WB seam failure

[drmofjeannie]

I was just at a LFS and we were discussing seam failure and Red Sea. I told him I had a custom 6 ft long 120 gallon build with cabinet build by WB delivered last March. He showed me a Red Sea Tank with the cabinet and how they added a lip to support frame along the front of glass to prevent seam failure and asked if my WB had that. I came home and checked and the cabinet does not support the front of the glass. See pics below. Should I be concerned? This is the left and right seam pics taken from left side of tank.

 

[royaleFork]

No, most of the pressure is not pushing down, it's pushing out. None of the failed tanks are failing due to unsupported front panes. They are failing due to a silicone or silicone application issue or age.

Euro braces can help a lot because they add more support where the pressure is.

 

[MasterClassReefs]

I was just at a LFS and we were discussing seam failure and Red Sea. I told him I had a custom 6 ft long 120 gallon build with cabinet build by WB delivered last March. He showed me a Red Sea Tank with the cabinet and how they added a lip to support frame along the front of glass to prevent seam failure and asked if my WB had that. I came home and checked and the cabinet does not support the front of the glass. See pics below. Should I be concerned? This is the left and right seam pics taken from left side of tank.

Surprised to see a floating front pannel tbh. It was always my understanding to support the entire footprint. The silicone now not only has to hold to the walls and lower pannel it has the force of hanging/gravity acting against the adhesive as well. Glass is not light weight. That would irritate me constantly.

 

[rtparty]

Thousands and thousands of tanks not named Red Sea have been just fine with a floating front panel like that.

BTW, the title is completely misleading and should be changed

 

[drmofjeannie]

Thousands and thousands of tanks not named Red Sea have been just fine with a floating front panel like that.

BTW, the title is completely misleading and should be changed

How to change it and what should it say? I did not want to say possible seam failure. I am asking about WB seam failure and if I should be worried my seam can fail. Not trying to mislead.

 

[UncommonSense]

Should I be concerned?

Nope, one square inch of silicone has many time the shear load strength of the front glass pane’s weight! (200-400PSI strength in lap shear, typically… you have several dozen square inches of [name brand] silicone there; it’s STRONG!)

~90% of the force exerted on the silicone is outward pressure from the water within, (~500lbs outward pressure on a 48” x 24” glass pane) so the 30-60lbs of glass in the viewing pane is of little consequence!

The RS failures are almost exclusively due to very aggressive cost cutting methods in the aquarium design process, coupled with inferior silicone, and possibly questionable glass cleaning prior to assembly!

Further reading on the RS failure topic:

Red Sea aquarium autopsy: Reefer XL425 (G1)

I don’t make threads too often these days, but wanted to share some fascinating initial findings as I systematically broke this particular tank down for both physical, and reference materials… I would like to keep discussion civil, avoiding inflammatory/emotional opinions, and trying to stick...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Dom]

Thousands and thousands of tanks not named Red Sea have been just fine with a floating front panel like that.

BTW, the title is completely misleading and should be changed

Yeah... I expected to see a Water Box leaking the way Red Sea does.

 

[rtparty]

How to change it and what should it say? I did not want to say possible seam failure. I am asking about WB seam failure and if I should be worried my seam can fail. Not trying to mislead.

If you can edit the first post, you can edit the title in there.

It should be called something like Is a WB Floating Front Panel safe? As of now it reads that you are talking about a WB seam failing

 

[drmofjeannie]

Nope, one square inch of silicone has many time the shear load strength of the front glass pane’s weight! (200-400PSI strength in lap shear, typically… you have several dozen square inches of [name brand] silicone there; it’s STRONG!)

~90% of the force exerted on the silicone is outward pressure from the water within, (~500lbs outward pressure on a 48” x 24” glass pane) so the 30-60lbs of glass in the viewing pane is of little consequence!

The RS failures are almost exclusively due to very aggressive cost cutting methods in the aquarium design process, coupled with inferior silicone, and possibly questionable glass cleaning prior to assembly!

Further reading on the RS failure topic:

Red Sea aquarium autopsy: Reefer XL425 (G1)

I don’t make threads too often these days, but wanted to share some fascinating initial findings as I systematically broke this particular tank down for both physical, and reference materials… I would like to keep discussion civil, avoiding inflammatory/emotional opinions, and trying to stick...

www.reef2reef.com

Thank you so much for your explanation. The owner there had me freaking out inside.

 

[drmofjeannie]

If you can edit the first post, you can edit the title in there.

It should be called something like Is a WB Floating Front Panel safe? As of now it reads that you are talking about a WB seam failing

"New member and new to reefing aquarium" don't even know the glass is called a floating front panel to have put it the title. Still learning the language.

 

[rtparty]

"New member and new to reefing aquarium" don't even know the glass is called a floating front panel to have put it the title. Still learning the language.

You are totally fine. It wasn't meant as an attack or negative