Fish Tank Expanded.......is It Normal

[cosevo]

Im still a newbie here, and recently you may remember a thread about me buying a Jewel 260 tank and it getting dropped when carrying in, well today I bought another... No dont worry we didnt drop this one, lol, but got it home, and gave it a good clean and so filled up with water, but before I did, I had the lid on etc, to see how it looked, but now after filling the tank, the lid doesnt quite fit and you can clearly see the back of tank is bowing out slightly, not a huge amount, but by a few mm, enough for the lid not to sit perfectly correct, now im not too fussed about that, just worried, is this normal, or should I be getting the water out before it empties itself and I have a 2nd damaged tank

Help appriciated

 

[Sofia]

Im still a newbie here, and recently you may remember a thread about me buying a Jewel 260 tank and it getting dropped when carrying in, well today I bought another... No dont worry we didnt drop this one, lol, but got it home, and gave it a good clean and so filled up with water, but before I did, I had the lid on etc, to see how it looked, but now after filling the tank, the lid doesnt quite fit and you can clearly see the back of tank is bowing out slightly, not a huge amount, but by a few mm, enough for the lid not to sit perfectly correct, now im not too fussed about that, just worried, is this normal, or should I be getting the water out before it empties itself and I have a 2nd damaged tank

Help appriciated

hmmmm I'd be worried about this, is it a brand name tank? is it a glass or acrylic tank?

 

[Truck]

do you mean the lid wont lie flat?

 

[cosevo]

its a jewel model so has the curved front. The lid, which is very very thin plastic sits on a very thin legde around the top of the tank, no more than 2mm wide, but after filling with water it misses the ledge at some points by a very tiny amount, not enough to ruin the look or fall in but just worried about tank itself, its obviously distorted a very tiny amount.
When you crouch down and look down the back of the tank, you can see it bowed out very very slightly, I was thinking tanks may be designed this way to have a little give and flex in them, as with tall buidings/bridges, they dont always build them perfectly solid and rigid, they allow a little give which makes them stronger.
Hence why I wanted to check. Oh and ist glass by the way
Waters been in about 6 hours now, and about to goto bed, so, so far so good, if you see a major disaster post in the morning you know it didnt hold

 

[Truck]

its a jewel model so has the curved front. The lid, which is very very thin plastic sits on a very thin legde around the top of the tank, no more than 2mm wide, but after filling with water it misses the ledge at some points by a very tiny amount, not enough to ruin the look or fall in but just worried about tank itself, its obviously distorted a very tiny amount.
When you crouch down and look down the back of the tank, you can see it bowed out very very slightly, I was thinking tanks may be designed this way to have a little give and flex in them, as with tall buidings/bridges, they dont always build them perfectly solid and rigid, they allow a little give which makes them stronger.
Hence why I wanted to check. Oh and ist glass by the way
Waters been in about 6 hours now, and about to goto bed, so, so far so good, if you see a major disaster post in the morning you know it didnt hold

are all the braces in place?

 

[cosevo]

It has a thin, piece of plastic across the middle but this was broken already when I got the tank, didnt really think it was a brace as such just seems to be support for the light unit, doesnt seem sturdy enough for a brace, and obviosuly isnt if it has broken already, can this little piece of plastic really be what holds the tank in shape???

 

[Tolak]

Yes, that thin piece of plastic holds it in shape. Think of a synthetic fiber rope such as nylon. If you were to roll that brace up, how thick of a rope would it create, and how strong do you think a nylon rope of that diameter would be? From the braces I've seen you would get about a 1/2" diameter rope, plenty strong for many applications.

 

[Truck]

the tank is safe without the brace...but i would get it fixed

 

[cosevo]

the tank is safe without the brace...but i would get it fixed

The previous owner had attempting glueing it, but with that amount of water I dont see it ever lasting very long at all, and to pull the tank back into shape would require it fully emptying

Anyone recommened how to go about repairing it, as glue just wont hold. Still have a smashed tank that is exactly the same with an unbroken strut, but its connected to the plastic surround going around the top of the glass, and seems bonded on, did try removing it, and think i damaged the edge of the glass, so even if I got it off the smashed tank wouldnt want to try and get the one of the current tank without risking damage.

 

[Sofia]

I dont think the tank is safe without the brace. If a tank has a brace it is there for a reason.

The constant pressure of the water bowing out the tank would probably eventually loosen the silicone and the tank may burst.

If I were you I would empty the tank and ask for my money back, did you buy it privately?

But if you cannot perhaps we can help you if you post up some pictures of the way the bracing fits into place?

From what you are describing it sounds as though if you emptied the tank took the brace from the broken tank and glued it with solvent free silicone to the new tank it will reinstate the brace and the tank can be safe to use again.

You can use something sharp like a razor blade to unglue the new brace-if it is glued on of course.

 

[Truck]

I dont think the tank is safe without the brace. If a tank has a brace it is there for a reason.

The constant pressure of the water bowing out the tank would probably eventually loosen the silicone and the tank may burst.

If I were you I would empty the tank and ask for my money back, did you buy it privately?

But if you cannot perhaps we can help you if you post up some pictures of the way the bracing fits into place?

From what you are describing it sounds as though if you emptied the tank took the brace from the broken tank and glued it with solvent free silicone to the new tank it will reinstate the brace and the tank can be safe to use again.

You can use something sharp like a razor blade to unglue the new brace-if it is glued on of course.

the brace is there to stop it bowing so the lid fits properly...juwel have even said that there tanks are safe without braces.

 

[poisongirl]

the tank is safe without the brace...but i would get it fixed

The previous owner had attempting glueing it, but with that amount of water I dont see it ever lasting very long at all, and to pull the tank back into shape would require it fully emptying

Anyone recommened how to go about repairing it, as glue just wont hold. Still have a smashed tank that is exactly the same with an unbroken strut, but its connected to the plastic surround going around the top of the glass, and seems bonded on, did try removing it, and think i damaged the edge of the glass, so even if I got it off the smashed tank wouldnt want to try and get the one of the current tank without risking damage.

You can get tank silicon for gluing it back. My tank came with a support that had been removed, and I just used silicon to put it back on. It also had a partition in the bottom and I removed the silicon around it with a razor blade/sharp stanley blade.

 

[Tolak]

I dont think the tank is safe without the brace. If a tank has a brace it is there for a reason.

The constant pressure of the water bowing out the tank would probably eventually loosen the silicone and the tank may burst.

If I were you I would empty the tank and ask for my money back, did you buy it privately?

But if you cannot perhaps we can help you if you post up some pictures of the way the bracing fits into place?

From what you are describing it sounds as though if you emptied the tank took the brace from the broken tank and glued it with solvent free silicone to the new tank it will reinstate the brace and the tank can be safe to use again.

You can use something sharp like a razor blade to unglue the new brace-if it is glued on of course.

the brace is there to stop it bowing so the lid fits properly...juwel have even said that there tanks are safe without braces.

But will Juwel be there to clean up & repair the damage done by a second hand tank? They may replace the tank if it has a lifetime warranty, nothing more. I'm not hands on familiar with Juwel tanks, as they are not widely available in the US. I do know that here you can buy new top frames, which include the center brace, and replace the whole thing. This is the route I would take for a show tank.

To get some idea of how much water there is in there, and what it can do if there were a catastrophic failure fill a large bucket with water. Go outside & find a large paved area, and dump it. Multiply this by the tank capacity, and imagine it in your house. Long ago, when water bottles were made of glass, I saw a 5 gallon jug break on a loading dock. Instant 30 foot circle of water.

If it isn't intended as a show tank, as stated post pictures, there are ways to fix this that are not real difficult. I have a 72 gallon that has a rigged top brace.

 

[vinylman]

A bowing tank is definitely a warning. It won't go back and the pressure will inevitably find a weak point. Just a matter of when. I'd empty some water and see if it goes back to normal. If it does, that'll buy you some time to get a new tank.

 

[Truck]

a fluval roma 125 doesnt have bracing unlike its juwel counter part...neither do most of the opti glass tanks...theyre all built to withstand some bowing. the way glass is structured allows it to do this without braking