The Madd Hatter
September 1st 03, 07:39 AM
The silicone is the only thing that is holdng the tank together. No amout of
plastic is going to hold the pressure from 1/2 ton of water. Tanks in the
old days used metal frames to hold everything together, before silicone was
in use.
"SW" > wrote in message
...
> I have a 100 gallon (60x18x21) Perfecto aquarium. I have the stand
> hood lights etc, and the tank holds water. Consequently I want to keep
> it. The tank is about to be re set up after being empty (on it's stand
> ) for 1 year. Problem is that I notice that the plastic frame has
> splits in some of the front corners. (not sure how long they've been
> there) Some splits are 1 inch long , some only a few millimeters. The
> cross brace on the bottom has a small crack, the top one is completely
> okay though. I checked the newsgroups and even called Perfecto to
> figure out if this is a major issue or not. Seems that the plastic
> frames on the top and bottom of glass aquariums are put there mainly
> to protect the glass edges from chips during shipping as well as in
> your home, and their purpose is not to hold the tank together. Some
> have said that they are cosmetic only and that the silicone is all
> that is necessary to hold the tank together---wiith one caveat: that
> is, with a 60 inch long tank. I may expect some bowing of the glass.
> The cross brace minimizes this. The plastic frame is important for
> this reason. Nobody eg Perfecto, LFS etc. are willing to give me a
> straight answer. So again, I am asking for opinions from people with
> experience in aquaria and engineering. Do I need to replace the
> plastic frames because of the fine splits or just ignore them and fill
> the tank? The frames aren't costly, but the labor is a pain, and I'm
> finding it difficult to get the frames shipped to me as they are
> oversized for UPS and most carriers (read expensive to ship).
>
>
plastic is going to hold the pressure from 1/2 ton of water. Tanks in the
old days used metal frames to hold everything together, before silicone was
in use.
"SW" > wrote in message
...
> I have a 100 gallon (60x18x21) Perfecto aquarium. I have the stand
> hood lights etc, and the tank holds water. Consequently I want to keep
> it. The tank is about to be re set up after being empty (on it's stand
> ) for 1 year. Problem is that I notice that the plastic frame has
> splits in some of the front corners. (not sure how long they've been
> there) Some splits are 1 inch long , some only a few millimeters. The
> cross brace on the bottom has a small crack, the top one is completely
> okay though. I checked the newsgroups and even called Perfecto to
> figure out if this is a major issue or not. Seems that the plastic
> frames on the top and bottom of glass aquariums are put there mainly
> to protect the glass edges from chips during shipping as well as in
> your home, and their purpose is not to hold the tank together. Some
> have said that they are cosmetic only and that the silicone is all
> that is necessary to hold the tank together---wiith one caveat: that
> is, with a 60 inch long tank. I may expect some bowing of the glass.
> The cross brace minimizes this. The plastic frame is important for
> this reason. Nobody eg Perfecto, LFS etc. are willing to give me a
> straight answer. So again, I am asking for opinions from people with
> experience in aquaria and engineering. Do I need to replace the
> plastic frames because of the fine splits or just ignore them and fill
> the tank? The frames aren't costly, but the labor is a pain, and I'm
> finding it difficult to get the frames shipped to me as they are
> oversized for UPS and most carriers (read expensive to ship).
>
>