Aquarium on dresser... Yay or Nay?

[pyrofish]

I have a 29 gallon aquarium on a dresser, and I am certain that the dressor can hold the weight. However, the dressor is slightly warped so that some of the base frame of the aquarium does not contact the surface of the dressor.

I've heard that this sort of thing can create enough unbalanced stress to slowly weaken the sealant and eventually cause leaks.

In my case, am I in any danger of this happening?

One of my friends suggested that I put a very thick oak board underneath the aquarium, or possibly across the whole dresser.

What do you guys think?

[Osiris]

I have done this before, using a 30L on a dressor, it was perfectly fine for the year it was on there. That sounds like a good idea, sheet of oak as long as your sure the dressor can hold it's weight.

[pyrofish]

Thanks for the response.

When you say 30L does that mean "30 long", or "30 Liters"?

Also, did your dresser have slight warping like I discribed? It was not noticable until you hold a strait edge to it, and you can see a gap in the middle where it does not touch the dresser, and the tank does the same thing.

[Lydia]

That might cause undue stress on your tank. What I've done when it's warped is put something like a towel or a piece of foam underneath it. I don't know if it's helped, but I read it somewhere.

[DUSTIN323]

I've kept a 29g on my dresser before. My sisters kept a 10g hex on her dresser. I've also am keeping a 10g on a built-in-wall computer stand and its not even on the ground just mounted to studs in the walls. I've neever had any problems with any of these tanks. I think the sheet of wood is a good idea also you could try what lydia said.

[pyrofish]

Well, now that I have the tank all set for fish, and really soon I'm going to need to transfer some of them to the new tank (for various reasons), I'm thinking: Why not modify the dresser...from the inside?

Who the hell needs a top droor anyway!

OK...so I'm both paranoid and lazy. What a lovely combination!

Thanks for the advice guys! Maybe I need to find an expanding material so that I can use Lydia's idea without actually having to take the water out. I have this expanding foam stuff, but it's in an aerosol can, and I don't think it would be such a good idea to be spraying that stuff right next to the fish.

On the other hand, I guess it wouldn't be *too* much work siphoning the water out and using some sort of large bowl type device to pour it back in once I have the oak board underneath it. But then there is the added expense of the oak board, and I'm a broke college student...in fact the tank was a christmas present from my parents.

I just realized that I'm rambling on and on...so sorry if this disturbs anyone. (I'm dangerous with a keyboard) So if anyone has any suggestions, or stories (good or bad) relating to this topic, please keep 'em coming!

[awesome kid]

i would use cork because it will form around any irregularities in either of the surfaces

[micstarz]

An oak board sounds good to me.

[Osiris]

Inspector_Dav,

I Don't Like You.

Pyro, sounds like you got it worked out, people underestimate strength of dressors, cheap ones well their right on that lol. Just look at how it's built when you have the drawers out, should have a frame, cheap ones usually dont have frames just sides..and they sway really easily.