Guides – Page 2 – AquaTrill

The hairline crack I've been watching has finally become a major crack. It ran from the front to the back bottom of the tank and is about eight inches long. I'll admit, when I first saw it two weeks ago, it wasn't very big then, but in just a few days, it grew bigger. A hairline crack is one of the worst cracks to have on a glass tank because it can spread so quickly, and you cannot see it until it is too late. Once I noticed that my crack was spreading, I started doing some research and found out that there are many different ways to fix a cracked aquarium. There might be some argument as to whether or not a hairline crack is a major crack or not, but after watching my tank for months on end I can tell you that a hairline crack is worse because it spreads so slowly. The first thing you should do if you see a hairline crack in your aquarium is to make sure there aren't any kids around the tank. If the tank is cracked, it could shatter anytime and the broken glass will be very dangerous. If you have kids or pets running around your home, put up a safety barrier around the tank to make sure that nobody gets hurt. You should also remove any live vegetation from your aquarium because if your tank does shatter, the plant's potting soil might retain moisture and give you a good place for mold and bacteria to grow if the crack in the tank isn't fixed within a few days. I would not suggest using any silicone sealants to repair your crack because they will only prevent water from leaking out of the crack and into your home. You need to get rid of that water or else it will cause mildew and rust to grow on the other things in your home. The best way I can think of to prevent this from happening is to go outside and turn off the water main that leads into your house. This will cause any leaks in your aquarium to stop, allowing you time to fix them later. The only thing you should be worried about is the damage that your house could receive if you do not fix the crack soon. If you don't want to turn off the water main, then you should at least cover your fish tank with a tarp or towel. If you don't, some of the rain will inevitably seep into your aquarium and cause all sorts of problems. When you decide to fix the crack in your aquarium, put on a pair of safety glasses and some good thick gloves before you begin working with the broken glass. If possible, try not to touch the broken shards of glass with your bare hands because it could cause pieces of skin and blood to get stuck in the cracks and make them bigger after the tank is fixed. You can also use tools to help you try and remove any pieces of glass that are sharp so they don't cause any injury to your fingers or hands. Once you have all of this collected, start looking for where the leak is coming from. For me, it was coming out of the bottom part of my tank and the smaller pieces were the ones that shattered. I ended up having to remove a large portion of my gravel from the bottom of my aquarium because it was getting in the way of me trying to stop all of the leaks. Once you have done this, replace all of your old filter media and replace it with new stuff so you can get rid of any dirt and debris that might be in the tank. If you do not have a spare filter, then it is best to just take out all of the old stuff and clean the rest of the tank with aquarium water so there isn't any sharp debris left floating around inside it. Once your fish tank is cleared out, find some really good silicone sealant and clean off the bottom of the tank before you start patching it up. As much as I would love to tell you that this is all you need to do, there might be some places where water can still get in even after your aquarium is sealed up. If you ever see any leaks forming in your tank again, you should go through the entire process again and use some aquarium glue to repair the leaks. If you don't know how to use silicone sealant, then I strongly suggest getting a fish tank repair kit before you start messing around with your aquarium. These kits can be bought at most pet stores or online on Amazon for about $30 or less. Most kits include patches of glue that will stick almost all kinds of broken glass back together if it breaks in your tank. Just remember that once you patch up the cracks, wait 7-10 days before putting new fish into your tank because it takes time for their waste and poop to build up and contaminate the water inside of new tanks before they cycle properly all of your fish live long lives.