Aquarium Frame Repair or DIY Option

[Andrew Puhr]

I purchased a 2nd hand aquarium and it wasn't until I arrived home that I realized I was missing roughly half of the bottom trim. My first thought was to order replacement trim but that ended up being roughly the same price as if I was buying a new 29 gallon aquarium. I had some thoughts and I am mainly looking to see if this makes sense or I am doomed to fail. 

1) Take the remaining trim I have and cutting it into 4 pieces and centering it on each side and then using styrofoam or another semi-rigid foam around the rest of the base if necessary. 

2) Same as above except cutting into 8 pieces aligning them at each corner. 

3) Building a new bottom frame out of wood and siliconing it into place 

Those are my options or I could just go without the original pieces and rest it on a foam pad. I want to do this as cheaply as possible while still having a secure tank. 

[Cory]

If I wasn’t going to go the easy route and buy a new tank. Otherwise I’d try and treat it like a rimless tank and set it up on some foam and hope for the best. It would likely work, but not always as they aren’t made to the same tolerances since a frame would normally be on it.

[StevesFishTanks]

Buy new. Use glass for lids or other projects.

[Frost]

If it was a 10 gallon I would say to treat it as a rimless and just put a foam pad under it, but I'm not sure if you can get away with that on a 29

I think I would just buy a new one, especially if the dollar per gallon sale is still going, and then use this one for storage, maybe for a quarantine tank, or maybe see if someone would want it for a reptile tank

[Maggie]

You have to decide if the time and expense to repair, coupled with the risk of tank failure, is worth the $29 that a new tank would cost (assuming the dollar per gallon sale is still ongoing). If you can fix it and it works, that's fantastic! But if it doesn't work, yikes...

[ChefConfit]

As @cory said its probably fine. 

I'd put it on foam and do a water test. Since you're probably more worried than a normal 2nd hand tank do the test for a week rather than a day or 2. If it holds water then you're probably good to go. I still wouldn't use it for really expensive display fish but as a utility tank or for less expensive fish it'll be awesome.

[Andrew Puhr]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I think I am just going to re-sell it as a reptile tank. You are all right the risk to benefit just isn't worth it.

Resealing my 90 gallon is a much better use of my time!

[MattyIce]

5 hours ago, Andrew Puhr said:

I purchased a 2nd hand aquarium and it wasn't until I arrived home that I realized I was missing roughly half of the bottom trim. My first thought was to order replacement trim but that ended up being roughly the same price as if I was buying a new 29 gallon aquarium. I had some thoughts and I am mainly looking to see if this makes sense or I am doomed to fail. 

1) Take the remaining trim I have and cutting it into 4 pieces and centering it on each side and then using styrofoam or another semi-rigid foam around the rest of the base if necessary. 

2) Same as above except cutting into 8 pieces aligning them at each corner. 

3) Building a new bottom frame out of wood and siliconing it into place 

Those are my options or I could just go without the original pieces and rest it on a foam pad. I want to do this as cheaply as possible while still having a secure tank. 

If you are any good at cutting glass, and have the tools for sanding down the sharp edges, you could take it apart, and rebuild as a 29 gallon lowboy:

 

[gardenman]

I'd be inclined to go with a wood base. I'd cut a piece of 3/4" plywood a bit bigger than the tank. I'd set the tank on it, trace the outline of the tank, then rout out about 3/8" of the plywood leaving a half inch of the full thickness plywood or so around outside. Test fit the tank to be sure it slides in easily. Then I might mix some mortar made for glass tiles and put a layer of that in the routed out void, then set the tank in and press down firmly all around. Excess mortar would ooze out and need to be wiped away, but once cured, the mortar, plywood, pre-existing silicone should all work together to hold the tank together. It would likely be stronger than it was to start. The plastic frames aren't all that strong.

[ChefConfit]

@MattyIce you've got me intrigued! It looks like you disassembled it, cut the back pane to the same size as the bottom pane, sanded all edges then reassembled with the former front pane as the new bottom? So you have the same viewing window as a 20 long but 6in more space front to back. 

[MattyIce]

26 minutes ago, ChefConfit said:

@MattyIce you've got me intrigued! It looks like you disassembled it, cut the back pane to the same size as the bottom pane, sanded all edges then reassembled with the former front pane as the new bottom? So you have the same viewing window as a 20 long but 6in more space front to back. 

So with tanks the side panels fit between the front and back panels but they all sit on top of the bottom panel so the 5 panels are

2 x side panels that are 11.25 ish x 18

2 x front panels that are 30 x 18

1 x bottom panel that is 12 x 18

i trimmed them into

2 side panels that are 11.25 ish x 17.25 ish

1 bottom panel that is 18 x 30

2 front/back panels that are 12 x 18

2 eurobracing strips that are 2 x 18 - I would recommend 3 inch in the future to make cutting the glass easier.

sanded everything down and reassembled as you said.  Once back together I added a layer of silicone as extra protection on all edges.

With the front panels at 12 inches and the side panels at 11.25 ish, I use the euro bracing strips sitting ontop of the side panels while bracing the front and back panels at the ends of the strips to kinda fill in the difference so I don’t have to trim down the front and back.

with the front and back panels now being 12 inch tall instead of 18 but the same thickness glass, I have no worries about the front and back panels, but now the side panels span a 18 inch gap instead of 12, even though it is only 12 in tall,  to be safe I give them that extra support.

 

[Frost]

3 hours ago, MattyIce said:

If you are any good at cutting glass, and have the tools for sanding down the sharp edges, you could take it apart, and rebuild as a 29 gallon lowboy:

 

I never thought a 29 lowboy was something I wanted and now I'm just sad it's not a standard tank size

[StevesFishTanks]

Cool idea and cool tank