Bubble in seam

I just set up this glass tank after moving everything from an acrylic tank that had a crack:
Turbo's Reef Project


Now I have noticed this:





I've read plenty about the 'typical AGA silicone job' and I've seen tanks in stores with bubbles in the seams, but does this look like anything to worry about?


I didn't notice it when I set the tank on the stand, but I admit I wasn't really paying attention. I just noticed it this morning before I left for work.


I made the stand myself and the tank was flat and level on it after setting it up (check the tank build thread for description of that effort) but I wonder if the stand settled in a bit under all the weight, because now I can slide a piece of paper between the tank and the stand along the front and side edges that meet up at this corner. I used a ton of screws and gorilla glued all the members and it is really solid.


So honest opinions here. Should I be having a heart attack, again, or is this just a typical AGA seam that I shouldn't worry so much about?

 

What about the piece of paper width gap? I was looking at it really closely and noticed that the front 2x6 on my stand is slightly higher where it meets up with the side 2x6 on the left side under this seam (like the board isn't planed perfectly flat), so the front of the bottom casing is not in direct contact with the stand, and then it is in full contact with the side 1.5" back from the front corner in question along the left side, then there is a paper-thin gap from that point along the left side for a few inches. My thought was that this is creating a point load on that piece of 2x6.

Now with that being said, does that change your opinion at all?

I guess the way to correct that would be to take a few pieces of the cedar underlayment shingles that are very thin and drive them into the gap to close it up. Now if I do that, would I have to drain the tank? I have 2x 44g BRUTE cans and I was thinking I should drain as much out as I can, tap the shims in, and fill it back up.

 

Well after much contemplation and a near aneurysm, I took today off and Gary (gcsoupman) came over and helped me tear it down. Thanks to awesomely sound advice from Matt Nelson (ninjazx777) I went and got a sheet of 3/4" ACS plywood cut for the top of the stand last night, and after the tear down we put that plywood on and shimmed up the edges and set it back up. The bubbles are closing up and a few are actually gone. (crosses fingers)

As it turns out, the stand was not in full contact along the edges (L and R). We carefully shimmed the gap between the plywood and the stand with the tank (empty) on it, and checked for gaps with a piece of paper and it looked good.

The positive side is that I got to re-arrange the tank and it looks much better.

 

Here is what the seam currently looks like, from top to bottom


FTS



Top section




Closeup of top inch below top casing



about 2" below that



The big bubble in the middle this is 8" from the bottom casing



This is about a 1" section. The 2 bottom bubbles are 5" from the bottom casing.

 

Actually there are people on both sides of the issue.  a frameless tank should have foam.  A rimmed tank should be supported by the frame.  Putting foam underneath can cause uneven settling, and since the weight is supposed to be supported by the rim / casing, and that is the area that gets compressed, then the foam pushes up on the bottom in the middle and can crack the tank.  There was a build thread on Aquarium Advice where a guy cracked the bottom of his tank twice and it was because of the foam.

 

I'm not too worried about the bubbles near the middle of the seam. They're holding so far (but the tank is not full) it's the bubble at the top of the seam that is worrying me. It has gotten larger as time goes on since I filled it. I can grab the back and push on the front and compress the bubbles down and then they pop back when I let off. I went and bought a bar clamp from Ace and put it on. Cheap insurance policy. Doesn't look great but I just need this set up for now until I can figure out what to do with the doc's tank. His tank stand is a disaster.

 

Like I said..not pretty



but effective

 

What's weird is that now I am seeing the smaller, less stress inducing (in me) bubbles appear on all of the other seams. I suppose that means that the tank is not properly balanced? I'm guessing that these bubbles appear to relieve stress due to imperfections in the glass? Everyone says they're normal. I just think that the top of the left front seam and that bubble halfway down it that is all the way through are not normal.

 

This is getting ridiculous. I am seeing new bubbles popping up here and there an all the seams now. Maybe someone else can explain this to me, but if a tank has perfect looking seams, no bubbles at all, then you fill it with water, why would you think it was normal to then start seeing them?

Maybe someone can take pictures of their seams and make me feel better. If this gets any worse I'm seriously going to shoot myself.

I just stopped in at China Garden and looked at the seams of their 225. I did not see any bubbles, though I didn't have my flashlight either, but the seams on that tank looked perfect.