Tip of the Day – 10/16/2013

One of the conundrums that hobbyists face with large tanks is they require thick glass (or acrylic) so that they have minimal bowing when filled with all that water. While this is structurally important to keep the water within the confines of the aquarium, it has one unfortunate side affect. Those thick walls don’t work so well with magnet based products such mounting brackets found on water pumps or algae scraping magnets. Fortunately for hobbyists, there are a few workarounds for this situation. Some equipment is made with big tanks in mind, using huge or multiple magnets to stay put. If the items don’t come with strong enough magnets, aquarium keepers can have brackets custom made for their tanks and simply hang the assembly over the edge. Others just mount their equipment to overflow boxes, as they are typically made from much thinner materials. If you have a really thick acrylic tank, you could have special grooves cut into the walls that shorten the distance between the magnets. The magnets could essentially be countersunk into the wall of the tank, but this route obviously limits the placement options.