Please help! Aquarium stand failing

[homer1475]

Good luck with Red Sea.

They are one of those companys that have gotten so big, they don't care about their customers anymore. As long as people keep buying their tanks, and products, and praising them even though they don't deserve it, they will continue to ignore problems like this.

Heck it took a massive thread and the threat of being sued to fix the issues with the other large tank stands that were actually failing and causing tanks to fail.

 

[homer1475]

All they have to do is take one look at a pic and say it wasn't installed properly(whether it was or wasn't is a moot point), or throw a level on it and say it's out of level(again not installed properly), and there goes any warranty they may have had. Heck look at all the perfecto/marineland tanks that void the warranty if not installed on their approved stand. Even though a stand someone builds may be better and truer, it still voids the warranty if not placed on their crappy chip board stands. Then when the chip board gets wet and falls apart, it wasn't installed properly because the stand fell apart when it got wet. Again very crappy, but welcome to the free world.

Happens all the time in the construction industry, and is an easy scapegoat for manufacturers. Red Sea is a manufacturer that does this shady practice all the time. Only thing Red Sea has over anyone else.... A++ marketing team.

 

[LC8Sumi]

True, we all know who they are, but please don't make this thread go into "that" direction.. There is no point in that, and the situation won't get better.

 

[BrianReefer]

I had the same issue and had to swap my stand. Order this from Amazon today. it will let you cut 2x4 a little short and then twist the jack to get it to the exact right length. I put two on and had no concerns about it failing while it bought me time to get a replacement.

Search for: Akron Products Adjustable Shore Jack - 4x4

 

[LC8Sumi]

I had the same issue and had to swap my stand. Order this from Amazon today. it will let you cut 2x4 a little short and then twist the jack to get it to the exact right length. I put two on and had no concerns about it failing while it bought me time to get a replacement.

Search for: Akron Products Adjustable Shore Jack - 4x4

Thank You!

 

[LC8Sumi]

Progress

 

[Saltyreef]

Progress

Love those sweet shades!

I mean......welding lens!

 

[LC8Sumi]

Love those sweet shades!

I mean......welding lens!

Safety first!

 

[Thetankdoctor]

Just an fyi I don't think .5x.5 is strong enough it will help but if you are going to do that I would use 1" angle with the flat laying against the bottom of the tank and thru bolt it to the existing stand in the front. That should be much more stable. Unless you are using .25 wall, I don't think that will do what you want. But something is better than nothing.

 

[LC8Sumi]

This is 20x20mm with 1.5mm wall thickness.
The nut on the ends are M10 and so are the bolts. It handled me (85kg) when I’ve tested. I think it is going to be enough. It’s just a brace for the front-middle, so it is not carrying the full weight of the tank, probably something closer to 50-100kg.
Sorry, I dont’t know the numbers in imperial

Edit:
20mm = 0.787 inches
1.5mm = 0.059 inches
M10 = 0.394 inches
85kg = 187lbs
100kg = 220lbs

 

[LC8Sumi]

Okay, so after a couple back and forth emails with the tech support yesterday and today, they again concluded that all is normal and I shouldn't be concerned about the situation, everthing is normal unless I start seeing bubbles in the silicione seams.

 

[dadnjesse]

And you believe them?

 

[Plecosam]

Good luck with Red Sea.

They are one of those companys that have gotten so big, they don't care about their customers anymore. As long as people keep buying their tanks, and products, and praising them even though they don't deserve it, they will continue to ignore problems like this.

Heck it took a massive thread and the threat of being sued to fix the issues with the other large tank stands that were actually failing and causing tanks to fail.

And this helps OP how?

 

[LC8Sumi]

And you believe them?

Ofcourse I don't, but there is nothing left to do with them.

 

[homer1475]

And this helps OP how?

Same way your post does.

 

[Birddog61]

Okay, so after a couple back and forth emails with the tech support yesterday and today, they again concluded that all is normal and I shouldn't be concerned about the situation, everthing is normal unless I start seeing bubbles in the silicione seams.

In some respects thay are right. You have a gap thus the wood warped away from the tank. If the bottom glass deceides it wants to follow it . It will cause the silicone to fail. That said the vacuum bond between the edge of the vertical paine and the bottom Paine is quite strong and should prevent the bottom pain from bowing. However in any such situations the math dose little for our confidence
Building a jack will be more than adequate note you only need a jack screw / adjusting bolt on one end. It is also advisable to to add angle iron reinforcement to top and bottom rail to prevent jack from sinking in to wood in addition the bottom rail needs to be supported to the floor and dont forget a quality paint job. rust or paint particulates in the sump ?

 

[LC8Sumi]

In some respects thay are right. You have a gap thus the wood warped away from the tank. If the bottom glass deceides it wants to follow it . It will cause the silicone to fail. That said the vacuum bond between the edge of the vertical paine and the bottom Paine is quite strong and should prevent the bottom pain from bowing. However in any such situations the math dose little for our confidence
Building a jack will be more than adequate note you only need a jack screw / adjusting bolt on one end. It is also advisable to to add angle iron reinforcement to top and bottom rail to prevent jack from sinking in to wood in addition the bottom rail needs to be supported to the floor and dont forget a quality paint job. rust or paint particulates in the sump ?

Thank you!

I'm not mainly afraid of the glass breaking, I know it can handle a lot, but the wooden crossmember that is holding the cabinet together. If that happens the cabinet collapses and game-over. This piece is flexing even more than the top wood pane of the cabinet as there is a gap between the two in the middle.

Anyway, for now the supporting jack is going to have two screws/adjusting bolts, one on each end, because my welding skills are very-very poor, and I'm happy I was even able to weld in two nuts in the ends. To put this into perspective, this simple welding job took me 5 hours to get it acceptable. I might put something between the adjuster and the cabinet, perhaps a composite shim will do.

The paint job however is going to be nice, as I'm at least good with that I've been painting it for the past 2.5 days, so it should be ready by tomorrow. (Primer, color 2x, lacquer). Although the screws will probably be painted with something like hammerite, once installed in place & adjusted.

I don't think it is needed to tension the jack to take out the warpage of the cabinet, in my head it would only be there to prevent further flexing & collapsing. I just want to win some time, and perhaps have someone make an all metal framed stand for the tank after the lock-down is over.

 

[LC8Sumi]

Installed the new support today. Hope it will work fine. It's pretty annoying though where it sits (can't really close the doors fully & changing the socks is a bit more inconvenient from now on, just to mention a few), but it's better than 54 gallons of salt-water landing on the floor on the 3rd floor

 

[Plecosam]

Is this your Reefer 250

 

[LC8Sumi]

Is this your Reefer 250

Yes it is