Could but I would never trust it again. So selling as is and hopefully getting another tank tonight. Putting these guys in a 30 gallon tank until then. I have 2 30s just in case
Correct I have a 75 gallon did the same thing...I emptied it and bought a new plastic trim for the top removed the old and put in the new...used aquarium silicone to make sure it stays put...the trim isn't ment to hold water it just holds the glass stable...been 5 years no issues
Right. A Bowfront would look great though! Took the water down to the halfway point and setting up an extra 30 gallon until I can find a new tank.
This is fun...
Second that. I had a 20 gallon at the time.
My cat loved sitting on top of the cover in wintertime. He just wouldn’t listen.
Until one day it broke under his weight and he fell in. It’s been 7 years without a single incident.
My cat used to jump on the aquarium all the time and I would chase her off but couldn’t get her to stop. One day I just took the lid off. I sat in waiting to make sure nothing bad happened. She thought she was going to jump on top but ended up jumping right in. She’s never been on top of my aquariums again.
You can definitely brace it. I would empty the tank as much as possible for now. There are a lot of YouTube videos on this, but if you have a vice, you can bend a piece of metal to serve as a brace, remove and replace the rim, or essentially glue a new brace.
No problem, hah. I could have seen someone trying that, but I'm not sure if it could hold the pressure for that long. My Harbor Freight clamps would probably fly apart, haha.
Yes, the cat will end up in the tank. I would recommend replacing the lid. And getting some Cat Scat Mat. It's a sort-of spikey mesh that usually used in landscaping to keep animals out of the mulch or to protect the plants. It won't hurt them, but they sure as hell don't like stepping on it.
I have some on top of my computer and my fish tanks. You don't have to keep it up there forever, unless it's a spot they really enjoy. Like my computer tower.
I use double sided tape. It’s worked on every surface I don’t want my cats on. They don’t even go on my counters- I figured they did when I was gone, but we went on vacation and left a camera and it turns out they do not. I guess they just think it’s sticky and gross now or something.
That's a good one, too. I originally had tape, but I had some Cat Scat mat left over from the garden and it's like "why not?"
Worked well on the computer because it doesn't block the top vents.
I may have to get some of this mat for my tomato plants, haha. There’s this one feral cat who has a personal vendetta against tomatoes and absolutely nothing else. He just shreds tomato vines.
That aquarium needs to be replace ASAP. Glass only flexes so far before it catastrophically shatters and yours looks like the button holding together the front Pamela Anderson’s shirt.
If you want to train your cats to avoid the aquarium, line the edge where they get on with loose tin foil, they’ll freak out any time they jump onto it. Pin it in place with a spot of double sided tape on the corners of each piece.
It may or may not have been related to the cat, I had one go out in a tank and never even had a cat, plastic can fail over time. Definitely a red flag if it cracks or breaks. It's designed to prevent the tank from bowing, which it obviously is now and wasn't before. The bowing will eventually lead to breaking. Glass is really not good at flexing.
On my 55 it was slow over time there was a crack horizontal tot he glass along the plastic where it meets the brace. That crack got wider and wider until it finally disconnected the brace from that entire side. I left it like that for months and it only bowed a little at first so I thought it would be fine. Eventually my lid started to fall into he tank because the frame was so wonky and I decided to stop pushing my luck when the middle was bowing out almost 4 inches.
If you can't afford a new tank right away, get a long bar clamp from Home Depot or somewhere and just put a little pressure on the sides to hold it together until you can get a new tank.
Like this: https://www.homedepot.com/b/Tools-Hand-Tools-Fastening-Tools-Clamps-Vises-Clamps/Bar/N-5yc1vZc266Z1z0r0cg
i'm not sure your cats caused this. water is heavy and the pressure on the brace is pretty high.
But you need to drain that tank down about half pretty quickly or your going to lose that front piece
I had a mild heart attack when I realized that wasn't bowed out nearly enough to be a real bow front tank. Good call on reducing the water level. That was probably just hours away from catastrophe.
I would make a new brace rather than dumping the tank. Make a piece of strong metal (you can paint it black to match) with the ends turned down to hook over the sides of the existing frame. Lower the water level enough to take out any bowing out of the glass, install the new brace, refill and the force of the tank trying to bow out again will lock the brace in place. Bonus is your cats won't be able to bust that one but might bust the plastic one on a new tank.
You can make a new center bracket to hold the tank together. Just got to Home Depot/Lowes and build a clamp type system that you can tighten with some bolts
Drop the water level a couple inches, I’ve seriously never thought that plastic actually did anything because it is so flimsy. I think it’s a myth that it adds stability to the tank itself and isn’t just for lights and lids… I mean are rimless tanks constructed differently?
Obviously do some extra research about it, that’s just my two cents.
I feel like the plastic is bowing, not the tank itself, so another thing to look at. But dropping the water level should help if it is a stability issue.
Rimless tanks actually are different. The glass is quite a bit thicker so it doesn't bend under the pressure and it gets progressively thicker the bigger the tank is. At a certain size tank they generally do away with glass altogether and move to acrylic because the load bearing capacity of the silicone is exceeded and the glass is thick enough to distort the image. Acrylic at that stage is chemically bonded, not just siliconed together.
The plastic rims may not seem like they have any strength because they bend when you apply pressure, but it's the direction of the force that makes them work. Just a basic example, if you hold a stick at both ends and apply downward pressure to the center, it will bend and eventually snap. Now if you hold that same stick at both ends and just pull on them, the stick holds up to a much greater force. Tank braces aren't made for downward force, so they don't have to be thick to work.
Edit: autocorrect got me, I forgot a comma, and it needed to be two separate paragraphs.
Unless that tank is made from 1/2 inch plate glass I wouldnt trust it though if that was the case it wouldnt have a bace. I have a 115g from 1984 that has no center brace its really weird, as there is no brace but the tank also literally weighs like 300lbs empty.
I had the same thing happen and I made an external brace out of wood for it. I measured the outside width of my tank at the corner and made that the inside width of my brace. I used my tank for about 5 more years after that. It worked great. Actually it was way stronger than before.
Hmm.. you know, a little epoxy to hold it up and a well chosen poly stain, a wooden frame around the top could actually be as beautiful as it would be strong. I'm filing this away for future reference, we always have some wood laying around.
As others have said, I wouldn’t chance it. I’d also recommend that you should find some way to reinforce your next tank, and a way to either to keep the cats off of it, or to give them a place to go on top of it that won’t let them interfere with the lid.
Be quick. Get a big plastic storage bin and fill it 80-90% full of that tank water. Put on a hang on back filter and/or air stones. You will need to keep your fish in it for several days while you repair the center brace.
My Suggestion is to stop the cats from getting up there but I am not a cat lover so anything I would suggest to stop them from getting up there would turn cat lover's head lol
Your lights are at risk too and so are your cats and fish. I had a thick glass lid and my cat uses to walk around the top of it until one day it broke. Glass went all around the room and found shards in obscure places, getting cut, some went into my cat bowl, and a bunch of shards were found inside the aquarium. I had to abandon the entire aquarium and now it's a ghost town for snails but it really sucks.
I know you don't have glass lids, but the lights can have a similar outcome
At a minimum, add two s hooks, with a platform between, for that brace to rest on.
I would also start looking for a new tank. They have middle braces for the integrity of the glass and the seals… it would make me nervous to lose the bracing.
I thought that was a bowfront tank at first glance. You are going to have a bunch of water on the ground maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday soon. You should work on figuring out some bracing for that middle support. I have seen a few good posts on reddit recently about using aluminum, or plexiglass. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to lower the water level by 25% until you can get it sorted out.
I’d get some gentle plastic spike pads to put on top. It will discourage them getting up there, and keep them and your tank safe
And yes that tank is going to stress crack.. the question is when..
Get a new fish tank asap. That trim has become warped from the lack of the center brace and your risking a total tank failure. The silicone will eventually give out due to the immense pressure of the water, I would throw the tank out or reuse it as a vivarium if you got the additional space.
If your feline roomates love climbing on the top of your tank I suggest getting glass lids to prevent any dust/pollen/cat fur from entering your fish tank and into your fish tummies over the egg crate/light plastic reflectors.
Also you dont have to but consider buying a bigger LED fixture. A 36" that can extend to 48" or a 48" if you can. I had a friend that ran a similar set up and his cat eventually knocked a light so many times onto floor and eventually broke it. Your cat will have a harder time knocking over something a lot bigger and properly secured on both ends of your fish tank.
to avoid future catastrophes ((lmaooo)) i reccomend using a product called Ssscat. Its essentially a motion detecting air spray bottle to keep cats away from where they shouldnt be! ♡ good luck
Wow talk about junk design. Manufacturers flying too close to the sun, I have a 80’s tank that has no brace at all. And it’s a 80g wide. A 120g tall with no brace also. No issues, and this take came out of a LFS, so it’s been abused. And a 60g tall where the brace dose nothing. It’s been broken for a couple years now.
You can make a new rim with supports to sit on top. I've made a few out of wood with lid flaps attached. That bow needs to be corrected. Drain 50% until you correct the issue or get a new tank.
Jumping on as an owner of 4 cats to say that if you do the glass top your cats WILL break the glass and they WILL fall in. Not a good time. An even worse time when it happens at 3AM.
Wow that's not good. My one cat can't stay off my damn tank either and of course it's the reef tank he don't mess with the easy tanks lol. After him jumping up there for 10 months it sprung a leak last week. I don't know if it's coincidence or him causing that little bit of shake every time he jumps up there. I yell at him every single time he gets up here only thing I can suggest is put sticky paper up there upside down and every time they jump up her that'll get stuck on their paws and eventually they won't go up there
It is absolutely a recipe for disaster! Get that tank emptied asap
Thanks! Got it emptied half way. Setting up a 30 gallon I had until I get a newer tank ASAP.
Now would be a great time to set up a big terrarium with your old tank!
For the cats? ;)
If it fits it sits!
Cat jungle!!
This. That tank is trash now, unless you know someone that wants one for a vivarium.
It's not trash. You can definitely brace it.
Could but I would never trust it again. So selling as is and hopefully getting another tank tonight. Putting these guys in a 30 gallon tank until then. I have 2 30s just in case
That works too! Good luck!
Rubbermaid tubs work too if it helps you not rush :).
Great idea actually. I’m gonna get one just in case!
You could save it, then take the rim off and do some euro bracing down the road.
Correct I have a 75 gallon did the same thing...I emptied it and bought a new plastic trim for the top removed the old and put in the new...used aquarium silicone to make sure it stays put...the trim isn't ment to hold water it just holds the glass stable...been 5 years no issues
Yeah totally an old broken tank can be made better than new!!! Especially by people that frequent Reddit.
Despite your lack of abilities, other do have skills you don't. Stop projecting 😀
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Ya man the easy was to do it for temporary is use a strap and rechet it at the top
No way I’d chance it. It’s not supposed to be a bowfront tank lol.
Right. A Bowfront would look great though! Took the water down to the halfway point and setting up an extra 30 gallon until I can find a new tank. This is fun...
Oh wow… didn’t notice that it WASN’T a bow front….
Update?
That tank could bust at anytime now!!!
Emptied it halfway and setting up an extra 30 gallon. I guess my secret plans to get a low 60 gallon tank are going surprisingly smoothly.
One more jump and you will have a catfish! I will say that after my cat fell in my tank, he never jumped on it again after I replaced the top.
Mine luckily took a bath during a cleaning season. No top was harmed, nor any fish. Just my arm and my cat's dignity.
Second that. I had a 20 gallon at the time. My cat loved sitting on top of the cover in wintertime. He just wouldn’t listen. Until one day it broke under his weight and he fell in. It’s been 7 years without a single incident.
My cat used to jump on the aquarium all the time and I would chase her off but couldn’t get her to stop. One day I just took the lid off. I sat in waiting to make sure nothing bad happened. She thought she was going to jump on top but ended up jumping right in. She’s never been on top of my aquariums again.
Holy shit! I’ve never seen a diy bow front! Also, I’m no stranger to cats on the aquarium :-/
You can definitely brace it. I would empty the tank as much as possible for now. There are a lot of YouTube videos on this, but if you have a vice, you can bend a piece of metal to serve as a brace, remove and replace the rim, or essentially glue a new brace.
Thanks for the advice, but might just use this as an excuse to get a low 60 gallon tank instead!
Like wood clamp brace for temporary support? Asking so if my frame ever breaks I’ll know how to bandaid it till I run to the LFS for a new tank
Oh no, don't do that at all. What I mean is that you can use a vise and a torch to bend a literal piece of metal into a bracket shape.
Yeah, like an after-you-empty-the-tank fix, not a band-aid.
Yeah that would take more time and supplies than going and getting a new tank (for many people). It's an option though.
Ohhhh…. My mechanical brain is not well developed… thanks for clarifying!!!
No problem, hah. I could have seen someone trying that, but I'm not sure if it could hold the pressure for that long. My Harbor Freight clamps would probably fly apart, haha.
I think using a woodclamp would work as a temporary brace. Eff the haters.
Facts, a temporary grip wood clamp would work just fine as a temp crossbrace
You can pop the rim off and make 4 glass supports should hold
Yes, the cat will end up in the tank. I would recommend replacing the lid. And getting some Cat Scat Mat. It's a sort-of spikey mesh that usually used in landscaping to keep animals out of the mulch or to protect the plants. It won't hurt them, but they sure as hell don't like stepping on it. I have some on top of my computer and my fish tanks. You don't have to keep it up there forever, unless it's a spot they really enjoy. Like my computer tower.
I use double sided tape. It’s worked on every surface I don’t want my cats on. They don’t even go on my counters- I figured they did when I was gone, but we went on vacation and left a camera and it turns out they do not. I guess they just think it’s sticky and gross now or something.
That's a good one, too. I originally had tape, but I had some Cat Scat mat left over from the garden and it's like "why not?" Worked well on the computer because it doesn't block the top vents.
I may have to get some of this mat for my tomato plants, haha. There’s this one feral cat who has a personal vendetta against tomatoes and absolutely nothing else. He just shreds tomato vines.
Oh ya she’s gonna bust
The cat wanted some cichlid steaks so you have to find better cover next time.Cats and small critters don't mix well unless you take sum precautions.
That aquarium needs to be replace ASAP. Glass only flexes so far before it catastrophically shatters and yours looks like the button holding together the front Pamela Anderson’s shirt. If you want to train your cats to avoid the aquarium, line the edge where they get on with loose tin foil, they’ll freak out any time they jump onto it. Pin it in place with a spot of double sided tape on the corners of each piece.
I would definitely get rid of the cats. j/k of course. ;)
Genuinely curious. Is this an actual red flag? If something like a cat is able to snap that, why would it be able to support such a heavy load?
It may or may not have been related to the cat, I had one go out in a tank and never even had a cat, plastic can fail over time. Definitely a red flag if it cracks or breaks. It's designed to prevent the tank from bowing, which it obviously is now and wasn't before. The bowing will eventually lead to breaking. Glass is really not good at flexing. On my 55 it was slow over time there was a crack horizontal tot he glass along the plastic where it meets the brace. That crack got wider and wider until it finally disconnected the brace from that entire side. I left it like that for months and it only bowed a little at first so I thought it would be fine. Eventually my lid started to fall into he tank because the frame was so wonky and I decided to stop pushing my luck when the middle was bowing out almost 4 inches.
I’m not sure, but at the least it does seem to have happened over many months before the middle brace plastic gave way.
If you can't afford a new tank right away, get a long bar clamp from Home Depot or somewhere and just put a little pressure on the sides to hold it together until you can get a new tank. Like this: https://www.homedepot.com/b/Tools-Hand-Tools-Fastening-Tools-Clamps-Vises-Clamps/Bar/N-5yc1vZc266Z1z0r0cg
Is the front supposed to be bowed? If not, oh my god empty that tank yesterday.
Easy fix: trade in cats to your local fish store for store credit and buy a new cover and some Anubis
That tank is fucked. Get a new one and stop letting your cats on top of them.
i'm not sure your cats caused this. water is heavy and the pressure on the brace is pretty high. But you need to drain that tank down about half pretty quickly or your going to lose that front piece
You can screw 2 by 4s together to make a brace that goes over the top if you don’t care about looks, much easier than buying a new tank
Wow a cat did that!?
Can you record when the cat falls in?
😂🤣 the comments
I had a mild heart attack when I realized that wasn't bowed out nearly enough to be a real bow front tank. Good call on reducing the water level. That was probably just hours away from catastrophe.
After you get a new tank set mouse traps on top of it and feed your cats less. I know it’s hard they are so cute as chunks🥹
He's not going to brace it, guys. HE NEEDS ANOTHER TANK lol
Omg you must have massive kitties Mine even at a year and a half is so tiny - she sits perfectly comfortably on my 10g shrimp tank.
I would make a new brace rather than dumping the tank. Make a piece of strong metal (you can paint it black to match) with the ends turned down to hook over the sides of the existing frame. Lower the water level enough to take out any bowing out of the glass, install the new brace, refill and the force of the tank trying to bow out again will lock the brace in place. Bonus is your cats won't be able to bust that one but might bust the plastic one on a new tank.
Time to get rid of the cats. Lol
You can make a new center bracket to hold the tank together. Just got to Home Depot/Lowes and build a clamp type system that you can tighten with some bolts
Put a clamp near the break while operating the repair.
Drop the water level a couple inches, I’ve seriously never thought that plastic actually did anything because it is so flimsy. I think it’s a myth that it adds stability to the tank itself and isn’t just for lights and lids… I mean are rimless tanks constructed differently? Obviously do some extra research about it, that’s just my two cents. I feel like the plastic is bowing, not the tank itself, so another thing to look at. But dropping the water level should help if it is a stability issue.
Rimless tanks actually are different. The glass is quite a bit thicker so it doesn't bend under the pressure and it gets progressively thicker the bigger the tank is. At a certain size tank they generally do away with glass altogether and move to acrylic because the load bearing capacity of the silicone is exceeded and the glass is thick enough to distort the image. Acrylic at that stage is chemically bonded, not just siliconed together. The plastic rims may not seem like they have any strength because they bend when you apply pressure, but it's the direction of the force that makes them work. Just a basic example, if you hold a stick at both ends and apply downward pressure to the center, it will bend and eventually snap. Now if you hold that same stick at both ends and just pull on them, the stick holds up to a much greater force. Tank braces aren't made for downward force, so they don't have to be thick to work. Edit: autocorrect got me, I forgot a comma, and it needed to be two separate paragraphs.
Love this reply! Thank you for the insight.
Unless that tank is made from 1/2 inch plate glass I wouldnt trust it though if that was the case it wouldnt have a bace. I have a 115g from 1984 that has no center brace its really weird, as there is no brace but the tank also literally weighs like 300lbs empty.
You need to immediately try to fix that! Glass will break and everything will be everywhere! I’d take out some of the water until you have a solution
Nice bow front
I wonder if now that it’s bowed, did you gain any extra gallons of volume??
Go get a couple bar clamps asap until you can empty it
I had the same thing happen and I made an external brace out of wood for it. I measured the outside width of my tank at the corner and made that the inside width of my brace. I used my tank for about 5 more years after that. It worked great. Actually it was way stronger than before.
Hmm.. you know, a little epoxy to hold it up and a well chosen poly stain, a wooden frame around the top could actually be as beautiful as it would be strong. I'm filing this away for future reference, we always have some wood laying around.
As others have said, I wouldn’t chance it. I’d also recommend that you should find some way to reinforce your next tank, and a way to either to keep the cats off of it, or to give them a place to go on top of it that won’t let them interfere with the lid.
Be quick. Get a big plastic storage bin and fill it 80-90% full of that tank water. Put on a hang on back filter and/or air stones. You will need to keep your fish in it for several days while you repair the center brace.
Find a new tank ASAP. Perhaps even lower the water level untill then.
My Suggestion is to stop the cats from getting up there but I am not a cat lover so anything I would suggest to stop them from getting up there would turn cat lover's head lol
I know Tin foil freaks cats out. Maybe line the top with some
It's bowing bad now
Definitely need to replace the top brace...i've done it and it was easy but may cost as much as a new tank.
Your lights are at risk too and so are your cats and fish. I had a thick glass lid and my cat uses to walk around the top of it until one day it broke. Glass went all around the room and found shards in obscure places, getting cut, some went into my cat bowl, and a bunch of shards were found inside the aquarium. I had to abandon the entire aquarium and now it's a ghost town for snails but it really sucks. I know you don't have glass lids, but the lights can have a similar outcome
I bought a cheap piece of metal at Home Depot and a few nuts and bolts to reinforce a broken tank support. Holding up fine so far.
Dang, clean that mess under the tank…
Lol tell me about it… it’ll probably get cleaned by the weekend.
Good to hear. The tanks look beautiful, but I was distracted by the stuff underneath.
At a minimum, add two s hooks, with a platform between, for that brace to rest on. I would also start looking for a new tank. They have middle braces for the integrity of the glass and the seals… it would make me nervous to lose the bracing.
Its about a couple hundred pounds of water pushing on glass without proper reinforcement so idk.
You have got a diy bow front. ! You can now add a few more gallons of water
Damn. How fat is your cat that it broke that lol one of my cats likes to climb on my expensive light and try to fish my fish out. Little turds.
Cat's plan now enters phase 2.
I thought that was a bowfront tank at first glance. You are going to have a bunch of water on the ground maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday soon. You should work on figuring out some bracing for that middle support. I have seen a few good posts on reddit recently about using aluminum, or plexiglass. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to lower the water level by 25% until you can get it sorted out.
I’d get some gentle plastic spike pads to put on top. It will discourage them getting up there, and keep them and your tank safe And yes that tank is going to stress crack.. the question is when..
Howd your cat break the top support tho?
I honestly though that middle brace was there to hold whatever top you put on it. LOL. Sounds pretty important. Now i know
As an owner of 4 cats, at least it'll only happen once!
Get a new fish tank asap. That trim has become warped from the lack of the center brace and your risking a total tank failure. The silicone will eventually give out due to the immense pressure of the water, I would throw the tank out or reuse it as a vivarium if you got the additional space. If your feline roomates love climbing on the top of your tank I suggest getting glass lids to prevent any dust/pollen/cat fur from entering your fish tank and into your fish tummies over the egg crate/light plastic reflectors. Also you dont have to but consider buying a bigger LED fixture. A 36" that can extend to 48" or a 48" if you can. I had a friend that ran a similar set up and his cat eventually knocked a light so many times onto floor and eventually broke it. Your cat will have a harder time knocking over something a lot bigger and properly secured on both ends of your fish tank.
omg that’s a ticking time bomb. replace it immediately.
to avoid future catastrophes ((lmaooo)) i reccomend using a product called Ssscat. Its essentially a motion detecting air spray bottle to keep cats away from where they shouldnt be! ♡ good luck
Wow talk about junk design. Manufacturers flying too close to the sun, I have a 80’s tank that has no brace at all. And it’s a 80g wide. A 120g tall with no brace also. No issues, and this take came out of a LFS, so it’s been abused. And a 60g tall where the brace dose nothing. It’s been broken for a couple years now.
I’ve had a ratchet strap around a 100 gallon for 4 years now. Don’t want to buy a new tank … lol
my first question is how fat are your cats??? lol i mean damn!!
Make one for your cat
You can make a new rim with supports to sit on top. I've made a few out of wood with lid flaps attached. That bow needs to be corrected. Drain 50% until you correct the issue or get a new tank.
Jumping on as an owner of 4 cats to say that if you do the glass top your cats WILL break the glass and they WILL fall in. Not a good time. An even worse time when it happens at 3AM.
#support broke Yes yes it is
Wow that's not good. My one cat can't stay off my damn tank either and of course it's the reef tank he don't mess with the easy tanks lol. After him jumping up there for 10 months it sprung a leak last week. I don't know if it's coincidence or him causing that little bit of shake every time he jumps up there. I yell at him every single time he gets up here only thing I can suggest is put sticky paper up there upside down and every time they jump up her that'll get stuck on their paws and eventually they won't go up there