mFrame Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 My 90g is going on three years. When I scrape algae off the glass I'm very careful around the silicon in the corners, but lately I've started to wonder what the lifetime of an aquarium is. Do you reach a certain point where you need to replace it just because it is older? Logically I would think yes, realistically most people don't want to tear down a tank unless they're getting rid of it or moving. Anyone have experience with this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbnj Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 I think tanks are like people...each has their own expiration date that varies. Some people have had the same tank for 15+ years and other tanks fail before they reach their first anniversary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Well, anecdotally I was talking a while ago with one of the manager's of a LFS who's been around for a while and we kinda felt there was about a 10% failure rate at 20 years for generic glass and silicone tanks. Custom glass tanks and acrylic tanks made with a single part solvent type adhesive we thought have a somewhat higher failure rate. I want to emphasize the "anecdotal" part, this was two crusty old salts reminiscing and BSing. My own experience with acrylic tanks built with a 2 part selfpolymerizing adhesive are going to have issues with crazing on the surface and scratches long before there's an issue with joint failure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prof Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Glass tanks are held together by the silicone between the glass not the silicone that is smoothed out from squeeze out during assembly. Razor blade cleaning should not affect the strength of the tank unless the person cleaning is over zealous. I would tank life would be from 10-20 years depending on the care it receives. I have setup and run multiple tanks that were built in the early 80's with no problems, so they can last much longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard L Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 My 40g only lasted 10 months before being cast aside for my new 225. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 LOL! You nailed that door shut haha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 My 40g only lasted 10 months before being cast aside for my new 225. Silly me! I was only thinking of tank failure, odds of going to a bigger tank are MUCH higher! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 You really can't wear the glass out can you? Seems like if you replaced the silicone every 5 years or so that it would never wear out. I've resealed a few smaller tanks by removing all the silicone except in between the glass with razor blades and replacing it with new silicone. In fact I just finished resealing a 75 gallon today. I've only had one tank failure and it was because the stand had a dip in it so the frame wasn't touching the stand all the way around. The bottom glass started leaking. Now I check the stands really well, level the tank perfectly and I put a thin piece of styrofoam underneath them now to help keep this from happening again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aqua-Dome Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 like prof said, the only load bearing silicone is between the glass. You would have to disassemble the tank completely and reseal all corners to extend the life of an old tank past 20 years reliably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 like prof said, the only load bearing silicone is between the glass. You would have to disassemble the tank completely and reseal all corners to extend the life of an old tank past 20 years reliably. Good to know, I don't think that I trust my own work enough to tear one completely apart unless it was going to be used outside . So surely there is some benefit to having the corners cut out and replaced without taking apart the glass? It seems like this must provide at least some strength to the tank or they would just glue only the edges of the glass at the factory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 There's a thread on another board where someone was celebrating his tanks 40th birthday! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Wow 40 yrs! Problem is that things were usually built better in the past, at least somethings were. Not sure if this applies to tanks or not? On the tanks that I have replaced the silicone corners the old silicone comes off much easier than the silicone that I put on. I'm not sure if this is from age or if maybe there has been improvements in the silicone since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Realised a link would have been more fun: http://www.aquariumforum.com/f18/tank-birthday-40-years-11547.html Love that it still has an UGF! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 40 years! That's quite an accomplishment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prof Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 I would think that the newer formulations of silicone would provide a longer life than those from 20 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill B Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 As Hydro mentions I think trying to set your tank up very level might be key in extending tank life. However, I have always heard that the majority of the weight bearing surfaces are the corners of a tank. I'm not sure that a small bow in the stand would be of significance unless it was at or near the corners. If the stand was warped or twisted, definitely a bad thing. All of you know more about this than me, I'm sure, but no one has mentioned this. One of those 'crusty old managers' once told me that wave machines easily cut the life of a tank in half. TMSAISTI Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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