Acrylic tank bowing and seams looking sketch, opinions?!

senorsancho · May 16, 2020

So i picked up this 50g acrylic tank from a member of my local reefing group, but it is obvious that the tank is bowing a little bit probably around a 1/4' and the seams seems to have bubbles in them.

I just don't know this would be safe to have running my room as the tank is in my bedroom and wouldn't want the tank to fail and leak out in the room. What are your guys opinions on the state of this tank? Anybody had experience with a tank like this failing on them?

I've put a bunch of pictures of what the bowing looks like and what the seams are looking like right now.

Please any help would be great, just deciding what to do, I am just thinking that if this tank is unsafe I will probably end up going with an innovative marine 25g lagoon tank instead.

Flippers4pups · May 16, 2020

I personally wouldn't use that tank. Those seems are pretty stressed.

senorsancho · May 16, 2020

Flippers4pups said:
I personally wouldn't use that tank. Those seems are pretty stressed.

That's what I was thinking! seams just look sketch to me as they have like a cracked bubble look to them. That along with the bowing just scares me a bit.

Scotty Buttons · May 16, 2020

That's allot of bow. I've seen acrylic bow a little bit but not that much. Those seems at separating from the pressure. Id definitely drain it, not worth the risk.

TriggerFinger · May 16, 2020

That would make me reallllly nervous anywhere in my house, especially in a room with carpet.

senorsancho · May 16, 2020

Scotty Buttons said:
That's allot of bow. I've seen acrylic bow a little bit but not that much. Those seems at separating from the pressure. Id definitely drain it, not worth the risk.

Thanks, definitely gonna drain and just get a new IM25 instead. Not trying to invest in this tank

senorsancho · May 16, 2020

Thank you guys for the input!!! Going to go with a new glass tank instead, just going to break this down and reuse the parts no worries! Just needed the second opinion lol

ca1ore · May 17, 2020

I tend to think that folks overreact to these kinds of things; however, in this case that would be a big old pass or me. I put a straight edge on my acrylic 450 and there’s no bowing at all along the 8’ length and corner welds are completely clear.

bevo5 · May 17, 2020

Yes. All acrylic tanks will bow but anything more than a quarter inch would make me extremely nervous. Especially on a tank that size. Definitely some heavy crazing on the seams. It’s what I call “active” in that things are moving even if it’s very slow.

Sucks - but hey, now you’ve got a cool place to keep stuff in the garage!

I ordered what I later found out to be basically the last tank made by Tenecor back in the day. It started crazing about a week into being filled and was bowing over a quarter inch. They went out of business and I only got a fraction of the cost back. So - you’re lucky!