how worried should i be? could this cause tens of thousands of $$$damage to my apt?

[willis87]

recently I upgraded to a 40 gal. breeder and retrofitted a stand out of an old his/hers dresser/nightstand. after re-enforcing most of the load bearing areas, and after filling the tank I noticed that everything was not plum. specifically, the rear of the the tank (filled) had a high spot. the main variance between stand and tank base could not be more that an 1/8th of an inch . i have since shimmed out the high spots but still cannot sleep easy. aside from the rear of the tank all is level the only discrepancy is in a slight bow on the stand it cant be more than an 1/8th "in .so how worried should i be? The tank is a 40gal breeder. i guess the real question is where is the greatest weight bearing load located and what tolerances can an "aquaria" tank stand. I am basing my load calculations off of (each gallon weighs 8.5lbs X 42 gallons= 357) i am also fairly confident in my construction but just wondering how imperative it is that i level this to an exact 0. freaking out man.............
how

 

[JNye]

you'll upgrade long before it bursts

 

[Fishbulb2]

The only two tanks I've ever had break on me were on dressers and warped furniture. I would not trust the dresser stand at all. One of those two tanks took months to finally shift and burst and the other one burst overnight. If you do burst a 40g tank while you are away or asleep, it will do an unbelievable amount of damage to your apartment and the one below it. Forty gallons is actually a lot of water. And salt makes it that much worse. Also your neighbors will really go ballistic to the landlord. Things like this are almost certainly why some apartment complexes don't allow aquariums at all. I'm not trying to sound like a jerk but i've been there myself. I have a 20g reef tank burst in an apartment at college and it leaked right in to the apartment below me. The tenants and landlord were FURIOUS. I feel very very fortunate to not have gotten sued or asked to leave the apartment. It's one thing to have an accident, but it's another to put an aquarium on a known warped DIY stand.

Just my opinion,

FB

 

[ConsultantERP]

Being a Landlord let me comment. Yes, I would be really %^&*(# off if an aquarium burst in one of my units and caused damage to the unit below. 2 point here

1: I have insurance that will cover this, (my mortgage company requires it, they all do) and since I did not have "NO AQUARIUMS" in my contract, its my problem, not yours. IE: had a tenant severly smoke damage a unit through burning grease. That became an insurance issue AND I still had to give them their deposit back.

2: Your neighbor, if they don't have insurance on their contents could sue you.

Also, slightly out of level in not an issue. Being on a surface that is not flat is what causes breakage.

 

[ecrumpler]

If you put a piece of 1/2" foam insluation or styrofoam under the tank it should relieve the pressure points.

 

[demonsp]

I would place a 3/4 inch sheet of plywood under the tank to help distribute the wieght. Ive been in the water restoration field for yrs and have doen many floods due to aquriums,If your upstairs in an apartment building this could be costly if they charge you.MB even renters insurance as if your neighbor has same thing happen apts arn not laible for your stuff.

 

[reefmanic]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12293392#post12293392 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ecrumpler
If you put a piece of 1/2" foam insluation or styrofoam under the tank it should relieve the pressure points.

This does work good,i do the same thing for piece of mind.

I tried the old desk/dresser thing and no matter what,I never feel I can trust em..an ounce of prevention is worth more than any cure.

JMHO

 

[demonsp]

I

 

[Reef Aquatics]

I wouldnt trust a dresser..you are better off making a stand for that tank.

Although I had a 36 inch sony tv on our dresser for awile in the bedroom and
it was fine. That thing has to weigh at the least 200 pounds...although a 40 gal
tank would be around 320 pounds water alone..not counting live sand, live rock
and the weight of the glass. Ya..I wouldn't trust that..

The only piece of non aquarium made furniture I ever felt ok with was..I put my
12 gal nano cube on one of our end tables. Our end tables are very high quality and
made very well. My girlfriend wasn't too happy that I put the tank on it..but she got
over it..lol...I did put a piece of foam under it and it was fine for the time it was set up...

 

[samtheman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12293392#post12293392 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ecrumpler
If you put a piece of 1/2" foam insluation or styrofoam under the tank it should relieve the pressure points.

How do you know that?

 

[ecrumpler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12317482#post12317482 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by samtheman
How do you know that?

I've always been told to do that and I've seen countless big reef tanks use this method. My local reef store does this on all of their display tanks. Is there some evidence that proves this does not work? I have no real evidence that it does work just that it's been suggested to me countless times since I had tanks as a kid. I've done this with my current AGA 40g Breeder and AGA stand. Wood is seldom completely straight. You can actually see where the foam compress's more where there is a slight bow to the stand and less where there isn't, yet the tank sits completely flat where the foam and tank edges meet. I've always believed this was a good insurance policy. I could be completely wrong.

 

[aninjaatemyshoe]

You want to be careful putting anything underneath your tank like a piece of insulation or Styrofoam. The reason for this is that glass tanks are usually designed to be supported by only the edges of the tank. That is why the bottom is not flush. When the bottom panel is resting on something, you can actually end up putting more stress on the glass and seams. This can potentially cause the bottom panel to crack or leak at the seams.

 

[ecrumpler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12326571#post12326571 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aninjaatemyshoe
You want to be careful putting anything underneath your tank like a piece of insulation or Styrofoam. The reason for this is that glass tanks are usually designed to be supported by only the edges of the tank. That is why the bottom is not flush. When the bottom panel is resting on something, you can actually end up putting more stress on the glass and seams. This can potentially cause the bottom panel to crack or leak at the seams.

Just to make sure I wasn't passing along bad info I called All Glass Aquarium or whatever they are called now and talked to Rob in tech support. He said there was no problem putting foam under their tanks to compensate for small gaps of 1/16"-1/8" and actually recommended it as a solution for these problems. He did say that if you have a big gap like say 1/4" than it will not solve the problem. Just thought I'd pass that along as I wouldn't want to give bad advice.

 

[ReefEnabler]

I have some acrylic tanks going on a custom built stand.

I was very careful with all measurements and even jointed/planed my lumber before assembly, but some of my shelves still have about 1/16" bow along the length.

I have both 1" expanded polystyrene foam (styrofoam?) and the 1/4" blue insulation sheets from HD.

The styrofoam feels alot softer. I wonder if the insulation foam is too hard to work well? 1" insulation foam doesn't seem any softer.

 

[Fishbulb2]

Something just reminded me of this thread today. Someone in lab accidentally dropped and broke a 5 gallon plastic drinking water bottle on the floor. It took about an hour clean up and the lab underneath came up because it was dripping from their ceiling. That was only 5 gallons. I'd hate to see 40.

 

[rgulrich]

As an FYI, last year when I called All-Glass just as they were shifting over to Aqueon I asked the same question concerning my new AG 180 and stand (its only supported around the edges, and not all of them at that). The engineer explained the importance of leveling the stand, and that the use of foam would void the warranty (if you're concerned about stuff like that). If the 180 went, the warranty would be pretty far down my list of concerns well after my homeowner's insurance. So even the manufacturer's engineers apparently disagree on this age-old aquarium topic.

Get a good stand, level it out carefully.

There is a good physics question buried in there somewhere in the /styrofoam leveling out high points/ discussion on re-distribution of pressure and such, but it's been a long day.

Two rupee' worth.

Cheers,
Ray

 

[Daecrist]

Reading this topic has me slightly worried. I have a 29 gallon tank that's been sitting for the past three years on a low to the ground steel office cabinet my dad gave me. Before that the cabinet had a 20g fish tank on it for about a year and a half with no problem.

It sits level and I haven't noticed any structural issues with the tank or the cabinet. Like I said it's a steel cabinet and pretty sturdy, but now I'm wondering if this is a disaster waiting to happen even if its lasted all this time.

Should I be worried, or is it okay as long as the tank is on a level sturdy surface that maintains a level water level?

 

[Fishbulb2]

If the top of the cabinet is not warped in anyways or terribly off level, then it should be ok. Most stands will be slightly unlevel across the length of the stand. That's ok if it's small enough. The bigger problem is if the supporting top is at all warped. Then it's a goner for sure.