"Flying Squirrel" wrote in message
...
Question: Is it safe to mount an aquarium (20 gallons, long) so that it
rests on rails along the long sides, but not the short sides? From
eyeballing it it looks this should be safe, but a word or two of
authority
would be reassuring.

From my experience, no problem. For smaller tanks, I sometimes have them
held up by only a rail a few inches in from the short sides! The only
concern is that the stand is flat, so no twist stress is added. There
have been metal stands manufactured which had the end rails lower than
the sides, so the ends didn't support the tank at all.

Personally, I think you could hold up many types of tanks by a wood block
in each corner. The tank's base is held by the long sides, and the
amount of pressure needed to vertically break a pane of glass in a
vertical position should require many more times the amount of weight in
the tank. The only concern is again, that the 4 corner blocks equally
contact the glass so no twist is introduced.

When you put an empty tank on a stand, slide something thin under the
corners to check to see if there is a gap. That gap will usually
disappear when the tank is filled, but the size of the gap indicates how
much your silicone needs to stretch to compensate. The more it is
stretched, the less protection is remaining. Tanks don't usually come
apart (only mine do that ;~). They develop a leak from an existing hole
in the silicone, or from being stretched, the develop a leak.
Infrequently, some tanks will not flex to fill a gap, and you can always
slide paper under one corner. Not sure how safe this is (better or worst
than having the silicone flexing?), but it usually only happens with
small tanks.

Other considerations, stand type affects stability (during parties,
earthquakes, kids climbing etc), and tank quality (thickness of glass)
affects it's ability to absorb stand imperfections. For most
applications, check and fill gap with suitable material as applicable,
fill tank, jump up & down to check sway, secure stand as applicable.
Based on size, weight and orientation to floor, check floor. Based on
floor material, check stand's 'footprint' for floor damage.
--
www.NetMax.tk