Tank Glass "Bow'ing"
 

Evening Ladies & Gents,

Call me silly for not noticing until now, or call me lucky for noticing right away.....I'm not sure what its going to be yet. My question for everyone is:

How much does the water stress a tank's glass? Is it enough to bow the glass (4mm on 30gal tank)? What is everyone elses experience?

Many Thanks,
Barrett

4mm seems pretty thin for a 30G tank...

I just sold a 40G cube and the glass on that was 3/8"..

I think he means it is bowing 4mm, not the how thick the glass is.

In that case... seems like alot of bow for 30G ... :lol:

do you mean a total of 3mm at center or 3mm on each side? Because I had a 33g and it did have a small bow in the center.

I used to have two 33G tanks and both bowed. Never trusted those things.

The actual bow is in the center of the tank. The difference is between the ends of the tank and the center of the tank.

I am beginning to not trust it..... but wasn't sure if it is a problem or not?

Its normal.

Yep My 33 was like that for years but i never did like it.

The fiance found it..... maybe she is just looking for a reason to have a bigger one??

Glad to hear its likely normal, might be glad to hear shes trying to find flaws too?!

any reason is a good reason to go bigger:lol:

She just wants a puffy:lol:

Normal or not, it would make me uncomfortable.

Ideas on what you want to do know that you know?

Hmm this seems odd...

I just measured the glass on my 20 gallon high, and it's 1/4".

Thought I should mention it, since there is a 13 gallon difference here and my tank has thicker glass than yours. :surprise:

Just an observation... I would definitely get a bigger tank, my 15 gallon has the same thickness of glass as your 33 gallon.

EDIT: Actually, you could probably just get away with bracing the tank if thats feasible, though you would have to drain it almost completely to do it. Probably making this idea NOT feasible in many cases.

My 29 has a slight bowing affect, as does my 10 gallon but my 40 gallon doesn't. I think smaller tanks may due it a bit more since the glass isn't as thick?

fishytime, your right....she does want her puffer. I'll hear about it until we have one. Might not be a tank big enough for a puffer yet, but you or Kev might be hearing from me?

machika, I guess the only thing I'm wanting to know about really, is if it is something that occurs to most tanks or if I have some sort of "dud". Your right in saying it would make you uncomfortable, as it does me and mine.

So...... in this slight hindsight, my birthday is coming up AND the lady is already talking about a new one, maybe I'll start making the appropriate calls.

To everyone who gave me their "two cents", this website continues to amaze me how people are willing to share their experience to help a fellow hobbyist. Thank You!

-Barrett

I take it the tank has no center brace then? If so, and if the tank is a brand name product (not dyi) then it's probably designed that way (no brace) and nothing to be concerned about. I purchased my 75 (Hagen, 3/8 inch glass) second hand and it came without a center brace. When I started considering building a canopy for it, I noticed it bowed considerably at the center. Pretty difficult to fit a square canopy on to a bowed tank. I haven't put a canopy on it since I'll be replacing it with a 90, but I did make a wooden center brace for it to remove the bowing effect. I guess I'm saying that if my Hagen 75 is designed without a center brace, your 30 is fine without it also.

My 33g bows about 4-5 mm. It's running like that for over two years. It hasn't cracked yet, so I got over it. :lol: