New to Acrylic

[Bizzaro]

I just picked up a 100g from nolram (thank u him and FishGoneWild) its 48x20x24 I just filled the thing up and im kinda scared... Is the front bowing.... is this norm? its like 3/4 bowed

 

[sweeTang21]

its normal because acrylic is not as stiff as glass would be so it gives more. acrylic tanks also have to be brace more then a glass tank.

How long is the tank and how many center braces does the tank have???

 

[Wolf3101]

Nothing to worry about...thats normal with acryllic tanks and one of the reasons I don't use them for aquariums under 240 gallons.

 

[Mystix212]

3/4 bowing? Then what does full bowing look like? I dont think there is a measurement or fraction saying how much its bowing. Pics are always nice, but great pickup!

 

[FishGoneWild]

Ya, post a pic of the bowing. I can't wait to see that tank. Yes, it does look scary to see the bowing or craze. I was tempted to buy that but decided to go with a new tank. With acrylic there is slight bowing with thickness, age, and abuse. When setting it up add a sheet of foam from Home Depot on the bottom of the tank to absord any unevenness. Hell even my brand new 20gal Clear for Life has a very very slight bowing.

 

[niblit]

my 20yr old tru view 65gal looks almost rounded must be at least 9/10's bowed LOL

 

[FishGoneWild]

my 20yr old tru view 65gal looks almost rounded must be at least 9/10's bowed LOL

Are you still using that tank for fish? With so much bowing in that tank I would cautious if I were you.

 

[FSM]

acrylic seems pretty useless for anything smaller than a few hundred gallons.

 

[Bizzaro]

here is a pic of the top and the bottom.. you can see that i placed the level at the middle and leveled. It was 3/4 oh n inch away at one point or 1/2. I have it filled in the back yard right now to see it its ok. The tanks has 1 middle brace which was snapped and re sealed using another peace. Look really strong. It also has to side braces. They are around 5 wide. FishGoneWild does the foam level the tank out too? i saw nolram had them all on his tanks.

 

[FishGoneWild]

The foam is to compensate for any surface imperfection on the stand. It does aid in level if it's minimal but you should still try try to level out the stand to the floor. I would be more worry about the snapped top center brace. Let's hope he use acrylic glue instead of el cheapo silicone glue for glass. Noram never informed me of the snapped brace. From the picture the bowing is not too bad. It looks almost like the 75acrylic I once had. Is the acrylic pretty thick? For a tank that size your acrylic should be this thick if not thicker.