# Are Juwel vision good tanks?



## jimlard (Jul 2, 2011)

Hello all, I've not kept an aquarium for over 10 years and am looking at getting back into the hobby.
I have one or two questions that perhaps you could help me with please.
I like the look of the Juwel vision tanks and am toying with buying the 180, are these good tanks or does the curved front pose any problems?
Also, I live in an old property and the floors are incredibly uneven, I would not be able to stand the tank on a cabinet so I am thinking of building a shelf in an alcove. Does anyone have any advice for shelf building please or is it a duff idea?
Many thanks in advance.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Never heard of Juwel vision tanks so I'm of no use there, but as far as shelf building you could get around the uneven floor with a bubble level and some wood shims, or you could go with the shelf. I would advise steel angle brackets to hold it at the very least.

A useful link to tank sizes and approximate weight is below, in U.S. units:

Aquarium Sizes and Weights - An Aquarium Sizes and Weights Chart

Hope this helps!


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## jimlard (Jul 2, 2011)

The vision tanks have a bow front, I just really liked the look of them. As for the shelf, it will be sited in an alcove so I was thinking of running some timbers around the three walls and sitting some solid wood kitchen work top on top of these. I would be drilling into solid brick on all three walls and would use the heftiest fixings I could find, I need to find out more about the fixings really, they would have to be strong enough to hold a 180 litre tank.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

A 180 L tank weighs about 280 kg, so whatever you will build will need to support that much weight. Anchoring in brick should be sufficient, provided you run some timber support beams under the countertop.

Bow front tanks are notoriously unstable on the front piece of glass and if handled or moved improperly the front can blow out. I doubt you'll have a problem however, as very few people are dumb enough to try and move a tank with water in it (I'm one of those dumb people, though - moved my tank with 1/4 water in it to change out stands last month).


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## jimlard (Jul 2, 2011)

Thanks Guy, you've certainly given me something to think about. I have to admit I'm a bit worried about supporting that much weight on a shelf. I can't support it from the ground at all because we have a piece of furniture that will be sitting under this shelf (if I build it). Unfortunately it is the only space we have for a tank, I shall have a good hard think about it. I was just wondering if any forum members had built a shelf for their tanks and what materials they used.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

I would say you don't need to worry overly much about building things too sturdy. 2 cement anchors on each of the 3 walls, with supporting timbers (here we use 2"x4") should be just fine. I'm currently using a bathroom vanity to host my 29 tall, and the walls looked thin enough that it gave me worry until my dad said not to worry.


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