125 gallon acrylic tank bowing

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

lingeringpleco

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 19, 2011
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earth
sup folks i got a used tank and filled it up today. no leaks or anything. but one thing i noticed is that it bows a bit in the front and back. probly about an inch at most. all the seams are good, its just bowing out from the water pressure. i read almost everywhere that its normal. in fact its better because it doesnt put as much stress on the seams. i just want to hear your guy's thought about it. are your guy's large acrylic tanks bowing?
 
My 125g acrylic tank doesn't bow a hair. Mine's 3/4" acrylic and has two 1/2" brace pieces on the top. I personally, would never have a tank setup with 1" bowing taking place. IMO that's not normal/good for a sturdy tank to be bowing that much. That's scary as hell. Isn't there any bracing on it to prevent bowing? What are the dimensions?

Oh, and as far as it being better for it to bow because it puts less pressure on the seams, I really don't know about that. I do know the seams on my acrylic tank are welded together so they should easily be able to withstand the pressure of 125g of water. I'm assuming other acrylic tanks are welded together similar so they should be able to take that pressure on the seams np.
 
Bowing a whole inch?!


Wholly cow, hopefully by now you have drained the tank or drained atleast 1/3 of the water out of it.
 
oh and yes it has has a brace. in fact most of the top of the tank is covered with 2 wholes in the center, not including the 2 small ones in the back for power filters. and the panels arnt that thick though. all the seals are good and nothing is seperating. its made by seaclear. actually folks im gonna go home and actually measure it loll i just guessed the inch.
 
Are you sure your not over exaggerating the 1" of bow? Could you possibly take some before and after pics of different angles so we can see exactly how much bow happening. Preferably from the side of the tank (looking directly at the "depth" measurement)
 
Are you sure your not over exaggerating the 1" of bow? Could you possibly take some before and after pics of different angles so we can see exactly how much bow happening. Preferably from the side of the tank (looking directly at the "depth" measurement)

Agreed, pics would help
 
He did say front and back. So that could be 1/2" up front and 1/2" out back.
Taking the measurement from the corners and then measuring the middle.


Still too much flex IMO.
 
If the thickness of the acrylic is appropriate for that type of tank, then I would think that you wouldn't even be able to notice any bowing. My 8X3X3 walls are 1 inch thick and I can't even notice any bowing.
 
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