I'm seriously frustrated. HELP!!

[tsoperator]

I have my 60 gallon acrylic tank that I'm trying to get going. It's ready...I have 60 gallons of water sitting in my living room, a 50lb bag of sand...just waiting.

BUT, my overflow is causing my some serious stress. The silicone connecting the overflow and back of the tank will not hold due to the fact that the tank is bowing when I fill it. I'm ready to throw the whole thing in the yard and give it a fresh coat of fire!!!!


Please, please, please...I just want to get this thing going. Anyone?????

[jph]

you'll need some weld-on 3 or weld-on 16 to glue acrylic.
silicone won't work.


J.

[Fly Guy]

that doesnt look good. how thick is the acrylic and who made the tank???

Does it have any bracing across the top???

That much bowing isnt ok and needs dealt with either by adding some bracing or your coating it with fire idea............

agree with jph on the weld on for the overflow...but to be honest...that is secondary at this point IMO....you need to better the integrity of the tank first

[LISound]

why is the tank bowing..did you make this tank?

Sounds like a bad setup to begin with if the tank is "bowing"

[not_sponsored]

Definitly not a good idea to silicone acrylic, there's this special chemical called weld on that you can use that melts the 2 pieces of aryclic together, also you should use braces on the top if you're having bowing problems.

[tsoperator]

Tank is a Clear for Life. Just got off the phone with dude that did the overflow and he told me to bring it back in and he would weld it(before I read responses). He said he didn't do that initially because of the pressure on the weld from the tank possibly bowing. My brother-in-law's 60g Seaclear bows the same as mine.

How does a brace work?

[Fly Guy]

Originally Posted by tsoperator

Tank is a Clear for Life. Just got off the phone with dude that did the overflow and he told me to bring it back in and he would weld it(before I read responses). He said he didn't do that initially because of the pressure on the weld from the tank possibly bowing. My brother-in-law's 60g Seaclear bows the same as mine.

How does a brace work?

Is there no bracing at all on the top lip of the tank holding it together???

[tsoperator]

Here's a pic of the tank.

Even a video of the tank. It seems normal for an acrylic tank to bend like it does in the video. Check it out:
http://media.putfile.com/Tank-bow

[Fly Guy]

Oh..youve got bracing on there...that entire piece of acrylci on top is your bracing.

fyi-its only normal for an acrylic tank to bow that much if it was built without enough bracing, improperly attached bracing, or too thin of acrylic for the tank size in the first place

it really shouldnt ever bow so much that you cant attach a overflow to it for fear of problems

sounds like your guy is going to fix it right with weld on though......

good luck : )

[Wiskey]

I also have a Clear for life tank and (50G) and it bowes like crazy too, so I just used it as a sump.

The acrilic they used for this tank is only 1/4 ich or so, maybe 3/8 and it bows a good 1-2 inches when full. I didn't trust it, and didn't use it.

Sorry,
Whiskey

[tsoperator]

I decided to do the smart thing and buy an undrilled 60g glass tank($90 new) rather than have a cotastrophe a year down the road. My guy that did the acrylic tank said he would drill it and set it up for nothing.
It's great to be rich! j/k by the way.