Tank Repair

Hi Everyone. Pretty new to the site. I'm getting ready to swap my 25 gal reef tank over to a drilled 45 gal oceanic. Problem is the guy who had the tank before me decided to drill the back of the tank to run his plumbing into another room. This has left 2 big holes in the glass. The LFS I bought it from had purchased a couple of small pieces of glass to patch the holes. My question is, would this be safe and secure to use 2 pieces of glass to repair the 2 holes? sealing them with silicone. Or should I just block them with using a bulkhead and plug? Also the the tank has been sitting for a while, is there any reason I should need to reseal the tank if it isn't leaking?

Any help would be appreciated. I have attached some pics.

 

Why patch them? If you're thinking this is all you want right now, you will realize later that you want a sump. A sump is a smaller tank, under your tank, and the holes will help you run the plumbing to the sump. Run a search and you'll have countless numbers of threads loaded with information about sumps.

If you still want to patch them, I wouldn't do the glass patch. Honestly, I've never done one or heard of anyone doing them. Plug it with a bulkhead and in the future it will be easier to remove if you decide to have a sump.

That tank is reef ready, take advantage of it.

Welcome to 3 reef, bud.

 

i personally would go the bulkhead and plug route but i havent had an issue like this to deal with so i guess my advice isnt really worth much

 

I would also go the bulkhead and plug route. You never know when you may want to plumb a sump in. I would not use the glass.

 

Sorry Guys, maybe I wasn't being very clear in my last post but really appreciate your responses.

The tank is drilled in the bottom and has an overflow. I am in the process of putting together a sump. This issue is the there are 2 additional holes in the back of the glass(review pics) someone drilled to run the plumbing straight back into another room versus into a sump right below the tank. The bottom holes were drilled from the factory and those I intend to use. I'm just trying to patch the extras.

Going by this information which sounds like a better fix? plugging with a bulkhead fitting(one will actually show in the display portion of the tank)? or siliconing a piece of glass to patch the hole?
The bulkhead fitting and plug sound the easiest but then I will have one on the back of the tank that will be seen. Figure that glass will be less eye catching.

 

once its covered in coralline algae you wont even notice it

 

Good point. I was thinking that as well. I found out yesterday that it may be a PIA to find a plug for a 2 in bulkhead. I don't think the folks I talked to at Lowes or Home Depot even knew what a bulkhead fitting was. Might end up using the glass on the hole in the overflow and just pluging the other in the tank. I figure the bulkhead plug might be less likely to fail.

 

If I understand this correctly, you have the overflow and you intend to keep it. But you have extra holes in the back glass of the tank, that you have no use for.

This is what I would do:

I would take advantage of the extra holes, and get a big return pump. Then plumb the pump return back into those holes and install accesible ball valves for independent flow control. On the inside of the tank, where you have the holes (Now bulkheads) you can install loc-line with different types of tips, so you can control your tank's flow direction.

This would save you money on power heads.

Just my 2 cents

- Mag.

 

You can order bulkheads that big, and reductions as well. But to be honest, I've never seen this type of patch before. Not saying that it can't be done, just that I personally have no knowledge about the glass patches.

 

Good idea. You could also set it up your sump as intended and use the extra holes for a seperate closed loop system.