I messed up drilling.

[Pen3]

I have drilled about 40 holes and they were all fine, but i finally messed up on my own tank. I picked up a Freshwater Waterbox Eden 40 locally for really cheap, $250 for a clean tank, Ai Blade and stand. So of course the first thing i did was test for leaks and it passed, so i went to drill for a 1.5" overflow bukhead and it cracked on me. I did every i normally do and clamped a piece of plywood underneath to prevent a blow out. I am soo disappointed in myself.

 

[Pen3]

Since i got it for cheap, would it be worth it to replace the rear glass? I've taken tanks apart to resilicone beore, but they were 5-20 gallons. A 40 shouldn't be much different.

 

[Fish Fan]

Sorry this happened!

The images you posted didn't come through, at least for me.

Maybe #UncommonSense can help

 

[Pen3]

Sorry this happened!

The images you posted didn't come through, at least for me.

Maybe #UncommonSense can help

Maybe imgurl link will work. Maybe its too much work if all panels must come off. Oh well.

 

[acro.jordan]

Is your pfp George Floyd?

 

[Dom]

Do you normally drill you tank with water in it? I'm wondering if the water pressure caused it to crack.

 

[UncommonSense]

Sorry this happened!

The images you posted didn't come through, at least for me.

Maybe #UncommonSense can help

Weirdly, I didn’t get a notification for this! — I found my own way to the party!

Perhaps the hashtag messed it up?

Since i got it for cheap, would it be worth it to replace the rear glass? I've taken tanks apart to resilicone beore, but they were 5-20 gallons. A 40 shouldn't be much different.

This isn’t an unreasonable fix! The major concern will be the mating joint between old silicone and new silicone, in the bottom corners of the replaced pane!

The tank is short enough that you could probably get away with it… however, I think you’ll have much better results if you also add a little triangle of glass to each of those inside corners during the pane swap!

You can get these right triangles of glass out of the corners of your broken pane, don’t make them very big though! Maybe 1” max leg length…



Why keep the glass triangles so tiny?

— standard aquarium silicone is Room Temperature Vulcanizing (RTV), and requires humidity from atmospheric air to actually cure! This means a large slab of silicone laminating two pieces of glass together, face to face, will take an extremely long time to cure, and may never cure if any one edge of the silicone is too far from the center! (You can expect a silicone cure rate of around 1mm per-day after the first ~14mm of depth… so, a 1” leg length triangle that’s <=1/4” thick can take upwards of 3 weeks to fully cure out if laminated down to tank bottom and vertical panes!)

(The idea here being to bridge the questionable new/old silicone interface with a large surface area of fresh silicone in a strong glass:glass bond!)

 

[Pen3]

Is your pfp George Floyd?

Its a Klingon Saint Floyd.

 

[Fish Fan]

Weirdly, I didn’t get a notification for this! — I found my own way to the party!

Perhaps the hashtag messed it up?

This isn’t an unreasonable fix! The major concern will be the mating joint between old silicone and new silicone, in the bottom corners of the replaced pane!

The tank is short enough that you could probably get away with it… however, I think you’ll have much better results if you also add a little triangle of glass to each of those inside corners during the pane swap!

You can get these right triangles of glass out of the corners of your broken pane, don’t make them very big though! Maybe 1” max leg length…



Why keep the glass triangles so tiny?

— standard aquarium silicone is Room Temperature Vulcanizing (RTV), and requires humidity from atmospheric air to actually cure! This means a large slab of silicone laminating two pieces of glass together, face to face, will take an extremely long time to cure, and may never cure if any one edge of the silicone is too far from the center! (You can expect a silicone cure rate of around 1mm per-day after the first ~14mm of depth… so, a 1” leg length triangle that’s <=1/4” thick can take upwards of 3 weeks to fully cure out if laminated down to tank bottom and vertical panes!)

(The idea here being to bridge the questionable new/old silicone interface with a large surface area of fresh silicone in a strong glass:glass bond!)

Yes, my tag should have been an "@" not and "#" but glad you found the party brother

 

[Pen3]

Do you normally drill you tank with water in it? I'm wondering if the water pressure caused it to crack.

It was empty when i drilled it.

 

[me & my baby]

So after you drilled it you filled it up with water ?
Anyways it sucks been there . Replacing the glass wouldn’t be bad . It would at least be less expensive then replacing the tank

 

[wrasse man]

Sadly, if it were me, that tank would be done. I’d be at petco getting a 40 breeder during the $ per gallon sale.

 

[Pen3]

Sadly, if it were me, that tank would be done. I’d be at petco getting a 40 breeder during the $ per gallon sale.

Do they still have those? I haven't seen once for the past 10 years, maybe certain regions.

 

[wrasse man]

Do they still have those? I haven't seen once for the past 10 years, maybe certain regions.

If not $ per gallon, they at least do half off.

 

[Fish Fan]

If not $ per gallon, they at least do half off.

They haven't done $1/gallon in many years, but yes, they do 50% off frequently