How important is the black plastic?

[Chromis]

So I measure the tiny half cabinet in my 28 gallon bow-front stand and found that a 5.5 gallon refugium would work great. So I bought a 13 watt PC fixture. I bought a MAG2 pump. And then I bought the 5.5 gallon tank.

 

IT DOESN'T FIT!! I'd say it's 1/8th of an inch too wide.

 

Any reccomendations here? Shall I sand down the plastic until it fits? How important is that plastic as far as support goes?

[swordfish]

If you're talking about the black plastic trim that goes around the top and bottom edge of the tank, forget it, it's just there for show and offers no structural integrity to the tank at all. Probably best to carefully remove it using a Dremel tool. Careful to not to nick the glass with it though.

[nanoboy]

remove plastic edges ?!?

 

this would be a bad idea as it adds much structual integrity to the glass box. Sure it may be Ok for a couple months, but who would risk hundreds of dollars spent on livestock if the tank falls apart one day cause you dinged it the wrong way? The egding is what keeps the aquarium square, thus distributes the internal forces and loads.

[Chromis]

Ok! One this way. And one that.

 

Anyone else?

[Phish]

dont f with it, it could be fine but there is that little chance that it could all go to hell.

[bertz_maru]

why dont you sand your stand?

[Chromis]

Now there is an idea!!

 

I could sand out two 1/8th inch grooves from the stand and slide it in.

 

Any other ideas?

[Graywolf57]

I agree with the comment that trim is just that, not structural....that said, the glass is pretty thin on a 5 gallon. Unless you are very careful you could break it....

 

Once again a dremel job if ever I saw one....Good call Bertz.

[MrConclusion]

The plastic rings around the bottom, and especially the top of a glass aquarium do appear to give it structural support, but they actually help more with assembly (holding it together for the first few days while the silicone cures) than anything else. I have seen numerous tanks without the trim and with the trim removed, and never heard of a catastrophic failure, as in the house of cards collapse that one might imagine. In Germany many glass tanks are sold with nothing but silicone holding them together, which amazed me for some time until I got used to the look. The truth is, silicone has an amazing amount of tensile strength when applied to glass. The shear strength is not so good, which is why you can peel it off, but the seeminglt tiny amount that's actually sandwiched between the edges of the glass paned is where the true strucutral strength lies.

 

Glass is actually a fluid, it's just a very, very thick one. If the silicone is not strong enough, no matter how strong the top and bottom frame, the glass would soon bow out in the middle and the tank would lose integrity not from the top or bottom, but from the middle, as it streched into a barrel shape. You can actually see this in poorly designed large-scale acrylic tanks, and the ill-fated AGA 1400-gallon bowfront. A friend of mine had to replace one that began to expand and leak at the seams after 3 months of operation!

[Chromis]

Back and forth, back and forth.

I love it! Keep it coming!

[Graywolf57]

Ahhhh an instigator.....sand the #)(*%&$ stand. LOL

[cmoreash]

wes, just sand the stand, i personally believe the trim is a good idea, it keeps the bottom from cracking or anything if theres flaws where its resting, the 5.5gs have some thin glass

[bertz_maru]

lol graywolf