Unsupported Aquarium Base.

[8511swann]

Hi all. I'm going to be turning a spare 20 gallon tank into a divided tank for my kids fighters. The base of the tank has a lip around the edge, that means all of the weight is taken by the sides, with no support in the middle. Will this be ok?
Many thanks, as ever.
Swanny

 

[FishGuy2000]

i would assume it would be fine but id go to my local pet store and glance at the tanks and see if they have the same lip your talking about guess i have really never paid that much attention sorry. good luck

 

[Ch4rlie]

Looks like a floating base.

Means the actual glass base does not touch the surface of stand. The black lipped edge all around the base is your support.

As long as the whole base is supported on a stand it should be fine as it's designed this way.

My Roma 90 has floating base as well with nothing in middle if remember right, and stand surface covers whole base, no problems at all.

Hope that helps.

 

[jakroebuck6]

if you are worried you could always shim the base of the tank to help support it

 

[Ch4rlie]

if you are worried you could always shim the base of the tank to help support it

 
Would not really recommend that if the base is indeed a floating base, or if you are saying to put a shim on the glass base itself, again would not recommend this.
 
Why?
 
The weight of water is about 1 kilo to 1 litre and obviously sand/substrate is to be added, decor, rocks, wood, plants and light hood, so this is easily over 100 kilos on the the tank, and any pressure on the glass base will be strong and may crack or damage the base and may cause catastrophic results.
 
Shimming on any part of the tank may cause uneven pressure or result tank being unlevel.
 
I always support the entire base of tank with a made for cabinet/stand or a suitably strong household unit. 

 

[8511swann]

Thanks folk. It's a very old tank, but solidly constructed, with a particularly thick base. It looks like it was designed to be used as such. Thanks for all the input.