hi all, I have 2 seaclear acrylic tanks that I need to use for quarantine. They have been in the garage for a while and while i was cleaning them up I noticed some Crazing in the front panel of them. My plan is to only fill them with 10 gal of water ( the hold about 15) are they still safe to use? Thanks

 

[dantimdad]

Knee jerk reaction is to say don't use them.

But, can you post pics of the crazing. It may not be that bad.

 

[The new fish on the block]

Knee jerk reaction is to say don't use them.

But, can you post pics of the crazing. It may not be that bad.

. Tank 1

Tank 2

Tank 2

Tank 1

 

[Hillbillyreefer]

If they were mine, I’d have a couple terrariums and two new qt tanks on the way.

 

[dantimdad]

@Lowell Lemon whatcha think?

 

[Lowell Lemon]

@Lowell Lemon whatcha think?

Typically, micro cracking or crazing is just that....small surface cracks that are ugly but in most cases will not lead to tank panel failure. Acrylic is about 7 times stronger than glass on impact. What seems to make this common in the acrylic tank market is the need to build tanks at a comparable cost to glass. So Sea Clear and others produce tanks that have quite a bit of bowing in the face panels due to the thinner Guage materials necessary to keep the aquarium prices lower. I played the same game for decades and only had one tank failure....but it was a learning mistake by using off the shelf solvents from IPS the forerunner to SciGrip.

To answer the question I would use the aquarium with confidence for a quarantine tank and especially if you are using a lower water level. Make sure the entire bottom of the tanks are supported on the stand you use. Unlike glass rimmed tanks you are asking for trouble if you don't. Sometimes Sea Clear and others use an even thinner bottom sheet than the face to save cost.

 

[specwar]

Here is my Sea Clear 30g. Do you think the crazing is too much on this? I filled it for 72 hours so far so good. The area is the front lower center of a 24x24x12.

 

[Mariette]

I say it’s risk v reward. Cost of replacing those tanks shouldn’t be bad. Could even get some secondhand ones online or something. I’ve got 2 quarantine tanks and I bought both used online at a fraction of the cost of new. Best of luck

 

[specwar]

I got this with decent stand/hood/some other stuff for $100. It was dirty and I took a chance. I was hoping not to have to donate it to the school!

 

[specwar]

Bump