Hi All,
I am new to the group, but I have a few questions about cleaning an old tank. over 30 years ago my grand parents got this tank from someone else, I have had the tank for the past 10 years, and I resealed it when I got it, but it has been dry for about 6-7 years and I want to have fish, or maybe corals. I am considering salt tank futures, but I will probably revert back to fresh water - B/c I am lazy and cheap. I have stripped the old yellow silicone from the tank, and even got most of the gunk from between the panes, some panes were insanly tight - should I be conserned about that? I considered teaing the five panes out, and redoing the gaps, and resealing it - is that overkill? or is that the best option? Also we had one of the tacky plastic back drops (sorry if you have one, I don't like them) - and the outside of the tank has a haze over it in spots - I have tried comet, vinegar, wallpaper stripper, elbow grease, razor blades, steel wool, windex, and maybe a few other things that I cannot remember now. what can I use to clean the glass???!!! I have considered sneaking the tank into work and cleaning it with hardcore chemicals like hexanes, and benzene, I am a chemist, and have acess to stuff like this. one other thing, while I was cleaning the gaps on the side of my tank, I hit some narrow spots, and I heard "POP" at one point and yup you bet, I got a hairline crack in the big panel about 2-3 inches long, how can I fix this... I don't expect it to leak, but I am not setting up a tank, to clean it up next month. the tank is a "30 gallon", but I have been told it is actually 29 gallon, is it that much of a difference? when I clean 29 gal. it feels like 30? haha thanks for any help. - Barry Farmer

OUCH!!!! That sucks Barry! if the glass broke it is trashed. you will need to get a replacement pane of glass. Yes there is a big difference between 30 and 29, you need to come over and see my two tanks and then you will notice.

Hi Joe,
yea, I thought about rebuilding the tank several times over the years, but I don't know where to get the glass, or acrylic. and how much cash could we be talking about? is there a local place to pick up the glass? I built a large tank in college for a turtle, but the teacher picked up the glass, and I don't know if it was speical glass or not.

I want to make some time and drop off by your place to see your tanks, but I am working this weekend. I don't know when we will have time, but I will keep in touch. thanks - BWF

Unless you're really attached to the tank your may be better off just replacing it. I'd think the time and money spent on the repair wouldn't balace with the savings of picking up a newer used tank. You may even be about to get one on Freecyle or Craigslist.

If you do fix it the glass needs to be the correct thickness to hold the pressure of the water.