How much bow is too much?

[sneakyeskimos]

Recently aquired a used acrylic tank, it measures 48 x 16 x 20.
Is 3/8th thick.
The front pane bows quite a bit. Ive never had acrylic and its kinda worrying me.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Recently aquired a used acrylic tank, it measures 48 x 16 x 20.
Is 3/8th thick.
The front pane bows quite a bit. Ive never had acrylic and its kinda worrying me.

Is it made to be a bow front tank or is it supposed to be flat?

 

[sneakyeskimos]

Is it made to be a bow front tank or is it supposed to be flat?

Its flat when empty, bows when full

 

[F i s h y]

There is no way i would have that tank in my house!!!!! The acrylic it is made out of is to thin. Was this a home built tank? Is this tank rimmed? have Euro bracing?

 

[sneakyeskimos]

It has an almost solid top with two small access point and a small 5x5 quare for overflow access

 

[sneakyeskimos]

Tank

 

[TehBrainz]

Its flat when empty, bows when full

This is a huge red flag IMO

Albeit, I don't know much about acrylic tanks, but I'd imagine they aren't supposed to bow when under water pressure haha.

edit: I did some reading and they do bow due to the nature of acrylic, but the question of "how much is safe" I couldn't easily find. Hopefully an expert can provide some insight.

 

[F i s h y]

Lets call in an expert @Joe Glass Cages @fishguy242 can you take a look at the above pics and let us know your thoughts.

 

[sneakyeskimos]

P/o said tank waz running for about 3 years before i bought it. If that helps

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Its flat when empty, bows when full

That doesn't seem safe for the long term, maybe an expert will chime in!

 

[GARRIGA]

At a minimum, braced the top and possibly bottom.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I agree with others that looks dangerous. And that tank looks huge, please be careful.

 

[sneakyeskimos]

I agree with others that looks dangerous. And that tank looks huge, please be careful.

Only 70g

 

[sneakyeskimos]

Top of tank

 

[crazyfishmom]

Only 70g

If the tank is only 70g and bowing like that I would be extremely weary. The acrylic is definitely too thin.

 

[piranhaman00]

3/8” is going to bow at that height. If the seems are still good ie no white patches, it’s fine.

You can find acrylic with much greater bowing than that.

 

[sneakyeskimos]

3/8” is going to bow at that height. If the seems are still good ie no white patches, it’s fine.

You can find acrylic with much greater bowing than that.

Only ever had glass so any bowing is terrifying! Lol

 

[Shnetts]

any tank that is bowing when its not supposed to is for sure a no go, 5 gal or 100 gal, not worth it to have a swimming pool on your house floor

 

[sneakyeskimos]

any tank that is bowing when its not supposed to is for sure a no go, 5 gal or 100 gal, not worth it to have a swimming pool on your house floor

From what ive read acrylic does bow, but to what extent im unsure

 

[Shnetts]

From what ive read acrylic does bow, but to what extent im unsure

i have a small 10 gal acrylic and its as straight as can be and its .5 mm thick, at least for me that seems like an necessary risk. but i dont know to much about the build designs of them.