brace in center of tank

[Ramirezi]

Now that my tank stand and hood with the new lights are 3 days away from being done my sister calls me and says that she broke the brace in the center of the tank (the plactic part on top). Her tank instantly bowed out a quite a bit and had to put a clamp on it and 2 x 4s to save the tank.

My problem is the tank that I got use does not have this brace either. you can see where it was though so it was there at one time. Do you think that it will make a differance.

The tank is a 60 gallon tall, the glass is a full 3/8" thick. Some how I can't see that bending a blowing out the front like hers was going to do.

Thanks for help on this

 

[hyunelan2]

If you can see that it once was there, it needs to be there. If you bought the tank previously used, maybe it was for reptiles (no pressure from water on glass).

I would get a piece of metal (like a part of a shelf-bracket or something) from the hardware store and pound each end down on a 90-degree bend that you could put in place on the top-center of the aquarium to act as a brace.

Especially with the tank being a 'tall' shape, there is a lot of pressure on that glass.

 

[Pure]

I have a used 55 that has the same problem. I went and got a flat piece of aluminum (won't rust) cut it to fit where the old brace was. Wile the tank was empty I put it in place and use a marine grade epoxy to hold it all together. Been holding strong for a little over a yr now.

The only problem with doing it the way hyunelan suggested is, wile yes that will work and is actually pretty creative. You won't find many hoods or glass tops that will fit because of it.

 

[fishtrap]

Is there any trace of silicon where the missing brace was? If so, it was probably made of glass. You could replace it with a piece of 1/2 glass and silicon it into place. That way it will not impact your lighting as much as metal.

 

[hyunelan2]

You could bend the brace in a fashion like the attached image shows - that way the glass can still lay smooth across the top. I just don't trust epoxy/silicone for a structural application. Everytime I heard a creak in the middle of the night, I would be worried it was brace on the fish tank giving up.

 

[fishtrap]

hyunelan2's idea is a workable solution and makes sense from an engineering standpoint.

However Mr. Silicon has and contnues to faithfully hold together millions of glass fishtanks -long and tall -for years and years and years.

 

[hyunelan2]

^^^ Right, silicone has held in a different type of joint than this though, and the tanks (except for some DIY) are also framed at the top and bottom of the tank. Silicone basically holds the seems together, while the frame holds the tank together..

 

[fishtrap]

The frame does hold the top and bottom together as you say. I have in my possesion two glass tanks; a 45 long and a 37 tall, both have placsic top and bottom frames as well as glass cross braces that are siliconed in place. These are commercialy built tanks. I was examining an 80g at Petsmart the other day and it too was made using the same method.

 

[fishtrap]

BTW Ramirezi, sorry, I/we didn't mean to hijack your thread.

 

[hyunelan2]

I see... most of the commercial tanks I've seen lately (and the 2 cross-braced tanks I've had) have plastic cross-braces that are part of the the top-framing (a one-piece design).


I also appologize for the Hijack...

now give me all your treasure arrrrggg.

 

[Pure]

I like your idea of bending the metal like that. That may be a bit dificult for the average Joe to get perfect bends like that with out a stomp bender tho.

I too would doubt the holding ability of silicon. Yeah it's good stuff, but what you need to remember is on the joint in the corner of your tank the pressure is spread out the length of the joint. I'm afraid the 2 inch joint for gluing a brace in place would be too much over time.

Enough epoxy is almost as good as welding.

 

[fishtrap]

Enough epoxy is almost as good as welding.

Providing that the materials to be joined have sufficient tooth. Epoxy does not stick well to smooth surfaces.

 

[Ramirezi]

thanks for the brain storming session. yes you see where the brace was it looks like it was cut off the plastic frame. I like the Idea of the metal brace bent into place. I do have a pop rivit gun I can epoxy and rivit it just to be sure.

 

[Ramirezi]

now that I got home I am checking out the tank....What if I swicthed the bottom plastic frame "with bar" with the top one that is missing the bar now it is factory fixed. The bottom of the tank IMO does not need the center brace it has the whole bottom glass as a brace.
What do you think of that idea??

 

[Pure]

Providing that the materials to be joined have sufficient tooth. Epoxy does not stick well to smooth surfaces.

Correct..This is were sand paper comes into play..Sorry forgot to mention that part.

 

[Pure]

The bottom bar is to help support the weight of the water, gravel, ect on the bottom of the glass. Removing it would not be a good idea.

 

[Ramirezi]

Well I ended up makeing the center bracket with plexiglass. I could not get the bottom frame off it was well glued to the tank.
Here is a photo of it:

I just heated up the plastic and pressed it into shape and glued it with gorrila glue.

 

[FroggyFox]

appears to be a solid fix...let us know how it works!

This wouldn't help for someone like you who's brace was completely missing, but maybe for your sister who just said the brace is broken... I just got a 55 free from a coworker a few weeks ago and the center plastic brace was broken. My dad is the foreman in a sheetmetal shop so I asked him to take a look at it and we had a few ideas of how to replace or reinforce the support so what we finally ended up doing was creating a piece to slip over the existing brace and pop riveting it to the existing brace. That way the two half covers fit over the top of it (as originally intended with the plastic molding) and its back together supporting the tank.

 

[Ramirezi]

Mine was missing this is my solution to put one back one the tank. You can't see from this photo but the plastic wraps around the top and is glued on the sides also. The glue is as hard as a rock and I am confident this will work. (because I have water in it now)