Reefer 525 Salvageable?

[blubfishy]

Hey all,

I bought a used Red Sea Reefer 525XL and had an unfortunate accident during transport. We were loading it into the vehicle at the seller's place and one of the suction handles let go - I was holding my end by hand at that point and it slipped. Corner hit the ground where the bottom panel meets the front and side.

There's chunks of glass actually missing off the edge, not just a scratch or a hairline. Seam looks messed up too. Tank's empty, haven't tried filling it obviously.

I searched through some old threads here first (the Reefer 300XL reseal one was helpful) and I get that resealing just one panel at a corner like this is risky since new silicone doesn't bond to the old cured stuff - so you end up with a weak spot right where three panels meet.

Before I decide what to do, if I could even get a new side panel, would detaching the existing and replacing it even work? Don't want to sink a bunch of time and silicone into this if it's just going to fail.

Also if anyone's in the Philly area and has done this kind of repair (or knows someone who has), I'm all ears.

Thanks

 

[KrisReef]

Hey all,

I bought a used Red Sea Reefer 525XL and had an unfortunate accident during transport. We were loading it into the vehicle at the seller's place and one of the suction handles let go - I was holding my end by hand at that point and it slipped. Corner hit the ground where the bottom panel meets the front and side.

There's chunks of glass actually missing off the edge, not just a scratch or a hairline. Seam looks messed up too. Tank's empty, haven't tried filling it obviously.

I searched through some old threads here first (the Reefer 300XL reseal one was helpful) and I get that resealing just one panel at a corner like this is risky since new silicone doesn't bond to the old cured stuff - so you end up with a weak spot right where three panels meet.

Before I decide what to do, if I could even get a new side panel, would detaching the existing and replacing it even work? Don't want to sink a bunch of time and silicone into this if it's just going to fail.

Also if anyone's in the Philly area and has done this kind of repair (or knows someone who has), I'm all ears.

Thanks

Post a picture of the damage.

Resealing is doable but it is a lot of work to disassemble, completely remove the old sealant before you reassemble it. I am too lazy to do that kind of thing anymore but if you use the right sealant it will be better than the old as far as long term reliability.

Bumping up for a Philadelphian aquarium repair expert! GL.

 

[blubfishy]

Updated original post with a photo.

 

[BryanM]

I personally would not be comfortable using the tank with this damage.

I also have a problem with Redsea anyway, but I am sorry this happened.

 

[udsmkh]

Hate to hear about this. I would call a tank manufacturer and ask them. Glass Cages out of Dickson TN has helped me out in the past.

 

[UncommonSense]

Hey all,

I bought a used Red Sea Reefer 525XL and had an unfortunate accident during transport. We were loading it into the vehicle at the seller's place and one of the suction handles let go - I was holding my end by hand at that point and it slipped. Corner hit the ground where the bottom panel meets the front and side.

There's chunks of glass actually missing off the edge, not just a scratch or a hairline. Seam looks messed up too. Tank's empty, haven't tried filling it obviously.

I searched through some old threads here first (the Reefer 300XL reseal one was helpful) and I get that resealing just one panel at a corner like this is risky since new silicone doesn't bond to the old cured stuff - so you end up with a weak spot right where three panels meet.

Before I decide what to do, if I could even get a new side panel, would detaching the existing and replacing it even work? Don't want to sink a bunch of time and silicone into this if it's just going to fail.

Also if anyone's in the Philly area and has done this kind of repair (or knows someone who has), I'm all ears.

Thanks

I have questions about this tank’s construction after seeing the photo:

— either I’m crazy, or this tank was built with vertical panes set on top of bottom pane….

Normally, rimless tanks have the vertical glass set around the bottom pane of glass, not on top of it!

If what I’m seeing is correct, I don’t think this is actually a Red Sea tank!

Edit: I’m somehow just realizing the tank is spun 90 degrees on the stand, laying on its side… oops!

Well, to the greater question; this tank is junk now, sadly… it wasn’t much better before it got dropped, given the silicone issues… but, now it’s best use would be as panes of project glass! (In fact, I broke down one of these exact tanks to glass panes one week ago, after it experienced full seam failure and flooded the owner’s living room…. Just the front/rear glass panes are around 80lbs each!)

 

[blubfishy]

Accepting repair is off the table, what's the most cost effective option to replace the tank with something thats comparable in size so I can try to make use of the sump and cabinet/stand?

 

[UncommonSense]

Annoyingly, Red Sea's tanks are all built to metric sizes… this said, the R525 is actually right around 59” long, 1” shy of 5ft…

This means no standard 5ft long tank will actually sit comfortably on this stand!

This is further complicated by stand design; the front center brace, and vertical side walls are designed to have tank weight resting directly on top of them! This means you can’t safely stick a 48”x18” tank on this stand, with the front, and right side of the stand protruding… it would, at best, make the stand have a vertical support column only at the rear, left side, and somewhere along the right half of the tank… no front support or right end support…

The cheapest option would be a rimmed 75-90g 4ft tank, with some significant labor into stand modifications so it can bear the weight of a differently sized tank footprint!