Amount of Bowing In Your Acrylic Tank

[07FocusST]

Plain and simple... Choose the best answer from above. If not listed round down to the nearest answer. Also list your tank Make/Model/Acrylic Thickness/Capacity/Age/Time in Service/Where It Bows, you can also can include how much it bows here too.

For Example:

Make/Model: TruVu
Acrylic Thickness: 3/8" All Around
Capacity: 180 Gallons
Age of Tank: Approximatly 10 years old
Time in Service: 10 Years
Bow Location: Front Panel 1/2" Total Outwards, 1/4" Empty; Top 1/2" Total Inwards, 1/4" Empty

 

[dtd87]

I don't have an acrylic but I think If I had bowing it would drive me insane. Would bring in the mental state of an off level tank @.@

 

[07FocusST]

so far the results are looking good.

 

[Krish]

I will vote on my 38 gal I had which is is still in operation with the guy I sold it to who now sold to someone else as of December last year.

Tank: 38 gal, 1/2 inch cell cast acrylic, about 4 years old now seeing I had it built the year my daughter was born and there has been no bowing from it yet as of last month when my friend sold it. He said it was still it tip top shape.

 

[07FocusST]

Thats good news Krish... 1/2" Acrylic on 38G sounds very sturdy. Too bad my 180G has 3/8" acrylic.

 

[Krish]

Thats good news Krish... 1/2" Acrylic on 38G sounds very sturdy. Too bad my 180G has 3/8" acrylic.

Yea, overkill I know LOL! Take a look at this sump. This was the sump for that 38 gal which was hardly 20 gals and made of 3/8 inch cell cast acrylic.




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[ReefLogic]

I have a 3x3 cube, 1\2 in....maybe 3\4 can't recall, cell cast acrylic built by Envision Acrylics and have zero bowing. Had a 36g cube as well with no bowing.

why are you having bowing? I would imagine I haven't had any bowing because all of mine have been cubes not rectangle tanks.

 

[07FocusST]

3/8" acrylic under water pressure for 10 years straight will tend to deform the acrylics flat surface over time.

 

[Krish]

3/8" acrylic under water pressure for 10 years straight will tend to deform the acrylics flat surface over time.

Especially with your dimensions...

 

[ReefLogic]

Hmm.....never thought about it like that. Interesting. So what can you do to fix it?

 

[07FocusST]

Buy a new tank... or possibly laminate a new sheet of acrylic onto the others which is not likely going to happen

 

[thatguy559]

3'x3'x3' 201g Custom TruVu
3/4" on the top 1" everywhere else= zero bow

 

[ReefLogic]

Hmm....well I know my tank is only 2 years old so I guess I am safe for a while huh?

 

[Krish]

Hmm....well I know my tank is only 2 years old so I guess I am safe for a while huh?

One of the advantages of glass. Unfortunately not quite as versatile as acrylic IMO. Good and bad to both I guess.

 

[07FocusST]

I like acrylic better so far besides the fact that it scratches easily

 

[NC2WA]

Custom acrylic 375 gallon tank and 125 gallon sump built by Jason @CFI.. Up and running for 4 years.

Absolutley NO bowing..Top notch workmanship and very happy customer.

 

[Krish]

I like acrylic better so far besides the fact that it scratches easily

Yea, with kids, I dread acrylic! I think until they learn that they aren't to touch the tank, glass will be my only option. My 38 gal was a nightmare with my daughter!

 

[fishoutofwater]

custom 150 acrylic by CFI with custom sumps. tank 60x24x24 with 1/2 acrylic, euro top with coast to coast over flow. ZERO BOW. Super build quality. Also 2 custom 24x24x16 sumps out of 1/2 acrylic. yes 1/2 acrylic. could park my f350 dually on it and wont break. CFI is the best around in my opinion.

 

[Faciosity]

I don't have an acrylic running now, but I recently had a 75 that had no/minimal bowing.

 

[Faciosity]

Yea, with kids, I dread acrylic! I think until they learn that they aren't to touch the tank, glass will be my only option. My 38 gal was a nightmare with my daughter!

Scratches on the outside aren't even the worst part of it! I had quite a few from a small collapse of rockwork inside mine. And what a pain to scrape off coraline without scratching your tank!
Sorry, didn't mean to start an acrylic hating seminar, but I won't ever want one again!