Is this glass bow a concern?

[fifnywinny]

My tank is bowing a considerable amount, enough to see by eye. It's a little hard to pick it up on camera but is this an emergency and should I add a brace in the middle or is it meant to bow?

 

[Boo Baker]

Can you measure on the end and in the middle to see how much of a bow there is?

 

[fifnywinny]

Here's with a straight edge for reference

 

[fifnywinny]

Can you measure on the end and in the middle to see how much of a bow there is?

The middle is 5mm wider than the edges

 

[Boo Baker]

I am not an expert, but I can tell you, my experience. We had a 100 gal rimless set up for years with a 1/4 bow in the glass, so slightly more than yours. It caused us no issues

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I had a bow in my tank once and I replaced the tank a month later. Better to have piece of mind IMO

 

[Rjramos]

Who manufactured the tank. What is the length across the front and thickness of the glass?

 

[fifnywinny]

Who manufactured the tank. What is the length across the front and thickness of the glass?

It was an aquael 112l tank I had that I took apart and resealed. It's 80x35x40cm and the glass is 6mm.

 

[Marco_99]

It was an aquael 112l tank I had that I took apart and resealed. It's 80x35x40cm and the glass is 6mm.

6mm on almost a 3ft tank. Yeah no thanks

I should add “a rimless tank”

 

[Ziggy17]

When I had my fish room going and had about 25 tanks, anything at and over 75g bowed to some degree. My 270g DT didn’t have centre braces, just old school thick glass, and that thing looked like the bow was over 1”. Held water the whole time I had it (10years) and to my knowledge, held water for another 10 after I I sold it when I moved. At some point, we have to trust the silicone until it gives us a reason not to.

It’s always a roll of the dice….

 

[UncommonSense]

I don’t like seeing that at all!!

I’m not an expert by any measure, and this is just my opinion:

If it was my tank… I would see about sourcing (local glasscutter?) a 40-60mm wide plate of 6-10mm glass, 3-4mm shorter than the inside depth of the tank, and some good aquarium silicone to install a center brace…

It can be done with water in the tank, even with livestock in the tank… but I would not recommend that for your first attempt.

In a perfect world: drain the tank, thoroughly clean and prep the bonding surfaces, silicone in the glass center brace (I find that a syringe with a threaded fine plastic tip works well to inject silicone into the joint), then wait a week for the silicone to fully cure and reach maximum performance.

I’m sorry, I know this isn’t what you want to hear… however, the glass and silicone are inexpensive, and it is primarily costly in time!

Just my two cents,
Jack

 

[Boo Baker]

If the front and the back both are bowing in equal amounts, you are talking 2.5mm well below the tolerance of most manufacturers. if just one side is bowing you may have an issue

 

[Marco_99]

This light here. I can’t quite make it out what’s what. Maybe it’s just light highlighting the end of the glass panel

 

[jsker]

I don’t like seeing that at all!!

I’m not an expert by any measure, and this is just my opinion:

If it was my tank… I would see about sourcing (local glasscutter?) a 40-60mm wide plate of 6-10mm glass, 3-4mm shorter than the inside depth of the tank, and some good aquarium silicone to install a center brace…

It can be done with water in the tank, even with livestock in the tank… but I would not recommend that for your first attempt.

In a perfect world: drain the tank, thoroughly clean and prep the bonding surfaces, silicone in the glass center brace (I find that a syringe with a threaded fine plastic tip works well to inject silicone into the joint), then wait a week for the silicone to fully cure and reach maximum performance.

I’m sorry, I know this isn’t what you want to hear… however, the glass and silicone are inexpensive, and it is primarily costly in time!

Just my two cents,
Jack

This is a good idea!!

I had a rimless tank made, that is about the same size in dimensions and capacity. The glass is .75 inches. The glass is very thin for the size of the tank. Adding a euro support and glass around the edges is a good fix.

 

[Jimbo327]

6mm glass on a 30 gal should hold. Obviously, it is the minimum spec.

Most reefers go over-engineered than minimum spec, just so it can handle any unforeseen issues.