180 Gallon Acrylic Aquarium With Slight Bowing

[cgarza]

I have an 180 acrylic tank. I notice when I filled it up with water, the front and back side of the tank started to swell quite a bit. I also see some stress lines a foot from
one of the corner's but none on the corner's. should I keep this tank and Is this normal?


the tank is 72 x 24 x 24

 

[djohnston]

Bowing is normal. But what do you mean by stress lines?

 

[crescent1]

is it 1/2'' acrylic or 3/4.

 

[neverwouldof]

who built it?

 

[cgarza]

Here are some pictures of the size and marks. I thank you all for helping so far. I don't see any stickers on here with the name of the company of who built it.

<a href="http://tinypic.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i9.tinypic.com/6381c1v.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>



<a href="http://tinypic.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.tinypic.com/66aji48.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>


<a href="http://tinypic.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i10.tinypic.com/4ktz8tk.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>

 

[djohnston]

I can't say I have seen that before, but it doesn't look good. Did you buy it used or did you have someone build it for you?

 

[cgarza]

I was going to trade my 135 which I still have and $200 bucks for it from a friend that wasn't using it. I didn't notice it till after I filled it up. maybe I should keep mine but I already expanded my stand to hold this one.

 

[CMcNeil]

if you havent done the deal id pass.......it is underbuilt.

 

[cgarza]

I was thinking the same thing.I guess I'll be waiting for another 180 wide. I was told it will bow but the stress marks shouldn't happen.

 

[jdieck]

5/8" thickness is really underbuilt. Those in the picture are stress lines turned microcracks, that tank wll fail sooner or later.

 

[cgarza]

I'm going to give it back on monday.

 

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

good job cgarza!

 

[Ebisan]

It looks like what happens when you wipe acrylic with alcohol.

 

[Acrylics]

Drain it ASAP. You should not keep it and it is not normal.
JDieck, the top rule on the tape measure is in mm/cm, bottom is in inches, so the material is ~5/8cm or roughly 1/4"
The marks are from overstressing acrylic and what you get when you make a tank from material which is far too thin for the application at hand. Either the tank is made from *very* thin 3/8" (9mm material) or fat 1/4" (6mm material), or possibly 5/16" (7.5mm) though this thickness is not exactly common. In either case, the material is too thin for a standard 180. The thinnest material I'd recommend for this tank would be 1/2" (12mm material).

James

 

[jdieck]

Yoou are right, I counted 16th and not 8ths so looks like 5/16" o3 1/4"

 

[cgarza]

Thanks Guys, I'm going to drain today & take it back. the good thing is I still have my 135 here but I will be buying another 180 in the months to come.