Broken rim on top of 220 gallon tank

[Kelly]

The rim around the top of my 220 gallon has cracked and is broken. I lowered the water level to half and put a cargo strap around the top while I try to find where to buy a new rim. I tried Big Al's but unfortunately their supplier doesn't carry that rim. Any ideas or help would be appreciated.

[Al]

Kelly,
I don't know what brand your tank is but you can try giving Miracles Aquarium a call in Orangeville - 519-941-8265. Speak with Derek, he is the owner and hands-on guy, great guy to deal with. While they make a lot of custom stuff, they also sell standard size aquariumms with the extruded plastic like the one you describe. They also distribute some different stuff and for a while were distributing marineland or aqueon in certain markets?
That plastic trim is a PITA, hence, why a lot of custom tanks use eurobracing. No breakage, also a lot stronger and no bracing front to back, the whole top is open for aquascaping and large pieces of wood/rock, etc.
The plastic trim gets brittle after a while and can also be a problem with warm/hot lights although LED's today have solved that issue.
If Derek can't help you out, I would call the manufacturer of your tank directly - I am sure they would point you in the right direction if not help you out directly.
Good luck.
The other fix which might be more permanent (if you're handy) would be to silicone in a glass brace. This is what the old Oceanic 220's use to use - a center glass brace about 18" wide - the plastic trim was decorative only and for holding the glass tops.
Al

[Kelly]

Thank you very much Al, I'll try calling tomorrow and follow up here with "the rest of the story"

[Kelly]

I think I'm going to try the glass brace method of repair. i'm going to go to a glass store and order a couple of pieces of glass, I was looking at some glass repairs on Youtube and it looks like a fairly easy way to fix the tank issue.

[Sky]

So what happened?  Pictures?

[Kelly]

Well I bought 4 pieces of 10 mm glass 4"x 24" with polished edges from M&T Glass for $136. I installed the two center braces (Sunday) and will install the 2 side braces this Saturday. I still have the water level at 50% with clamps on the top rim and a cargo strap wrapped around the tank. I'm a little nervous about removing the clamps even though the glass seems well seated and secure. I figure I'll be able to fill it again the weekend after this one. All the Youtube fixes using glass seem to work out pretty good so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Wish me luck.

[Kelly]

So I finally installed my side braces and I'm posting a couple of pictures of where I am with this. I will let the silicone on the new braces set until Wednesday then I'll remove the clamps and cargo strap and hope for the best. It all looks good right now, just hope this is a permanent fix.

[Al]

Kelly,
Is there a reason you went with 3/8" glass rather than 1/2" or 5/8" and is there good information supporting that the 4" width braces are wide enough given the 3/8" glass? What are the experts or your research saying about silicone strength of plastic to glass - I was surprised that you siliconed the glass bracing to the plastic frame rather than glass-to-glass on the inside?
If the glass-to-plastic frame is indeed a permanent fix, it's a pretty easy solution.

[Kelly]

I did research before going the glass route, in hind site I should have gone with at least 1/2 inch but the requirement according to what I researched suggested 3/8 or 10mm would suffice. Having said that I did go glass on glass and if you look at the pictures you can see that i cut out the plastic where I siliconed the glass to glass. All for not, I did a water change today and filled the tank to 3/4. As I was finishing the filter cleaning the back plate snapped and the tank is done. I managed to fire up my 55 gallon and saved all but 1 yellow rainbow and I couldn't find one of my bamboo shrimp. As luck would have it with a tank that size I had it in my finished basement and I will probably have to redo the 2 year old floor. Not sure if I'll get rid of my fish and start anew or keep them in the 55 until I can set up a new tank, no more used ones!!!

[exv152]

Oh boy, sorry to hear the bad news. But at the very least you've got a positive attitude and you're not planning to quit the hobby. You're making me also think twice about selling my backup tank.

[Al]

Kelly, sorry to hear that, terrible experience I am sure.
Good luck as you move ahead.

[transporter8367]

Its unfortunate that happened but very preventable.
Buying a used tank from a stranger especially if there isn't water presently when you go see it is a huge risk.
Cost of a new tank is way cheaper than 200g of water on your floor.
There are lots of empty  tanks for sale on Kigigi,ask them to fill them up and if they refuse then stay away.

[lucius]

and cut out and re-caulked the silicone. I ran a 24 hour leak test a couple of weeks ago and all is good.

Above is an excerpt from the OP's first post back in October.  Not sure how this could have been preventable since his tank had been filled for three months now.

[Al]

I would think that the glass pane got torqued and twisted for it to break like that. I know my older Oceanic years ago that had a center glass brace - the glass brace was probably 18-20" wide and the same thickness as the tank glass - but a very wide adhesion and support area. In my custom tanks that are eurobraced, if you have never seen eurobracing, they silicone glass on the top but it is siliconed around the entire perimeter - in the case of my 24" wide 180 and 30" wide 200 + 250 tanks, the glass bracing is same thickness as the tank and 4" wide - 2 end pieces that are the entire width and then the length pieces butted up against those and siliconed the entire length as well as to the end butts. Very rigid.

In addition, on a 220, height is 29" - there is a lot of pressure on the glass at that height.
For example, I have 2 tanks that are 72 x 30 wide - one is 23" high, the other is 27" high - on the 23" height they can safely spec 1/2" glass with a 5/8 bottom - on the 27" height they have to use 5/8" glass. I should also add that in a eurobraced tank, there is also eurobracing on the inside bottom perimeter as per the top.

[Kelly]

Above is an excerpt from the OP's first post back in October.  Not sure how this could have been preventable since his tank had been filled for three months now.

The excerpt you are referring to was in 2015, the tank has been full and running for over 14 months. But then again very true, you don't know the history of a used tank. I am currently contemplating replacing it with three 24 x 24 cubes.

[Al]

Big difference in what fish you can keep in a 24" cube versus your 220 but cubes can look great with the right stocking but still wouldn't have the visual impact of a 6 footer
You're already thinking of plans after your bad luck - that's a great sign - good on you