Fixable?

[Cinnebuns]

I am not handy at all so I likely would have to have someone else do this. Is this fixable with aquarium safe materials?  Does it have to be aquarium safe if it's not IN the tank but a cover?  Ty. 

[lefty o]

i see 2 options, a piece of plexiglass to replace the broken glass, or just buy a new top.

[nabokovfan87]

This might help.....

It being a lid, you can pull the glass out, have a new piece cut.  Or.... this.
 

 

On 12/3/2022 at 5:19 PM, Pepere said:

Unless you find someone offering free labor, replacement would likely be a lower cost option.

Measure the glass thickness. Lowe's will cut it for you for free and all you have to do is sandpaper the edge.  🙂

Definitely slightly easy, but I can't say it'll be cheaper given the price of things these days.  Might find a deal on a lid somewhere.

[DaveO]

In my mind I can visualize a brace made of glass that covers the broken area and extends a few inches beyond each side of the crack for strength. It could be secured with a generous amount of silicone and left to dry and cure. I would personally not do that unless I had the glass and silicone on hand. I think I would just go to the PetCo website and have a new lid shipped to my door.

[Twigflinger]

I dealt with this a while back and found that Lowes and Home Depot’s glass was too thin to be comfortable with.  Maybe you would have better luck.  I also looked online and replacement tops were pretty pricy.  I ended up going with clear corrugated plastic.

[Guppysnail]

Not helpful but I have tried super glue and silicone. Neither worked adequately ☹️

[Hobbit]

On 12/4/2022 at 5:59 AM, DaveO said:

In my mind I can visualize a brace made of glass that covers the broken area and extends a few inches beyond each side of the crack for strength. It could be secured with a generous amount of silicone and left to dry and cure. I would personally not do that unless I had the glass and silicone on hand. I think I would just go to the PetCo website and have a new lid shipped to my door.

I’ve done this inside a tank to seal off a crack. I actually used glass from a small picture frame I wasn’t using. If you have a piece of glass like that and some silicone lying around, just pipe a generous amount of silicone on the new glass and stick it over the broken patch. Then silicone the edges so you don’t cut yourself 😉 

[gardenman]

Everything is fixable if you've got the money, tools, and time. Things just aren't always cost effective to fix. If money is no object and you've got a university nearby that has a glass welding laser (relatively new technology that's still fairly experimental but working its way to market) they could weld it back together for you. Mind you the cost would likely be in the hundreds/thousands of dollars, but it's possible. (Glass welding using lasers will eventually make one piece glass fix tanks a reality with every seam welded together.) Finding an adhesive that will stick to the glass and some material placed over the broken glass would be the easiest fix to lock the three pieces back together. Hardware stores typically only carry glass in the thickness for window glass replacement. You'd need to go to a glass supplier to get the thickness you need for the cover and that will cost about as much as a new cover. Maybe more. Everything is fixable if you've got the time and money and resources. I would opt to try and find a material, another piece of glass or acrylic, to span the broken section, and some adhesive (silicone? gel super glue?) that would hold and just sandwich the broken parts.