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Need advice on chips found on DT front panel


Sierra Bravo

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I just discovered two chips on the front of my 120 gallon in-wall tank and I'm extremely concerned. They are about 3" above the sandbed and " apart from one another. They the beginning of stress fracture lines starting.

Is there anything I can do to minimize the risk of this spreading until I can replace the tank??? I was wondering if a windshield repair kit epoxy would help?

I can't believe I'm even writing about having to tear down and re-do this tank. Any advice or thoughts on how to go about this would be greatly appreciated.

 

Chip 1

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Chip 2

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JWB8wHgl.jpg

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34 minutes ago, ShawnM said:

Are they on the inside or outside?


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Outside.  I'm going to do a windshield repair epoxy to stabilize it (hopefully) and I've decided I really need to change the tank.  With all my travel I just would not want to risk or worry about it spreading while I'm away.  It's either a controlled disaster or will be an unpredictable disaster, but a disaster either way. 

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1 hour ago, KimP said:

I wouldn't know what to do either. Just wanted to say that really sucks. I'm glad you noticed it though. Any idea how they got there?

If I were to guess, I would say someone was carrying something by the tank and it was smacked going by.  The two chips are at the same level.  Of course no one knows anything about how they got there. . . 🤐

Edited by Sierra Bravo
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I've got the windshield repair kit going now, but I'm having trouble curing the resin without sunlight.  I have a UV flashlight but so far it's not doing the job.

I bought a stock tank from Tractor Supply, and have ordered a replacement tank (maybe) that should be here on Tuesday (maybe).  

Before starting the repair, I brought out a jeweler's loupe and re-examined the chip.  It appears to be a surface chip only, and what I'm seeing as a lateral line may not be a crack but just the shape of the chip.  I'll see how it looks if I get the resin to cure.  There's a small chance that I leave it as is. 

 

 

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I am blown away by how well this resin worked once I got it cured.  I can't even find where the chip was.  I'm not ready to say I dodged a bullet yet though; I'm going to watch it a few days and see.

BTW - to get it to cure it dawned on me I had two very powerful UV lights right under my nose.  Well, right above my nose.  😋  I cranked the actinic channel up to 100% and with the boost it cured in no time. 

 

Before:

NPaB3nfl.jpg

 

After cure:

IjTVUcZl.jpg

 

After clean-up:

NJfm0ORl.jpg

Edited by Sierra Bravo
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I was wondering if the tank lights would work! That's amazing. It would be great if it did the trick. This is nightmare material for me. Over here I have 4 little boys running around my in wall tank that's mostly exposed on 4 sides 😬

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2 minutes ago, KimP said:

I was wondering if the tank lights would work! That's amazing. It would be great if it did the trick. This is nightmare material for me. Over here I have 4 little boys running around my in wall tank that's mostly exposed on 4 sides 😬

I still don't know how it happened.  I tried the "Now, I'm not going to get mad.  I just want to know how it happened so I can prevent it from happening again.  If you know something, tell me. . .it's ok"  

Yeah, not happening. 

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They know better! I don't see ant runs in the chips from what I can tell. I sent the pics to.my glass guy and he asked how thick the front panel was. Said its not great, specially low iron glass (which I assume it was and told him it was) said better on the outside than on the inside. When they fix thicker window chips they have a device that does the work really. Pumps the resin in and cures it right away. But there isn't the same weight on regular 1/2-1" thick glass windows. He wouldn't trust it long term for sure. But.. he said the pane could be replaced and fixed pretty easily. But most won't warranty the rest of the tank but will the front pane. Might be less to fix then replace. 

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21 minutes ago, mhart032 said:

They know better! I don't see ant runs in the chips from what I can tell. I sent the pics to.my glass guy and he asked how thick the front panel was. Said its not great, specially low iron glass (which I assume it was and told him it was) said better on the outside than on the inside. When they fix thicker window chips they have a device that does the work really. Pumps the resin in and cures it right away. But there isn't the same weight on regular 1/2-1" thick glass windows. He wouldn't trust it long term for sure. But.. he said the pane could be replaced and fixed pretty easily. But most won't warranty the rest of the tank but will the front pane. Might be less to fix then replace. 

I appreciate you asking about it for me.  Thanks!

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I think the resin would be a good fix. And looks good too nice job. I don’t think you have to get into a hurry to buy a new tank right away. I would definitely put it in the plans but don’t think you need to be in any hurry


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