Someone on my local reefing forum is concerned that the seams on my acrylic tank are poorly done and that I am running the risk of a tank failure. What are some opinions here? I tried to get pics of the seams, it's not easy but here's what I have:

Right side front seam:





Left side front seam:





False wall seam:





Bottom front seam:

where did you get the tank

its not the best made tank, but not the worst. some will argue it will affect the structural integrity of the tank and its a disaster waiting to happen. a lot of people worry too much, and i understand where they are coming from, but IMO, i wouldnt worry about it. i made my own tank and had seams similar to yours, not that many bubbles tho, and it held up fine for a year (upgraded the tank, not because it leaked). it even survived the gentle plane ride from new york to hong kong in the caring hands of fedex. (hope you caught the sarcasm)

i hope you didnt pay too much for the tank. chances are they didnt route the edges of the acrylic after they cut it on the table saw.

From Creative Concepts, a seller here on NR....




Thanks Disaster. I suppose I will let it go as is for now, and hope for the best. Maybe I should start saving now for an upgrade. Kind of a bummer.

wow! I honestly hope you did not pay top dollar for that tank!

Well I don't know what top dollar would even be, but I didn't spend a fortune either.

Still less worrisome than glass, IMO. Acrylic ftw!

WOW. I'd toss a tank if I did that. Yours will be okay. The reason that it did that was a lack of patiences "moved the tank b4 it was fully cured", poor edge finishing, or improper cement used. If I had to guess they moved it to fast. A rule of thumb for .25" acrylic...if 33% of the seam has a clear seam it will be ok. of what I see your it will be okay. The small bubbles that you have are alot less of a concern than a bunch of larger bubbles. Obviously.

HTH

So I shouldn't be worrying too much about it failing at any time and thinking about finding a different tank?

I wouldnt be worried at all about it. I just took 5 mins looking at the pics. The seams will be fine for many years to come. If you look at the seams for the majority of them the center 50% of the seams are clear. I do see a few stress cracks, but those are due to the improper cement being used. These cracks are kinda hard to understand if your not use to acrylic. What has happened...the acrylic swells a bit when its cemented, thus creating crack.. As the cement evaps the cracks become visable. But they are just as strong as the seams. So they are just a visual thing. Dont worry to much about it. Now if this were a 50 + gallon with .25" acrylic I would tell you to start looking for a new tank. If this helps I would feel fine with it in my house.