# We May Have A Problem



## Guest (Jul 11, 2007)

weve got a juwel rio 400 tank.
5 ft ...its huge and last night we heard a loud noise and the water sort of had waves on it...we looked for a crack or something...didnt see one...so thought nothing of it.

tonight we just noticed...the middle supports on the top that hold the front and back piece of glass together are snapped....hanging loose and the front piece of glass seems to be bowing!!!!!!!


any ideas on what to do?????????????


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## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

maybe temporeraly empty some of the water out to stop it breaking. Hopefully u got it from a shop and can get it replaced


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## Tops (Apr 26, 2007)

oh dear....

get some towels quick?


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## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

Yeah emty say half of it. It _should_ hold then, otherwise it might just like explode or something.


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## Tops (Apr 26, 2007)

tap the glass


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## Guest (Jul 11, 2007)

its off ebay lol.

well it broke last night so i guess if it was gonna happen then it would already.

ive emailed juwel asking them if the cross supports are `really` necessary...see what they say


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## Tops (Apr 26, 2007)

its probably just a precautionary measure and not completely needed.


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## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

Tops said:


> its probably just a precautionary measure and not completely needed.


Hopefully. But if the glass is bowing, it sounds a bit dodgy. I didn't know glass could bend lol.


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## Tops (Apr 26, 2007)

it cant.
Its probably bowed anyway if its a decent tank and your mind is telling you its further than it should be.
The glass wont bow, it will just crack


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## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

Tops said:


> it cant.
> Its probably bowed anyway if its a decent tank and your mind is telling you its further than it should be.
> The glass wont bow, it will just crack


'swhat I though.


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## slither (Jun 20, 2007)

Anything will bend put under enough pressure. Glass is very brittle though so can't take much bending before it gives in and shatters. The bigger the piece of glass, the more it will bend. I would imagine a 5' sheet of glass would bend quite a bit. However much it's bending though, it aint too good. I'd avoid any major vibrations in that room. Get many earthquakes in Congleton?
Carefully clamp it back in place and silicone it back up.


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## mask-of-sanity (Dec 27, 2006)

layra i had a jewel tank like yours that did the same thing, i just bought some aquarium sealent and stuck it back on, it was fine for a few hours without them and i didnt empty any water


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

Yeah, glass certainly will bend. I'd be a bit worried! 

A 5 ft fish tank could easily be holding upto a ton of water!! Thats a hell of a lot of pressure for the glass to be holding, and if the supports/brackets have snapped then it shows they are under a lot of stress.


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## Guest (Jul 11, 2007)

LiamRatSnake said:


> Hopefully. But if the glass is bowing, it sounds a bit dodgy. I didn't know glass could bend lol.


actually its not bending...i put a flat surface on it...and its not...just looked like it was.

where the support bracketis...theres like a cm gap...so it must have pushed out like a whole cm!!!

seems ok though...so fingers crossed lol


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## slither (Jun 20, 2007)

Laura-LNV said:


> actually its not bending...i put a flat surface on it...and its not...just looked like it was.
> 
> where the support bracketis...theres like a cm gap...so it must have pushed out like a whole cm!!!
> 
> seems ok though...so fingers crossed lol


If it's pushed out a cm, how can it not be bending? If it's pushed a cm out at the front, I reckon it's pushed out a cm at the back too. That's nearly an inch of travel. I'd defo get it siliconed back up, and use a clamp to GENTLY pull it back to how it was. Good luck.


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## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

Maybe the back peice is bowing. Let us know neway


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## goose221 (May 6, 2007)

a piece of wood or summin to hold them apart? to replace the supports


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## jon2thefish (May 5, 2007)

i had a customer who had this prob, jewel told me to suggest moving half the water out and my wholesaler posted me out a new brace, as the customers had snapped in half and was told to silicone the new one back in place. The jewel filters cannot function with half the water out, should of got an Hagen lol. Stick your brace in place so it doesnt happen again.


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## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

I would be inclined to make a stronger brace with some wood and support the weight in the center fully. Also if you wanted to could support it in a few other places just to ensure it never has any pressure it can't handle.


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## jon2thefish (May 5, 2007)

have u seen the brace jewel but on the middle of their tanks? it's crap lol, but.......it does the job. hmmmm i dont like the idea of wood, dont forget there are not condenstation trays in jewels, best use plastic or glass, even better just use the brace jewel provided u with.


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## Vase (Jul 14, 2007)

I'd lower the water level as much as possible but by still allowing the filter to function. 

Tanks need the bracing bar. The water pressure is greater in taller tanks, pushing all the sides outwards. The bracing bars prevent this from happening. Generally anyway 

Its going to be difficult to fix. Siliconing the brace in place will be easy enough but 'squeezing' the tank together to make it fit will be the hard part.


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## njp (Mar 4, 2007)

As said empy some water out otherwise it will just pop, And get the brace bars fixed (By a professional if your worried about doing it yourself)


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## charlie (May 19, 2007)

Defo get the bar replaced as it is essential. For now Id empty about a 1/3rd of the water, then go buy some glass tomorrow and some aquarium silicone, then take out some more water until its about half full, maybe a little less and fix it, Leave the water level low for 24 hours, and then fill it up.. Should sort it.

if you dont replace the strut eventually the front will crack with all the water pressure..


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## Doogerie (Jul 6, 2007)

Go buy a cheep bowl now to house them in until you can go get a new tankif you think it's gonn abrake you have no time to lose fish do not survie that long out of water


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## Guest (Jul 16, 2007)

going to get it mended this week....theres only 3rd water in it,and its stopped bowing


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## baby05x (Aug 1, 2006)

thats the things laura with buying off ebay hun
you never know what is wrong with things until you get them home.
hope you get it sorted soon 
me and fish dont mix


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## connor07 (May 13, 2007)

*rio 400*

have heard of this before take out half the water and get your local shop to phone juwel and they can send u out new bracing bars and they ain't expensive after all it is only plastic


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## mark elliott (Feb 5, 2007)

Laura-LNV said:


> going to get it mended this week....theres only 3rd water in it,and its stopped bowing


laura i would advise buying a strip of glass to replace the broken one and use epoxy resin to hold the new piece in place but rough up the two mating surfaces so they bind well


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## susanamck (May 22, 2007)

so wot was it we were sayin about settin up a tank 2 fast?! if u had set it up and waited you would have had this happen with an tank with no fish so the problem wouldnt have been that bad as it cant be good havin that many fish with only a 3/4 water?


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## Guest (Jul 16, 2007)

susanamck said:


> so wot was it we were sayin about settin up a tank 2 fast?! if u had set it up and waited you would have had this happen with an tank with no fish so the problem wouldnt have been that bad as it cant be good havin that many fish with only a 3/4 water?


they are fine all of them lol
the bit of water thats left in tank is still a damn site more than they need or other tanks provide lol


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## susanamck (May 22, 2007)

thats g8 then, i didnt mean to have a go, just i word of warnin for ebay buyers that was all really, am glad they all are ok


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