how long does a fish tank last?

[e46er]

A thought crossed my mind the other day, Ive had my 120 G tank for right around 10 years. how long do you expect tanks to last? 10 years of pressure and 1000s and 1000s of gal an hour of water movement has to lay a toll on the seams. whats everyones thoughts or experiences ? fwiw its just a $600 run of the mill mass manufactred tank, i think all glass?
I would like another tank (same size) but just to do things differently with it.

[Coasting]

Depends on the condition of the silicone perhaps?
Some you can very clearly see the wear and crap the silicone has taken.

[e46er]

Originally Posted by e46er

A thought crossed my mind the other day, Ive had my 120 G tank for right around 10 years. how long do you expect tanks to last? 10 years of pressure and 1000s and 1000s of gal an hour of water movement has to lay a toll on the seams. whats everyones thoughts or experiences ? fwiw its just a $600 run of the mill mass manufactred tank, i think all glass?
I would like another tank (same size) but just to do things differently with it.

the silicone seems to be good still no bubbles or peeling or anything. I figure Ill be buying a tank within 6 months or so. I like the DD tanks tho 3 foot depth would be pretty awesome. Im realllllllly just trying to justify to myself its a good idea to buy another tank haha.

[Coasting]

my old 90 the silicone looked like crap, covered in algae and almost looks like the algae was eating away at it slowly, it was less then 10 years old. It just looked horrid, but it held water just fine. Yet I've seen older tanks with silicone in much nicer condition.... My 90 was covered in hardwater stains from cichlids, I would imagine salt would do the same number on silicone as alkaline freshwater?

Double Deeps look awesome, but I struggle to clean and move stuff around in a tank that's 18 front to back and 24 high.... My armpits get wet and my tshirt gets soaked.... Id hate to have to do anything in a double deep haha.

[spit.fire]

1778 days, any more and it will explode

[Scythanith]

I have had my hagen 48g running for 15 years and the silicone looks pretty scary now. A lot of longitudinal bubbles in the silicone. It will be replaced ASAP.

[sumpfinfishe]

I spoke to rep of a large tank manufacturer a few years ago on this topic,they informed me that there product testing suggested silicone seams start to break down around 10yrs. I know a few people who have had there tanks running for double that, but i would never chance it!
I have replaced my saltwater tank 3 times in 15yrs at 4 to 5 yrs apart. My tanks have also been produced by a large manufacture, so if they were custom built by a quality smaller shop i'm sure i would have given them more years.

[AquaAddict]

My 92 gal bow front corner tank is approx 9 years old. It started 'leaking' a year ago with salt creep in the lower front corner. Every time I wiped off the salt creep it came back - except the last time. It's been a week now and there still isn't any salt creep showing.

My husband (engineering/architect model builder and plastics expert) says it could last forever or break tomorrow.

I have an empty tank ready but I think my new 150 gal from concepts will be ready and up and running before anything happens.

AquaAddict