Life Expectancy of a tank

S

sunfun

How long can a tank be expected to last? For instance, what is the life expectancy of a built in tank? 10 yrs? 20 yrs? 50 yrs?

Does it depend on what it is made of? IE Glass vs Acrylic?
 
Depends on a lot of things. Quality of the tank in the first place. How well the stand is made, how true the stand is. If there's padding between the stand and the tank to even out any imperfections, if your tank was made on a Monday or Friday (When the workers are still hungover, or are looking forward to the weekend), if you have a wavemaker or not (The wavemakers cause traveling stresses on a tank, which shorten it's life)

I've seen people who've had tanks up for 20+ years.

I'd think acrylic would probably last longer, if it's made properly, as the joints of acrylic are chemically welded together into a single piece instead of siliconed together. (I still don't want an acrylic tank though, mind you)

As far as a general number? I have no clue... I'd think under average circumstances, 10-20 years should be a safe bet though, as long as it's done properly...
 
I have an Oceanic 20g that was built in 1993. I still use it now and all I've done is resilicon it. It seems to be going strong.
 
Very good friend of mine got me into this hobby in 1980 with a ten gallon tank.

Didn't take long before we had rooms full.


We sold most of what we had, but two of the original tanks (a 55g and a 40g) were drained and crated in 1984.

They sat in storage until about a year ago (originally crated to move from one house to another in MO - sat in the basement for 18 years; moved them to MD where they sat in the basement for 3 years; moved them here where they sat in a rented storage garage for nearly 5 years).

Filled the 55 about 14 months ago (shark egg hatched - needed a home) and the 40 about 6 months ago (needed more room for zoanthid collection).

So far no problems with either. I have to think they can last a while.
 
I am actually interested more in a tank filled with salt water. I am currently designing a house to build in about 2 years and I have decided to incorporate a room divider tank that will be about 381 Gallons by my current estimate. I'd hate to build it in and then have to replace it in 10 yrs. :D

I haven't yet decided on whether to go with Glass or Acrylic. Any ideas, comments or suggestions either way?

Thanks,

A
 
@sunfun wrote:
I am actually interested more in a tank filled with salt water. said:
Ok. Can't comment on one that large, however - there were three of us who got into this at about the same time.

The third guy filled a 75 Gal on Jan 1, 1981 (glass tank, homebuilt stand that could hold a Hummer, -- saltwater, dolomite substrate, white coral skeletons, flourescent lighting, vortex diatom filter, etc - hey, that was the rage back then).

He drained it in July of 1988 to move it to the house he lives in now. Filled it in early August 1988. Been full since.

He was smarter than the rest of us and had a marble slab set in the floor and a stone wall built behind the tank so the room can be updated to whatever his wife wants, but the tank doesn't have to be moved.

It has transistioned to a nicer reef since the original design but to my knowledge it has never leaked or been resealed.

No idea if tanks are built now like they were then so you have to take it for what it's worth.
Click to expand...
 
i would say go acrylic, some acrylic manufactures give close to lifetime warranties and also have you ever tried to move a 381 gallon glass tank, you'll need half the people in this club to move it or use tri's method the people he picked up on a saturday
 
I have a 125 gallon DAS that has been up and running since 1987. No leaks or problems so far. I run wavemakers, etc. with no problems. The tank is glass so you should expect at least 20 years if you utilize the pink foam to set the tank on IMHO. :)
 
I think a well built tank is supposed to last at least 20 years especially without moving it. But that said I had a very expensive Oceanic tank that I thought would last that long, leak after one year. They replaced that one with a second one and it has been 2 1/2 since then. But honestly if I was going to put in another tank, have it built in and want it to last for 20 years. There is no way I would go with acrylic. It just scratches way too easily for me. After a while they just end up looking bad.
 
There is a man on reef central with a 30 year-old tank. Paul B. is his name I think.
 
the Longest we've run a tank for was a fresh water 50 Gal tall for our Discus breeders, that tank ran from 1976 until 2000 so 24 years and we sold it when we moved and to my knowledge it's still up and running. it was never resealed, modified and it was drained and moved once.
I believe it was an allglass aquarium
 
I believe at one point Oceanic tanks had a bad batch. There where some compliants if I remembered correctly of leaking tanks.

I've always stuck with glass. No problems thus far. *Fingers Crossed* :)
 
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