riche
Valuable Member
I know you can bond 2 pieces of acrylic with stuff like weldon, My question is on a acrylic tank that has a crack in the bottom panel, Is it best to apply a piece of acrylic on both the inside and outside?
Crack in bottom of acrylic tank
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Minifoot77
Well-Known Member
Unless you are going to do the whole bottom you can't just add a piece to the cracked area. And if your acrylic tank doesn't have the whole bottom supported by the stand that would be my guess as to why it cracked
If you do, the outside needs to cover the entire bottom so the tank has a flat surface to rest on. Otherwise, a patch will produce stress when the tank fills and a bigger crack is likely to follow.
When I have fixed tanks in the past i would drill a small hole at each end of the crack and apply a patch on the inside that covered the crack and extended beyond the damage to cover the (tiny) holes I drilled to stop the spread of the crack when pressure was applied. The crack itself should wick in the acrylic solvent and reseal under the band-aid that is applied over top of the crack after the solvent is applied. The little holes may not be necessary, but I took that precaution as a preventative measure against an expanding fracture propagating along the crack.
The other issue with fixing these things is that over time they have deformed and are no longer flat which complicates adhering a patch on either side. Laminating a full piece over the bottom (inside or out) isn't as straight forward because of the deformations and raised spots along the edges from previous solvent applications, if those are present?
Always refill outside on a solid flat surface to test the repair.
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riche
Valuable Member
Its a 60" long tank 18" frt to back, what thickness acrylic should I use for the repair? The stand will have a solid surface after the repair is done? And should i ne using the thicker weldon or is the #4 okay?
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