aquarium level????

[pitbullpooch]

ok i was at a friends house tonite which has a 180 gallon reef. anyways i noticed only the end of his tank actually were supported by the stand. so i thought this was bad so we went and checked my 40 breeder and its the same way. the ends are flat on the stand but the longer length of the bottom trim has a gap about 1/16". pretty much i can take a credit card and it can run between the stand and the trim till you get to the ends where it actually touches. well i searched here on rc and most say the tank should be supported all away around the trim. ok so now we went to the lfs and there tanks sitting on the stands empty were also only touching on the very ends of the tanks and we also noticed some stands only have a 1x piece of board on the ends of the stands to support the ends only on the tanks... anyways im wondering why so many people say the trim on the bottum of the tank has to be supported all the way around if from what we learned today it seems only the ends need support. also can anyone who reads this check and see if there tanks are only being supported on the ends with the middle flaoting...sorry for the long post but this got me thinking...

 

[Pickupman66]

I would advocate support of the entire outline of the tank. my 75 is that way, if you have a gap in the middle the glass can become stressed and it could be broken more easliy. OH. I would have a heart attack if I saw a big tank like that 180 that was not supported in the middle.

 

[Reef_bones]

You should be able to slide a dollar bill along the front and back between the stand and tank trim on any glass tank. The 4 corners are the points that see the pressure. That is not true of acrylic, but on a glass tank the front and back pain of glass are not going to bow up or down and break. Call All-Glass and they will tell you the same.

 

[pitbullpooch]

yea i was told by both lfs owners that they should only touch on the 4 corners and thats how my firends 180 is and my 40 and also all the aquariums at the lfs are the same way. so like you said theres a gap and thats normal but it just worried me but obviously thats normal and the way it should be. i was also told that its actually worse to have the middle of the front and back to touch because it will cause a stress point and crack.

 

[foggy54]

Don't quote me on this but I think Glass Cages recommends their tanks to be set on a piece of high density foam.

From Glass Cages Web site
SET UP INSTRUCTIONS
All aquariums must be set up on commercially manufactured stands only. A sheet of 3/4" styrofoam (reaching completely side-to-side and front-to-back) must be placed between the tank and the surface of the stand. Aquariums should not be set on wood furniture, stereos, telvisions, or other surfaces that have not been designed to support an aquarium. Setting up the aquarium on a homemade stand or on a surface such as the ones mentioned above can result in stress breakage of the side or bottom glass panels of the aquarium. Breakage is NOT guaranteed

 

[pitbullpooch]

yea i was wondering about putting styrofoam like glasscages recommends but all glass and the guy at my lfs said you should never use it on glass aquariums so i always wondered why some people say to use it but others say it will make it worse.

 

[KAiNE]

I have foam under my GC but not under my AGA.

I couldnt slide a piece of paper under any edge of my GC tank before putting the foam under. On my AGA only the corners touched.

 

[pitbullpooch]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8919334#post8919334 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by KAiNE
I have foam under my GC but not under my AGA.

I couldnt slide a piece of paper under any edge of my GC tank before putting the foam under. On my AGA only the corners touched.

yea id guess glass cages makes there tanks differently and thats why they say to use foam