My 135 Gallon, Warning, not pretty.

[anarekist]

I'm curious what your tank is sitting on, because it looks to me like it's sitting on 2x4s without full bottom support which is a recipe for acrylic disaster.

Other than that it looks great.

really? will the acrylic warp? its sitting on two 4x4's that extend longer than the tank so i have some shelf spaces on the side. The skimmer is making foam so it's working? also i figure it helps slow down the UV flow for better contact time and does a great deal of aeration to the water.

 

[deeda]

Acrylic tanks need to have the bottom of the tank fully supported.

 

[ice blue]

awsome tank! Creative filtration!

 

[wrslrcichlid]

Just to comment on the acrylic not being fully supported on the bottom. I had a buddy with an acrylic tank that was somewhere between 100 and 130 gallons (don't remember) and I told him to fully support the bottom. Unfortunately he did not believe that this was necessary and after about a year and a half the bottom of the tank started to sag. He still thought everything would be fine and within 6 months (two years from set up date) the bottom of the tank caved spilling all of its contents. Granted the tank was used, but was in incredible condition and was only 2 years old when he bought it, so I don't think it being used had anything to do with the failure - simply my friends inability to heed warning and see impending doom.

So, my advice would be to support the bottom of the tank as soon as you can. You likely have some time before you have any problems, but don't put it off too long.

 

[anarekist]

wow, i guess i have to figure out a way to jack up the tank while i slip a wooden board under it... any ideas?

 

[zoohouse]

Drain it completely and remove all your substrate. I wouldn't gamble on it any other way.

 

[anarekist]

hmm. how much of a gap between support can i have? it isnt much of a gap, can the tank really still collapse? im gona try to post exact measurements tonight but here are some pics of under the stand.

front side edge

back side edge

right side middle, notice over flow return

left side middle

here's a foot print, not exact i'll add values later tonight

also added some more Malaysian drift wood.

 

[Jc1119]

As stated above, ALL acrylic tanks need to be completely supported from the bottom. Plywood cut to size will work. Lot of stress on the bottom of a 6' tank.