55 Gallon bending inwards?

[sosgal721]

Hello all...

I just built a stand and purchased a 55 gallon aquarium and when I started to fill the tank up with water I noticed a few things...

First of all, I noticed that there is a gap between the black bottom trim and the glass, and I am certain it wasn't there before....here is a pictures of what it looks like:

To show you how big the gap is.... I can fit two quarters in there:

It is almost as if the glass is pushing in towards the inside black trim. Is this a problem?:help: I'm scared that I am going to come home one day to fish all over the floor. (I have not filled it up yet, stopped at about 10 gallons)

What could the bending (or pushing) be caused by?
Because I built the stand myself, could it be caused by that?


I also noticed when filling the tank that the stand isn't completely level, there is one post that is just slightly slightly shorter than the other (nobody's perfect...)... Here is a pic to show:

As you can see (or not)... it is really small, and it rocks just a tiny bit (with 10 gallons in it). I have heard that putting styrofoam underneath it will help... do you think that could be causing the trim to bend or is it something else?


Comments are sooo greatly appreciated, I could really use the help/ advice!!

 

[mademperor]

Sure the plastic frame isn't just streching or such? I'd use a level on the glass or something of that sort.

 

[J double R]

yeah.. get a straight edge and take a look at the entire length, top and bottom, and the height, top TO bottom, in each corner on all sides. that'll tell you if there is any distortion of the glass going on.

 

[Buckdog]

You may have several things going on.

• Check your floor. Make sure it's flat.
• Check your stand for square. Put it on a surface you know that is true go all around it with at least a wood workers square and a bubble level. Even check it vertically. If you dont know how find someone who can like a carpenter or machinist. You my just need to powersand the highpoints to bring it in square.
• Check your tank (empty) the same way. 90% of the time the tanks are built true. I belive most tanks are built in a production tooling jig anyway.
• If your stand is fairly true but the floor is a bit off I would use carpenter shims from Home Depot to level the stand.

I saw this on another forum aboout a year ago. What was happening in that case was the floor and stand both were way off and that was putting a compound stress on the tank. The tank was slightly twisted on the stand. The person kept replacing tanks but the tanks were failing in the same place time after time.

You were right to stop early.

 

[sosgal721]

Ok so I have measured and one corner is approximately 1/16 of an inch low... so I took out as much water as I could (I would explain why I can't take out all the water, but that would take too long...) then flipped it around on the stand and the gap flipped around with it (there is no gap in the front) I guess it is possible that I originally didn't notice the gap...

I mean, would 1/16 of an inch effect it that much?
By the way, the stand is on carpet, so it is kind of hard to tell if that is level or not.

 

[Rbishop]

I think you have a poorly made tank. 10 gallons of water in a 4' 55 gal tank isn't even enough weight to settle the tank into the carpet and let any levelness affect the tank glass and trim. It is not uncommon to see poor plastic framing on glass tanks especially the lower quality ones often sold in mass.

 

[Buckdog]

:iagree:

Square up the tank. If it even LOOKS like it's out of true take it back.