Acrylic tank advice

[marine25]

wonder if you guys could give your opinion on a used acrylic tank that I bought from a member of my local reef club, Its a custom 190 60 x 24 x 30, but the seams are horrible, micro bubbles, large bubbles on the joints (bottom piece) oh and the tank builder tried compensating for this but adding more solvent on the joints, well it leaks in only one area that i can tell, Do you think I could repair it by joining a piece of say 1"x1" all the way around the tank? The tank is 1/2" acrylic all sides, but another problem is if there is any way to find out whether the acrylic is cast or extruded, I could track down this great tank builder but wouldn't trust a word he says, I wonder if there is any test, chemically or physically to see whether it's cast or extruded. Well thanks in advance

Gene

 

[FragMaster]

Not that I know of? A test that is.
The only way to tell if it will hold up is to fill it.
Make sure its in your garage or outside though.
The last thin gyou want is 190 gallons of water all over your house!! LOL!
as a general rule of thumb with acrylic tanks, the smaller tanks can be mended fairly easily because there is less pressure to hold back, the larger tanks are pretty tricky and best guess when you try to mend them.
Hope you didnt pay alot.
A pic would help use help you to decide what to do as well.

 

[Anonymous]

It's hard to say without seeing the joints.

30" is a tall tank, so those joints will be under alot of pressure.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

I tested molecule weight of acrylic several years ago in a graduate class, but can't remember anything about it.

I do think that there is a melting point difference between cast and extruded, and the easiest test is how hard it is. I think a casted acrylic can scratch an extruded one, but not vice versa... not 100% sure.