Will My Aquarium Positioning Crack The Aquarium?

[Danja]

Hello,
 
I have a 29 gallon aquarium purchased at PetSmart, so I assume it was made with a reasonable amount of attention to quality. I recently moved to a new apartment and, upon shifting the tank from its original position, discovered that the carpet had been compressed probably beyond repair. I wanted to avoid that at my new place, so I bought an porch welcome mat and placed the aquarium on that. After filling aquarium with water, thereby rending it too heavy for me to shift, I realized that the welcome mat is about 1 cm shorter than the length of the aquarium, so there is a small overhang corresponding almost exactly to where the plastic edging ends. I've attached a picture show the scenario (hopefully it gets past the new user filter).
 
Will this overhang produce sufficiently uneven stress on the aquarium bottom that I'll come home to a cracked tank and a flooded room? I'd really hate to have to drain it because I have nowhere to put the water and I'd have to buy more (also it takes an hour to drain). However, I'd obviously hate having to fix the apartment even more. Should I buy a larger mat or just leave it?
 
Thanks,
 
Dan

 

[attibones]

Well with floating base tanks, you really don't need the mat; however, I am not positive that putting the tank on the floor is the best thing either. Maybe someone will correct me on that. Anyway, so long as the floating base touches the floor and provides most of the support, the mat should not be necessary.

As far as damage to the carpet goes, I don't know if a pressed line would be much different from having a heavy piece of furniture pressing a pattern into the carpet. Were you penalized when you moved out of the old place?
Most of the PetSMart tanks are floating bases, does yours have the black trim that is lower than the actual bottom of the tank? I realized that I assumed it is a floating base when it may not be.

 

[Danja]

Yes, the trim on mine is lower than the level of the tank, so all of the weight is pushing down on that narrow line. I just moved out yesterday so I'm not sure if I'll be penalized or not; however, the compression left by the aquarium is much worse that that left by the furniture, which fluffed right back up.
 
I need to put a table over the aquarium so it needs to be supported on something low. I could try just getting a wooden plank of appropriate dimensions at the hardware store if that's better than carpet.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Can you not put the tank on a stand or a sturdy piece of furniture?
 
That way be easier all round, easier for maintenance and access as well as being to view the nice....

 

[TwoTankAmin]

it is essential to support tanks with frames around the entire perimeter. The bottom glass itself needs no support as long as the frame itself is properly supported. You need to redo things. Improper supports or being unlevel beyond a bit will cause the stresses on the glass to change. They can crack sooner or later from this.
 
And the thing most folks forget about placing a tank on the floor is it become impossible to vacuum using a siphon since there is not enough downhill to sustain one long enough to vac a tank. And then you will have to lie on your stomach to see what you are doing through the front glass. All in all floor tanks are not a great  idea.
 
All your furniture will make the same sort of marks in a carpet. If you want to put something under the tank to protect the floor get some dimensional wood and make a frame to go between the tank frame and the carpet to distribute the weight.

 

[Danja]

Thanks all for the advice. Unfortunately I'm limited to a floor position; I have a very small apartment and a terrarium containing a snake. The way I've dealt with it over the past two years is to stack them; aquarium goes on the floor and the snake (which is in a much lighter container) gets placed on a small table over the aquarium. It saves space and is much easier than the other way around. I decided to just shift the tank to the bare carpet. I figure by the time I move out of this apartment I'll probably have found some other way to damage the carpet anyway.
 
Thanks again.