Supporting 10 Gallon Aquariums on Desk

[Mindfreak666]

Hello, I'm looking for some input on keeping aquariums level and safe on a desk/ chest of drawers. We're in college so don't have a lot of room or money for stands. Summer is almost over and we'll be moving back into the dorms soon. Last semester my BF had a 5.5 gallon tank on the chest of drawers and it was fine, toward the end of the semester he upgraded to a 10 gallon tank. After a month or so we were sitting in his dorm and heard dripping. The bottom seam of the tank had busted. I've never had this happen to me in the 8 or so years I've had fishtanks. I don't know if it was because of the wood possibly being uneven or sagging or if it was the tank. Over summer his new tank has been on our counter. Now we're about to go back and I'm looking for something to prevent this happening again as we might not be there to save the fish and it's a big pain to clean up. So I've seen things about foam, but then heard not for rimmed tanks. Maybe a sheet of wood? I'm open to any ideas. As well as his tank, I have four tanks including my pico reef. My reef is currently on the bottom rack of my 10 gallon stand. I'd like to have it up and in view possibly on a desk (but I really don't want to risk that one) instead of near the floor. But I also have a new 10 gallon tank that I'm going to need to set on a desk or something so I want to make sure it doesn't bust a seam either. I never had a problem in the past using desks for 10 gallons but now I'm paranoid. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Mishri]

I've never had a problem with 10 gallon tanks on desks, most of the time we kept it on our chest of drawers we kept our clothes in.. must have been a defective tank.. rare for a small tank to split a seam though.. as long as the surface is smooth slightly off level hasn't hurt any of my aquariums in my experience.. Was it an old tank? If it was an old tank that was used/stored dried several times I might imagine an issue from that.

[Mindfreak666]

Yeah I've never had a problem either when I kept my 10 gallon on a desk. The tank that busted was new, about 2-3 months after we bought it from the pet store. There's a high probability it was the tank, I just want to take precautions since our tanks will likely be going back on similar desks.

[toothybugs]

Little tanks are made with really thin glass, that could have been your issue. If I were keeping a small tank (15 or less) on a sturdy chest of drawers with concerns about anything, I would keep it on a sheet of 1/2" plywood slightly larger than the tank footprint. Maybe an extra half inch or inch in all directions (as in 24 inch tank gets 25-26 inch support). But I'm putting money on it that your tank was faulty or else damaged from transport somehow. Either or.