Opinions on a crooked acrylic tank

lizardarm · 08-03-2007, 08:46 PM

Hey everyone,
Oo I've got a 120 gallon acrylic tank that I'm setting up and I noticed that there's a gap of about 1/4" between the tank and the stand in the front right corner.
I used a straight edge to verify that the top of the stand was flat and true.
I measured each pane of the aquarium and was coming up with waivering numbers (the panes are not square).
So here's the question- I know that when I put 120 plus gallons of water in there, the gap is going to go away. But do you think that the bending is going to stress the seems enough to cause a catastrophic failure?
This is my first acrylic tank and I've always heard that it is critical that the top of the stand be perfectly flat so as not to stress the acrylic; and with a recent thread about someones tank failing on them, I'm not willing to take the chance.
Any input is much appreciated,
-chris

Hop · 08-03-2007, 08:51 PM

If it is a new tank and truely not square I would contact the builder. Otherwise I would use foam under the tank and give it a good test run outdoors. Acrylic tanks can and will fail if stressed like this tank may be.

lizardarm · 08-03-2007, 08:52 PM

thanks Hop.
I've got foam cut for the bottom. It's a camping mat, but even with it in place, there's still a gap.
Keep the input coming folks.

PS Hop-
that's a sharp looking planted tank you've got pictured on your website.

Hop · 08-03-2007, 08:56 PM

You need to get the hard foam insulation from the home improvement store. Once the tank is filled with water the foam will conform and give support to the higher and lower areas to some degree. The camping foam stuff doas not give anywhere near the same support. It's about $12 for a sheet of the hard pink foam.

lizardarm · 08-03-2007, 08:59 PM

Thanks again for the input. I bought it because a gang of people on here said that is what they use. I had thought that it was going to compress to almost nothing. I'll check out the pink stuff tomorrow.

motorslave · 08-03-2007, 09:03 PM

It will be in the building materials Dept. There are two types, polystyrene sheets of different thicknesses and the pink stuff which is used for stucco work.

VWD · 08-03-2007, 11:15 PM

lots of acrylic tanks are like that they will wobble and so on when empty, once you foll it it will settle out, Just make sure you have a solid top stand. You will also notice if a large tank that it may even bow out when you fill it.

Tasher80 · 08-04-2007, 12:03 AM

This is the pink foam they are talking about. I used it under my tank with my new tank as well.

Hop · 08-04-2007, 02:38 AM

Sorry I got tied up

Yup that's the stuff. I would run a leak test in the garage for a couple days and then if all is good, run it

But that's just me!

lizardarm · 08-04-2007, 10:51 AM

thanks everyone.