Will My Tank Crack?

[msasa19]

so i was originally getting a 60L tank for my Birthday, so bought a nice stand for it and it would fit nicely on it, the stand is just under 3ft and the 60L tank is 2ft.

My dad has now bought me second hand 90L tank without asking me first and ive found out it will hang over the stand by 5cm each side, will the tank be ok?

its also coming with 4 fish and i will have no where else to put them expect into the tank, so if i took the sponges out of my current 20L tank and put them into my new tanks filter would it then be "cycled"?

i tested the water today and ammonia is 0ppm and nitrite is 0ppm.

 

[fluttermoth]

You'll need to get a solid piece of wood, or a good quality piece of plywood, to put between the tank and the stand, if it's going to overhang.

Hopefully the new tank's filter will be cycled already, as it has fish in, but some people don't understand biological filtration and scrub their filters out under the tap, so don't rely on that; test it yourself to see.

You can certainly take sponges from your smaller tank; no more than a 1/4 if you're leaving fish in the 20l though. If you're moving all the fish from the 20l into the bigger tank, move all the sponge into the new filter.

 

[msasa19]

ok cool, when it arrives i will post a pic for you to see what you think, i will hopefully move them straight over, my dad hasnt bothered to find out what fish they are so i dont know if i can move my platies straight away!!

how likely do you think it would be to crack? :\

 

[msasa19]

ive spend £40 on this stand and i cant take it back, it took me ages to find as nothing matched the rest of my furniture so dont really want to put a big bit of wood on top of it :\

 

[fluttermoth]

I know how frustrating it is, but your tank will crack if it's not properly supported across the whole base

Could you stain or paint it to match the rest of the stand and your furniture?

 

[CezzaXV]

I'm gonna back up fluttermoth and say it is more than likely your tank will crack, or worse, completely and suddenly smash one day, if you don't support it right.

I would suggest painting the piece of wood underneath to match the stand.

 

[ShinySideUp]

how likely do you think it would be to crack? :\

There is a lot of unsupported water with a total 10cm overhang. Assuming 10cm x 30cm x 30 cm that's nine litres or nine kilograms of unsupported water and that's a simplistic view of the problem. I have used a piece of kitchen worktop in the past and you can get this in different colours and patterns.

 

[phantomlink]

That 90l tank is only 23 gallons, my first tank was a 30 gallon Piranha tank and I had a piece of plywood over the stand because the tank was a little larger then my stand and it was fine even on an angel from my carpet ( 1/8" max ) for just over two years and the tank never cracked or broke. I would suggest down the road getting a stand to fit but the plywood will work.

You could even use the old stand to hold a new tank down the road to start your collection

 

[msasa19]

my mother has now decided i am to phone my dad and tell him it is NOT entering her house guess im back to the 60L, least it willl be fully supported, thanks anyway guys!

 

[KCB]

my mother has now decided i am to phone my dad and tell him it is NOT entering her house

guess im back to the 60L, least it willl be fully supported, thanks anyway guys!

That's a shame, did she say why? If it's a safety issue with the plywood then assure her it'll be perfectly safe with an even support

 

[msasa19]

because she is worried something will happen to it and it will flood my bedroom and go through the celing into her beloved kitchen, its not worth arguing with her about it, my dad is going to find out exact measurements to see how big it actually is as he has just guessed! "typical builder"

i am still going to take the fish, to save them from the toilet bowl and hopefully re home them, ive just run down to wilkos for a cheap plastic 10L tank!

 

[fluttermoth]

I know it's impossible to argue with your mum (mine never listens to me; that's why she's got clown loach and a bala shark in a three foot tank

), but you can tell her that 90/100l tanks won't go through the floor. I have a 240l tank in my bedroom with no problems, and so has my son

In future, if you need to rehome fish in a hurry, large plastic storage boxes are better than small tanks. Tanks are for our convenience in looking at the fish; the fish don't care what they live in. A 10l tank is not going to be big enough for any except the very smallest fish

 

[msasa19]

i could probs re home them in less than a day, im gunna ring the pet shop first thing monday before i get them and see if they will take them.... if not, i know someone with a couple of tanks that may take them

 

[fluttermoth]

Ok, best of luck!

 

[KCB]

I know the feeling. My mum made me get rid of my 3ft tank that was in her hallway! But I guess it is her house and I only had 2 fish in it