HOB Refugium on glass tank...

[hybridfish]

UPDATE:
I went w/ a medium aquafuge. So I'll have an aquafuge, bakpak2, and canopy w/ lights all on top of my 29g! That just seems like a lot of weight to me. The Aquafuge alone w/ water only weighs about 40lbs. The bakpak weighs about 16lbs filled w/ water. That's almost 60lbs worste case senario hanging on the back of a GLASS aquarium made by ALL-GLASS! That's not even counting the amount of force that the water inside is pushing outwards. I'll think I'll try it on my older tank outside of the house to see how it holds up. I've tried calling the manufacturer of the aquarium but they have no idea what the weight restrictions are.
Does anyone else have this set-up?

 

[popnfrresh]

IMO i wouldnt put that much weight on a tank. Why not put a C-overflow and put a larger fuge under the tank. I know for a fact the cpr ones will sell for ~200 dollars.

 

[partsman]

so far i haven't had a problem - although i was concerned about the weight thing myself.
i have the cpr aquafuge - large and a seaclone 150 as well as 2 48 inch coralife light fixtures on top of my 120 all glass aquarium and so far so good.
it's no going on about 1 year and no problems - even after i drained my tank 2 months ago and replaced everything inside - including the old undergravel filters and went back with live sand and rock.............. no stress problems - yet.

 

[hybridfish]

The glass on a 120g is fairly thicker than the glass used for 29g. The glass isn't what scares me, it's the silicone joints. I'm almost pretty sure I'm just going to sell this thing and not chance it. Maybe even do a trade for a sump.

 

[reefraff]

I've got 2 18" aquafuges and a Remora Pro skimmer hanging on a 72" 125, no worries. It would tank an incredible amount of weight to crush the glass from the top like that.

 

[hybridfish]

Originally Posted by reefraff
I've got 2 18" aquafuges and a Remora Pro skimmer hanging on a 72" 125, no worries. It would tank an incredible amount of weight to crush the glass from the top like that.
I agree that it would take a huge amount of weight to break glass. The silicon used to bond the glass is in question. Unless the tank is braced from the top, over time the glass will start to "peel" away from the joint because the HOB successfully creates a lever action to the seal at the top. If a little bit goes, then the hole thing will go. It's like Hulk Hogan ripping his shirt off. Give the shirt a little weak point and apply little force and the whole shirt goes. :scared:

 

[reefraff]

If the tank doesn't have a plastic brace around the top I wouldn't but the weight on it either. I know someone who built an HOB fuge and wasn't too confident in her ability to weld acrylic so she made a stand the fuge sat on rather than hanging the weight. That might be an option for you. Just make a platform it sits on so the tank doesn't hold the weight.

 

[brucoh]

Hybridfish......I have the same exact setup as you (29 gal., medium aquafuge and bakpak 2). Just about a perfect fit for the back of the tank, isn't it? I had the same fear about the silicone peeling back under all that weight so I rigged a little support stand for my aquafuge with a piece of 6 or 7 inch diameter PVC pipe. It's like pillar that rests between my stand and the fuge. I'll take some pics when I'm at home and post them. My fuge doesn't even actually rest on the side of my tank, the braces sit about a 32nd of an inch above the tank's rim, the weight rests totally on the PVC column. There was no way I was going to trust a 29 gal All glass aquarium to support all that weight!! I've had a tank break on me once before (old tank, different circumstances, but same 2nd floor apartment) and I don't want to go there again. Those fuges are freakin' heavy when full. Don't trust your tank to hold all that weight, build a support. Better safe than sorry. Oh yeah, no support under the skimmer, not worried about that weight.

 

[hybridfish]

Originally Posted by brucoh
Hybridfish......I have the same exact setup as you (29 gal., medium aquafuge and bakpak 2). Just about a perfect fit for the back of the tank, isn't it? I had the same fear about the silicone peeling back under all that weight so I rigged a little support stand for my aquafuge with a piece of 6 or 7 inch diameter PVC pipe. It's like pillar that rests between my stand and the fuge. I'll take some pics when I'm at home and post them. My fuge doesn't even actually rest on the side of my tank, the braces sit about a 32nd of an inch above the tank's rim, the weight rests totally on the PVC column. There was no way I was going to trust a 29 gal All glass aquarium to support all that weight!! I've had a tank break on me once before (old tank, different circumstances, but same 2nd floor apartment) and I don't want to go there again. Those fuges are freakin' heavy when full. Don't trust your tank to hold all that weight, build a support. Better safe than sorry. Oh yeah, no support under the skimmer, not worried about that weight.
Thanks for the input! I can't wait to see the pictures of that PVC column. I'm curious to see how you kept it from leaning to one side or the other. I was thinking of making an inverted "T" or an "I" out of some 2x4s to support the weight. My other option is to just buy an acrylic tank and just not worry about the hang-on weight since acrylic tanks are fairly strong and the glue that's used literally welds the plastic pieces together making them one. This means I wouldn't have to worry about the peeling effect. Decisions Decisions decisions..... :thinking:

 

[brucoh]

Hybridfish, here are the pictures of my little PVC column. I'll try to explain it as best as I can, but in all actuallity it was just a rig job that turned out to work pretty good. If you have access to build some kind of wood stand, I'd probably do that. I wanted to do that in the first place, but I live in an apartment so cutting wood isn't to convenient for me. Hope this give you some ideas though.
The first picture is of the stand. I went to Home Depot to the plumbing dept and looked at all the PVC pipe fitting they had. I just kind of played around with them until I found something that fit together and looked like it would work. These are actually two pieces, the top is the T connector which works great because it rests against the wall and gives it extra support. That thing is in there very snuggley, it isn't moving. The piece on the bottom is round PVC with a square portion sticking out of one end (best way I could come up with to explain it). You can see from the picture that the square end is what's resting on the lip of my aquarium stand. The square part was much longer, but I cut it down so the whole thing would fit between the fuge and the lip of my stand. I then glued both of these pieces tightly together and wha-la, a support for my fuge. This thing won't move back and forth because the PVC is so wide, the piece that touches the wall keeps it in there tight, the weight of the fuge won't allow it to move, and the square base that rests on the aquarium stand provides a solid footing. You could get the same result (and it would probably be easier) by just buying a big PVC T connector piece and cut a block of wood for it to sit on. The second picture shows the rim of my tank were the fuge's supports aren't actually resting on it they are just a hair above. All weight is on the stand, none on the tank. Your ideas sound good too, remember all you really need is too try to take some of the weight and stress off your tank, any kind of wooden stand or whatever would do that. I added a 3rd picture to show the square piece of PVC that rests on the aquarium stand.