Noobie

I acquired a used (and quite honestly, FILTHY) 30 gal tank tonight. In my excitement to get it cleaned up and start setting it up, one of the side panels of glass got damaged..a nice star-shaped pressure fracture, near the bottom of the tank, with one "finger" running vertically up to the top of the pane. Is there any way to fix this, or is the structural integrity of that pane forever lost? An expensive lesson in tank cleaning?

sgould

My guess is, that one is done, unfortunately.

COBettaCouple

hmm.. unfortunately that sounds like a problem that would require the replacement of that panel of glass. i'm not a structural expert though and you can test it out with a water test to see if it leaks or spiders. timg is quite the talented DIY guy and perhaps he'd be the best one to tell you the best course to take.

Luniyn

Even the smallest crack means the integrity of the glass is not sound. With the pressure water will put on it, you will have a big mess sooner or later. You would be better off replacing the pane then trying to fix it. Even still having to put in new corner seems is a touch and go thing too, unless you have a professional locally that will do it. If you do try to replace the pane yourself then be sure to secure the top and bottom frame of the glass to help take some of the stress off the corner joints.

COBettaCouple

Luniyn's got it right and i forgot to mention that the water test should be done in a big tub or perhaps outside on a patio, etc where you could check for leaks.. although it does sound like a replacement job like i said and i'd not try it with my building skills, so it would depend on talking to great DIY people like timg and how comfortable you felt doing a panel replacement on the tank.

If you don't want to use it for an aquarium, it might make a good reptile case (or other 'dry' animals).

Luniyn

If you are into frogs, it would make for a cool Vivarium.