Are you going to re-cement the separation? 1/4" for a 90 gallon is rather thin.
Acrylic tank busted. Time to build a new River Tank.
2
Yep. My 90g river tank is done after about 3 years in use. It never leaked, but I noticed some crazing in one of the corners, then I looked closer and the whole side gave away from the perimeter bracing. The cause of the failure was probably warpage. I used 1/4" continuos cast acrylic instead of cell cast acrylic to build this tank because that was all I could get my hands on at the time. I guess the key to building acrylic tanks is to use CELL CAST like Featherfinfans article suggests.
![]()
Anyways, this is good news because I've been itching to build a new tank for awhile now. This time I'll try not to skimp on materials.
Here's my plan right now for the new tank-
It will be made out acrylic, foam sheets, and plywood. Also, instead of doing a foam/cement background, I'm going to build a foam/cement midground. This midground will be a massive island. Having an island will act as a partition so that the water can have true unilateral flow. To get this river type flow, I'll point all the filter outlets in a clockwise direction.
Here' my blueprint
![]()
I'll start a cut-list and estimate the costs now. Hopefully it will be within my budget so I can start soon. I could just repair the old tank for real cheap, but that wouldn't be nearly as fun.
Anyways, this is good news because I've been itching to build a new tank for awhile now. This time I'll try not to skimp on materials.
Here's my plan right now for the new tank-
It will be made out acrylic, foam sheets, and plywood. Also, instead of doing a foam/cement background, I'm going to build a foam/cement midground. This midground will be a massive island. Having an island will act as a partition so that the water can have true unilateral flow. To get this river type flow, I'll point all the filter outlets in a clockwise direction.
Here' my blueprint
I'll start a cut-list and estimate the costs now. Hopefully it will be within my budget so I can start soon. I could just repair the old tank for real cheap, but that wouldn't be nearly as fun.
1 - 20 of 404 Posts
I'm not sure yet. I'll probably try. I could add more bracing for reinforcement. The tank is only 12" high though. There was 2 inches of sand in the bottom and was filled about 1.5 inches from the top. Actually volume was more like 70 gallons.
I think another factor in what busted this tank is that the the canopy hood was not laying flat on the tank. It was accidentally sitting on a filter pipe. This created a pressure point on the perimeter bracing. A water-bridge was also sitting on the bracing. If it was a case of water pressure being to great for the acrylic, then the seams would of busted on the bottom, not the top. The bottom seams look fine.
I doubt I'll use this tank full-time anymore. I dont have much use for it if I build my dream tank. I might fix it, then sell it on ebay. It would make a real nice reptile tank.
The tank is 72" long, 24" wide, and 12" high.
![]()
I think another factor in what busted this tank is that the the canopy hood was not laying flat on the tank. It was accidentally sitting on a filter pipe. This created a pressure point on the perimeter bracing. A water-bridge was also sitting on the bracing. If it was a case of water pressure being to great for the acrylic, then the seams would of busted on the bottom, not the top. The bottom seams look fine.
I doubt I'll use this tank full-time anymore. I dont have much use for it if I build my dream tank. I might fix it, then sell it on ebay. It would make a real nice reptile tank.
The tank is 72" long, 24" wide, and 12" high.
Thanks Mikmaze. That is a great idea to use it as a sump/refugium. I'll just fix it real good so that it won't bust again. I'd have to make the stand / tank wider so that this old tank will fit underneath though. So now the main tank is getting bigger. It's now 233g plus 90g from the sump/refugium = 323 total gallons. I'm liking this idea alot. Thanks again.
![]()
you are quite welcome, if ya need any more help spending your money, I'm here for ya
illy-
Just viewable from 1 side and maybe from the top. For now it's going against a wall. I figure I can hide all my filter inlets/outlets behind the island. So it's not wasted space.
Just putting an inlet on one side and an outlet on the otherside won't give you true unilateral flow. There are too many cross current's no matter how big the water pump is. I think the island and the rounded corners is key for true unilateral flow.
I took my idea from this segmented tank-
![]()
Just viewable from 1 side and maybe from the top. For now it's going against a wall. I figure I can hide all my filter inlets/outlets behind the island. So it's not wasted space.
Just putting an inlet on one side and an outlet on the otherside won't give you true unilateral flow. There are too many cross current's no matter how big the water pump is. I think the island and the rounded corners is key for true unilateral flow.
I took my idea from this segmented tank-
New drawing-
![]()
Looking forward to seeing this come together Keith, please take some pics along the way bro
Me too.FeatherfinFan said:Looking forward to seeing this come together Keith, please take some pics along the way bro
Your drawing seems cool, cant wait to see how its going to come together.
1 - 20 of 404 Posts
