Ouch, sorry to hear that! But at least your Oscars are okay, I mean what if this happened and you were away. This got me thinking too, well not so much thinking but reading some other forums discussing the physics of a tank which isn't level. Here's a thought, take your level and check the floor under the tank, see if its level....If it is then perhaps it was the stand itself which wasn't level and the you've got a case.
Busted Aquarium.....What a mess
- Thread starter darrrth
- Start date
Man O man...my biggest fear was the stand giving way, not the tank. Although I did have a 55g empty in my garage and it cracked on a side panel. I think it had to do with temp fluctuations though.
It's not the stand, it's the concrete floor, which is why when setting up a tank one should always level the stand, and only then set the tank on the stand.
I've seen this set up from a post of yours a couple years ago; the tank appears to be only 12" wide. You can get away with supported a narrow 6' tank on the ends because the pressure from the water volume is much lower than a standard 18-30" width. You could easily support a 12 ft long tank on its ends if the tank was only 1" wide. Would you recommend supporting a 6 ft long 220G tank on its ends?
I've seen this set up from a post of yours a couple years ago; the tank appears to be only 12" wide. You can get away with supporting a narrow 6' tank on the ends because the pressure from the water volume is much lower than a standard 18-30" width. You could easily support a 12 ft long tank on its ends if the tank was only 1" wide. Would you recommend supporting a 6 ft long 220G tank on its ends?That's correct. Aquariums with raised plastic trim not only do not require styro under them, doing so voids most manufacturers warranty, as does not using one of their stands. Support at the 4 corners is all that is needed, as long as the stand is level there should be no issues.
The tank stand you used from Petco is a perimeter support stand. If you have to shim it, you need a full length shim. Here is a picture of a stand that I had to shim about an 1 inch on one side to compensate for the water runoff slope of my concrete basement floor.
I recomend that people follow the manufacturers advice as far as stands, styro, etc. goes. Those pics were posted only to prove a point with regards to all tanks not requiring styro under them. I personally wouldn't set up a 55 gallon that way.
If you look at your first picture, the tank to the left appears to have styrofoam under it.
I think a lot of people think that styrofoam is bad because it pushes up on the glass bottom. However, on a plastic trimmed glass tank, it only makes contact with the plastic trim around the perimeter. I can't think of any reason why a manufacturer would have an issue with 1" of styrofoam around the perimeter of the stand. I personally use closed-cell foam along the perimeter; styrofoam is too stiff and not resilient.
