Aquarium Glass issue?

125mph

New member
I have a Leemar aquarium about 6 years old. I noticed the bottom from of the glass doesn't appear to be making contact with the bottom glass plate. Im not sure if there's suppose to be silicon there or what but there's an obvious gap. Because of how my stand is built, it hide the bottom so I didn't notice it until now. Pics below. Is this an issue or is this how glass aquariums are built?

It's starfire 3/4" 4'x2'x2'.

9fbd6cc2672e101fb69d68da345f71fd.jpg


b978231bc8a0a1cc261f63a2a9b18003.jpg


9a9dc062ef14e5172c4b55b1f6cad847.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
My Leemar doesn't have the gap, the pane rests on the plastic panel under the tank. That said, the way the tank is built the weight is really on the bottom pane. In your case the front silicone seams are carrying the weight of the 4'x2' 3/4" glass in addition to the force of the water pushing against it. Though not ideal I can't imagine the weight of the front pane compares to the forces placed on the seams by the water in the tank. No problems for 6 years has to count for something. If it's any consolation I don't think any of the panes on my tank are truly square. Was making me crazy when I was trying to level the tank on installation until I figured it out.

I could be totally off, but I wouldn't try to correct anything. See what others have to say.
 
My Leemar doesn't have the gap, the pane rests on the plastic panel under the tank. That said, the way the tank is built the weight is really on the bottom pane. In your case the front silicone seams are carrying the weight of the 4'x2' 3/4" glass in addition to the force of the water pushing against it. Though not ideal I can't imagine the weight of the front pane compares to the forces placed on the seams by the water in the tank. No problems for 6 years has to count for something. If it's any consolation I don't think any of the panes on my tank are truly square. Was making me crazy when I was trying to level the tank on installation until I figured it out.

I could be totally off, but I wouldn't try to correct anything. See what others have to say.

Well, I'm not sure if its been like this for 6 years. The tank was sitting on the stand and which hides the bottom by about 1/4" so it wasn't possible to notice if there was a gap. A few months ago, I did a tank move and I changed the way the tank sits on the stand, and it basically raised it by 1/4". (It was sitting on 1/2" foam and now sits on 1" foam so it raised the tank a bit. So now I noticed the gap. I wasn't sure if salt creep or something eroded the silicon and caused the gap.

I finally got a mirror to peak the backside of the tank. Looks like theres no gap, the silicon is between the bottom plate and the back glass. However, there are areas where the silicon seems to have degraded a bit. I wonder if the front bottom silicon just got completely degraded...

I emailed my dealer to ask leemar.. Any other opinions?
 
Last edited:
Great... got an email from my dealer saying Leemar is out of business... told me to post pictures on the forums..

Any idea guys? lol
 
Two ways to make a tank. One where the four sides sit on top of the bottom, and a second where the bottom 'floats' inside the four sides. Your tank looks like the latter in which case the gap you describe would be no problem.
 
Two ways to make a tank. One where the four sides sit on top of the bottom, and a second where the bottom 'floats' inside the four sides. Your tank looks like the latter in which case the gap you describe would be no problem.

Well... in this one, the bottom panel is still under the front glass panel, but there's a gap between it. Is that okay?

Strange thing is, the back panel does not have a gap. Looks like there is silicon between the back panel and the bottom panel.

Anyone else with a Leemar or other glass aquarium that is similar to mine, can you post a pic?
 
Last edited:
Well... in this one, the bottom panel is still under the front glass panel, but there's a gap between it. Is that okay?

Strange thing is, the back panel does not have a gap. Looks like there is silicon between the back panel and the bottom panel.

And since the glass isn't quite perfectly square, I can only see the right front side which exposes the gap.. I can't view the front left side cause its under the stand..

I think you may be confusing the plastic sheet on the bottom of the tank with the glass pane. Your bottom pane is sandwiched between the side panes all the way around, none of them sit on the bottom glass. The entire bottom of the tank has a thin sheet of plastic material to protect the glass. The gap you are seeing is between that plastic and the front pane.
 
I think you may be confusing the plastic sheet on the bottom of the tank with the glass pane. Your bottom pane is sandwiched between the side panes all the way around, none of them sit on the bottom glass. The entire bottom of the tank has a thin sheet of plastic material to protect the glass. The gap you are seeing is between that plastic and the front pane.

Ah yes. What I called the bottom is the plastic sheet.

Does the front need to sit on the plastic sheet and make physical contact? The bottom and back glass panels make full contact to the plastic sheet, but the front glass does not. I was concerned if that would put pressure on the tank's front glass since its just floating via gravity.
 
Last edited:
Two ways to make a tank. One where the four sides sit on top of the bottom, and a second where the bottom 'floats' inside the four sides. Your tank looks like the latter in which case the gap you describe would be no problem.

As Simon mentioned, you should be good to go even with the gap. It definitely came that way from the manufacturer, not something that shifted or degraded over time.
 
Thanks guys! I was getting ready to tear down my stand's molding and silicon the gap. But I feel safe now :)
 
My Elos 160XL was like that. When I received the tank and put it on the stand, I notice the front pane is just hanging. It does not not touch the stand. I thought I assembled the stand incorrectly so I called Elos and they said, it's designed that way. It should not be an issue.
 
Back
Top