Would you do this?

[lmeyer]

We went to the Maria Mitchell Aquarium on Nantucket on our vacation. A nice little aquarium featuring local aquatic life. They have a touch tank, a round tank to look down into, and two rooms of different size aquariums lining the walls. In one of the rooms, they had a bow front aquarium, I would guess that it was about 170 gallons (about 6 ft long x 2 ft wide (at the sides) x 2 ft tall. It was sitting on a homemade stand that was 6 ft x 2 ft. The length of the bow front was unsupported, extending beyond the edge of the stand. They said it has been set up like this for a couple of years.

 

It struck me as odd, but I've never had a bow front tank. Do you need to have the stand support the entire tank or will this work long term? Just curious!

[Neilan]

I hope it'll work, as I'm doing it right now.

 

I have a 72 bowfront, 18" in the widest part, and I'm building a stand that's 25" wide. Mine, however, the entire tank will be on the stand, not hanging off the front.

[Coral Hind]

lmeyer,

 

WOW, that setup sounds really front heavy and out of balance. I hope the stand was secured to the wall or floor really well. With a tank that size, I am sure there would be a lot of stress on the bottom pane right at the front edge of the stand. Not something I would try.

[tonkadawg]

I've got a bow front on a home made square stand. Even though my tank is small, I made the stand big enough to support the entire tank - I wouldn't even think to build a stand that allows part of the tank to be unsupported.

 

Check my build thread for pictures.

[Dell2go]

I think it works. But I think best is to have half of bow part to be supported. Because if the whole part of the bow aspect unsupported, that is going to put a lot of stress pressure on the front. But I think it is better than to have the whole part of the bow aspect supported. Because at the peak of the curve that is the weakest point. Therefore, it break easily because there is going to be a lot of pressure on the whole bottom part of the tank. Most likely in the center. Unless you have the whole bottom glass of the tank supported. It's just my 2 cents.