A leak!

Hi, I came home from work to the stand that holds my 55 gallon being concaved, the HOB Filter leaked and let out probably a gallon or so and made the wood the tank is sitting on, bend. Needless to say my stand is now useless because it is terribly unlevel so much so that I wanna move it right now because I am afraid the wood is going to give out and then ill have a shattered aquarium on my hands. The only problem with moving it is the tank ia heavily stocked with full grown fish, the only take ive moved after set up was a 10 gallon which I took half the water out of to move and nothing was living in it when I moved it and even then that tank was heavy, I don't see how I will be able to move this tank unless I drain all the water and I can't do that because there are probably 20-30 fish in there

 

Get the new stand for your 55 drain about 85-90% of the water and have a couple people help you move it onto your new stand and refill. With that much water out it will only weigh 50-75 pounds. Be sure to add your Prime after the big WC. Good luck!!

 

Tough spot. first thing, need to know how bad it is. Pic would help (I worked with cabinets for a decade)

Do you have tools & wood? Bc if so you can brace it while you sort the rest of this out if it’s that far gone.

Either way, you can pick up food grade 5 gallon buckets & bubblers. You can transfer the fish out, repair the stand & reintroduce them from there. Or you can put a couple in your ten with water from the 55 & put the rest in the bucket you use for water changes while you repair the stand.

 

It seems like it somehow warped back but it still is caved in, all 4 corners are touching and are level(ish) not terribly crooked, I still will be getting a new stand just will have to wait until I have the money

 

Oh, ok. Ya had me going, I thought the thing was caving in on you. If you had a frameless tank, I’d be worried, but in your case I think you’ll be fine until you get a new stand.

if you’re running a 55, they are actually the same depth as most upper kitchen cabinets. Reason I’m telling you this is that when people swap their cabinets, they generally just dispose of their old ones & a couple of those could make a really nice stand when you’re tight on cash.

worth looking around on Craigslist of Facebook marketplace. Could possibly find two of those used for a fraction of the price of a stand, which are horribly overpriced.

I generally just find a sturdy used one and remodel it, but it takes some time. Just finished this one, was falling apart & just plain white planks when I got it. Stuff is much easier than you'd think & can wind up with a stand as unique as your tank ends up being.

Note the one I sent pics of was actually a fish tank stand (second idea if the one about the kitchen cabs doesn’t work out for ya)

If ya end up making your own and have any questions about materials, paint or extras just let me know. Revamped this one with just paint, spare tiles from a kitchen backsplash, a couple trim pieces, a leatherman pocket knife & different types of adhesive. No other tools needed in this case, & I got the original stand for free bc it looked bad.