New 75g aquarium seam expanding.

[Mhamilton0911]

Hello! I just bought a brand new Marineland 75 gallon tank. Got it home, filed it, and noticed white speckling on one seam. Hard to describe, but I'll try. So this tank has black silicone, so it makes this flaw pop. Before filing, I examined each visible seam. Looked good. Start filling, and about half full, one vertical seam had a white line running from top to bottom. What it looks like to me was the two glass panels stretching apart revealing visible air inside. I continued to fill. No water leaks, but this seam has me worried. How long until an actual leak? I emptied it, and right away it looked like it returned to almost normal, I could just barely make out the marks. This morning, it looks like nothing happened. I tried to take a photo last night, but with the lights glaring on the glass my phone just won't focus. I'm planning on filling again to see it does it again.

How worried should I be? Has anyone else seen a flaw, but continued only to be heartbroken later?

I had to travel 150 miles one way to buy this, but I'll return it if I have to, just angry about the situation. Is another tank going to do the same thing? Is this normal and I'm only seeing it now because the sealant is black? I'm feeling so anxious about this whole ordeal.

 

[JReef3]

Sorry to hear this, very disappointing I'm sure. I recently set up a tank and the factory silicone looked questionable in a bottom corner. Even though I only would have to travel 10 miles to swap it out, it would still have been an ordeal to repack and load and unload the tank so I bought some aquarium silicone on Amazon, cleaned the area, and applied more to the area just as insurance. Mine was at the bottom corner so it will never be seen under the sand and it gave me peace of mind. In your situation with it being on a vertical seam, I don't think I would attempt any sort of reinforcement/repair.

I'd personally do two things. First, I know it was hard to get a photo but try to make it happen; if you can put a piece of black plastic or something behind it, it might make the glare go away and the area of concern more visible. Second, once you have a photo you can shoot off a quick email to Marineland customer service with the photo to ask them about it and you can post the photo here. I know driving 300 miles round-trip would be a huge pain but sleepless nights worrying that your tank will end up all over your living room would also be a pain. If you explain your 300 mile round-trip situation to Marineland and if they have amazing customer service (I have no idea about them) perhaps they'd be willing to ship you a replacement if they determine it could be a problem. If they tell you it's not a problem, then at least you have something in writing from them saying not to worry about it. To a lesser degree, I went through the same excitement and then disappointment/concern so I'm sorry for the speedbump in your reefkeeping adventure and really hope it works out well for you.

 

[shwareefer]

Your description is exactly correct. Will it fail? No one can predict. The better question is: will you sleep at night?

I've had seams with air bubbles and indeed nearly top to bottom with no failures ever. Silicone is a surprisingly strong bond to glass even with a small adhesion area. It seems to me getting quality workmanship in tank building is getting harder and harder to find. You may exchange the tank and the new one may be the same or worse. It still comes down to - can you sleep?

Sorry if this is not too helpful. I lean towards these types of failures being rare ( a leak from the bottom seam or corner is much more common) but obviously I couldn't promise anything.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Honestly, it is helpful. Knowing that I'm not the only one looking at this seam like this makes me feel better.

I downloaded my homeowners policy so I can fine-tooth comb through, and I'll likely look into adding additional aquarium coverage, just for repairs, I know most don't cover livestock.

I'm going to fill again to see what happens, and to to take pictures. I might need them for a return as well.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Filled it. No issues until 3/4 full. I'm seeing bubbles at seams on 3 corners. Pretty bummed. Hubs is calling the store right now, he usually gets his way, for some reason people hate the sound of my voice, lol.

 

[shwareefer]

Yep, that's the one, lol.

If that was 1/2" glass that would last 20 years but I assume it's the silly 5/16" or whatever thinnest glass they can get away with these days with extra wide silicone to look stronger?

 

[JReef3]

Filled it. No issues until 3/4 full. I'm seeing bubbles at seams on 3 corners. Pretty bummed. Hubs is calling the store right now, he usually gets his way, for some reason people hate the sound of my voice, lol.

Oh that's weird. Nice job getting pics of it. Yeah, I'd personally be very uncomfortable moving forward with that tank if those white bubbles come and go as you fill and drain the tank. Nice job doing a leak test and catching it rather than just piling stuff in there and finding out once it's more complicated to deal with. Hopefully the LFS has a solution that doesn't involve you guys driving 300 miles but if not, it never hurts to call/email the manufacturer to see if they have a better option. Fingers crossed for you.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Oh that's weird. Nice job getting pics of it. Yeah, I'd personally be very uncomfortable moving forward with that tank if those white bubbles come and go as you fill and drain the tank. Nice job doing a leak test and catching it rather than just piling stuff in there and finding out once it's more complicated to deal with. Hopefully the LFS has a solution that doesn't involve you guys driving 300 miles but if not, it never hurts to call/email the manufacturer to see if they have a better option. Fingers crossed for you

Yes... driving forever for stuff, the joys of small town living. My closest stores are still an hour away, and just one mom and pop shop and one petco. Neither have big tanks, so I opted to drive to my nearest metro sized city where I had multiple locations to choose from. I thought Marineland tanks looked better than the aqueon ones so I was pretty thrilled. Now it's turned into a bummer. I'm so happy I decided to leak test this first, oh boy I would have been mad seeing that too late! The soonest I can get back there is Monday, so wish me luck for tank, round 2!

 

[LVReefer94]

Filled it. No issues until 3/4 full. I'm seeing bubbles at seams on 3 corners. Pretty bummed. Hubs is calling the store right now, he usually gets his way, for some reason people hate the sound of my voice, lol.

Yes this is very common for marineland tanks they have 0 quality control since being bought out many years ago.

 

[adittam]

Yes... driving forever for stuff, the joys of small town living. My closest stores are still an hour away, and just one mom and pop shop and one petco. Neither have big tanks, so I opted to drive to my nearest metro sized city where I had multiple locations to choose from. I thought Marineland tanks looked better than the aqueon ones so I was pretty thrilled. Now it's turned into a bummer. I'm so happy I decided to leak test this first, oh boy I would have been mad seeing that too late! The soonest I can get back there is Monday, so wish me luck for tank, round 2!

I’ve read that Aqueon’s quality control is much better than Marineland’s.

I’ve also read that Seapora is a step up from both.

 

[jonny4ever]

Your description is exactly correct. Will it fail? No one can predict. The better question is: will you sleep at night?

I've had seams with air bubbles and indeed nearly top to bottom with no failures ever. Silicone is a surprisingly strong bond to glass even with a small adhesion area. It seems to me getting quality workmanship in tank building is getting harder and harder to find. You may exchange the tank and the new one may be the same or worse. It still comes down to - can you sleep?

Sorry if this is not too helpful. I lean towards these types of failures being rare ( a leak from the bottom seam or corner is much more common) but obviously I couldn't promise anything.

Yeah I had a 55g tank I used for cichlids many years ago ended up with LOTS of bubbles on the seams… the silicone even looked bit up at the ends. I gave that aquarium away 2 years ago and it’s still going strong, that’s tanks been filled for about 7 years now. It was an aqueon tank, I have a 40 breeder from them with a **** silicone job but mainly cause it’s “too much”. Been 2 years and the silicone seems to be doing great so far, idk if I every really want a nice reef I’ll go buy one of those big boy tanks