Reefer Stand Structural Integrity - Pls Help!

BrianReefer · Jan 2, 2019

Hi-

I have a Reefer 450, the display is 92g. It's 3 years old. Here's my problem: The top part of the tank stand is sagging a bit over the sump area. If you look in the picture below, you can see where the light shines through - and in that ~15" space, I can slide a piece of paper under the tank. It's making complete contact with the stand to the left and right of this area, but this 15" area it is not.

What should I do? Would you trust the glass bottom to be structurally sound if it's making good contact all around this area? Or is the glass at risk of cracking under the pressure if it's not making contact here?

I'm really hoping I don't have to do a full tank teardown here. Please help!!!!

Antics · Jan 2, 2019

I'd definitely contact Red Sea and see what they say. Personally I wouldn't trust the rimless glass on a sagging middle with a gap.

Ryan Kouns · Jan 2, 2019

I would use a farm jack to raise it back to level and add a center brace

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BK_8095518

Frtdrmrose7 · Jan 2, 2019

Get a jack or something in there and build a bracing under it with sistered 2x4’s. I would still be on the phone with Red Sea about a replacement. I guess either way unless you can build a frame under it you’ll be taking the tank down because I wouldn’t trust the edges of the tank to tank that weight without the bottom giving way.

BrianReefer · Jan 2, 2019

Thanks guys. This is so frustrating. I have a call in to Red Sea and he’s going to get back to me after reviewing the pictures of the issue. Sounds like I’m likely tearing it down, ordering/building a new stand, and putting it back together. What a hassle.

If anyone has any other suggestions please let me know.

One more question: how urgent do you think this is? Think I can wait a few weeks to get the new stand or would you brace it immediately? I’ve never used that jack before and am a little concerned with jacking up that part of the stand with the full tank on it...

Frtdrmrose7 · Jan 2, 2019

I would brace it ASAP. Measure the cabinet opening for the doors at either end, get a 2x4 that length and I would put it dead center where your doors meet. I know you won’t be able to close the doors completely but it will support the tank. That top front lateral brace is what looks to be sagging.

Frtdrmrose7 · Jan 2, 2019

This is what I would do. You could use a car jack and another 2x4 next to the spot for the new brace to lift that up very slowly.

BrianReefer · Jan 2, 2019

Frtdrmrose7 said:
This is what I would do. You could use a car jack and another 2x4 next to the spot for the new brace to lift that up very slowly.

Thanks for your help, I’ll do what you suggest while I wait to figure out the longer term answer with @redsea

BigRich · Jan 2, 2019

Hi,
Sorry to see this. I would also consider going to a local pet store/aquarium store and getting a couple of 20 gallon tanks. Fill them with your tank water and start moving over fish, any expensive corals, and some of your live rock. This way you can protect your investment in fish/corals and also start breaking down your tank. Nobody knows when that will or may give way. Sorry again!

steallife904 · Jan 4, 2019

could you try putting some wood shims in there? that may fix the issue. I have seem shims used to level tanks before so I would think it would be ok, I would shim it all the way across. This is only a option though if you absolutely cant or do not want to break down the tank and I would wait to hear how others feel about it. in saying this I think I would still want a new stand.

Jdavison911 · Jan 4, 2019

No matter what you decide to do you will have to get a jack in there and jack up the center of it to get back to get it back up to your tank for support. If it just a temporary thing for now while you talk with Red Sea.

davocean · Jan 4, 2019

Make sure if you do jack it up drain tank into brutes or something first.

Did you build stand or is it stock?

Definitely go by what red sea says.

Not only would I want to see a center brace, but I'd want to make sure it has full bottom support all the way across, not sure what you have for top and bracing under top.

Captain Quint · Jan 4, 2019

@BrianReefer man, I'm sorry to read of and see this. IMHO I would ask them to replace both the tank (who's to say the tank isn't stressing at this point...probably not, but eh...)and stand and I'm just assuming it is one of their stands?. It's not as if glass can flex a bit like an acrylic tank. And really that shouldn't be the case with acrylic as well.

I hope they get on it quickly.

NewGoby · Jan 4, 2019

steallife904 said:
could you try putting some wood shims in there? that may fix the issue. I have seem shims used to level tanks before so I would think it would be ok, I would shim it all the way across. This is only a option though if you absolutely cant or do not want to break down the tank and I would wait to hear how others feel about it. in saying this I think I would still want a new stand.

Please do NOT put shims in the middle, it'd spread the weight, yes but if you put any weight in the centre you're risking a total collapse of the cabinet / stand.
Reinforce the stand, with some kind of centre brace that's strong enough to hold the weight of the tank + an additional 25-50 kg (preferably more).

Shimming can be used to level tanks (by shimming the stand), but they should NOT be used to level a tank, especially if the stand is giving way, like this one is.

NewGoby · Jan 4, 2019

Just want to clarify my last post,

as this sentence:
"Shimming can be used to level tanks (by shimming the stand), but they should NOT be used to level a tank, especially if the stand is giving way, like this one is."

Might be a bit vague.

You can shimm the stand (between te stand & the floor) to level the tank & the stand, but you shouldn't level the tank, by putting a shimm on top of the stand & under the tank.

MnFish1 · Jan 4, 2019

BrianReefer said:
Hi-

I have a Reefer 450, the display is 92g. It's 3 years old. Here's my problem: The top part of the tank stand is sagging a bit over the sump area. If you look in the picture below, you can see where the light shines through - and in that ~15" space, I can slide a piece of paper under the tank. It's making complete contact with the stand to the left and right of this area, but this 15" area it is not.

What should I do? Would you trust the glass bottom to be structurally sound if it's making good contact all around this area? Or is the glass at risk of cracking under the pressure if it's not making contact here?

I'm really hoping I don't have to do a full tank teardown here. Please help!!!!

I would wait before you do anything (unless you want to drain the tank and put fish etc in temp quarters). Bracing it if done Incorrectly may cause more problems than leaving it as is. If you break your tank while doing it Red Sea wont be responsible. I own one of these tanks unless the material covering the stand got damaged and water got into that area I don’t see how this could happen. I mean there is nothing putting extra weight on that section and I doubt gravity would cause the top to fall. I mean the board directly under that area would also need to be warping and I don’t see how that could happen either. Both my Red Sea tanks and stands came with a foam mat that sat on the top of the stand. Is that on yours? If it is indeed sagging as much as it looks like it is it looks like a lot more than being able to slide paper underneath.

OriginalUserName · Jan 4, 2019

Antics said:
I'd definitely contact Red Sea and see what they say. Personally I wouldn't trust the rimless glass on a sagging middle with a gap.

Red Sea will just tell him to take the tank down. Trust me. No help. I love my tank, but the stand is a piece of crap that keeps me up at night.

MnFish1 · Jan 4, 2019

OriginalUserName said:
Red Sea will just tell him to take the tank down. Trust me. No help. I love my tank, but the stand is a piece of crap that keeps me up at night.

What happened with your stand? Both of mine are excellent

NewGoby · Jan 4, 2019

MnFish1 said:
What happened with your stand? Both of mine are excellent

I'll second this, I have a Red Sea Reefer 250, and my stand is excellent aswell.

OriginalUserName · Jan 4, 2019

MnFish1 said:
What happened with your stand? Both of mine are excellent

Side panel has a slight bow to it and due to how they designed the anchors there is a small gap between that panel and piece that the tank rests on. Their advice was to take the tank down and rebuild the stand with new hardware. I'm just watching it closely. So far it hasn't gotten worse but if it does I'll probably brace it internally. I can push on the panel and it will deflect quite a bit. IMO that shouldn't be possible on something that is holding 1500lbs.

I believe the 650 is maybe a little large for an ikea style stand.