Pics of removed center brace please?

miatawnt2b · #1 09/28/2006, 09:21 AM

I am weighing my options of how to go about repairing an aquarium with a cracked center brace. I would appreciate if som of you folks could post some pics of aquariums with removed center braces and the different methods of how the replacement is attached.

Thanks,
-J

Ratkiller · #2 09/28/2006, 11:07 AM

I broke the center brace on my 30. The tank bow out an inch and a half on each side. I freaked out. Ran to HomeDepot brouht 2 huge adjustable rummer clamps, clamped the tank so the walls were back to normal. Then I bought 1/4inch peice of glass cut and trimed it to fit then put in to place with silicone. Actually that was the hard part holding the brace in place until the silcone set up. Used 2 more smaller clamps and peice 2 peices of 1x1 plywood for each side. I lower the water level so nothing was in the water and all service were clean and dry. They I silcone the tank, place the brace, silconed that, then used the wood and the small clamps to hold the brace in place. The silcone said it would set in 24 hours so I took the clamps off, BAM it broke again, so I had to repeat the hole process, so wait 2-4 days befor taking off the clamps. Little long winded but that what I did. I was reading your post again, your are talking about glass aren't you?

miatawnt2b · #3 09/28/2006, 11:11 AM

sorry, yes it is glass.
-J

adnup · #4 09/28/2006, 01:52 PM

I tried to fix the center brace and was not happy with the results so I called All Glass and for $17 they shipped me a replacement top trim. It was easy to replace and made me feel better that it was fixed right.

I talk about it in my thread here

If its an All-Glass tank theres the link

miatawnt2b · #5 09/29/2006, 09:02 AM

I know there have to be a few of you with interesting options either for eurobracing or rebuilding the current bracing.
-J

caseyjones · #6 09/29/2006, 12:09 PM

Ratkiller, how long after you removed the brace did it start to bow? I had an old style 50 breeder with no brace and when I moved to a new place i decided to just buy a new tank so I could have it up and running when I moved. The new tank was exactly the same except they put a center brace on, which i removed. This was 7 months ago. I've been meaning to replace it with acrylic but just haven't gotten around to it yet. So far no bowing...knock on wood.

Ratkiller · #7 09/29/2006, 01:07 PM

Right away!!!! It was scary as hell... I din't know glass would bow that much.

I'm no expert on tank integerity but if it comes with a brace, stick with a brace. But one thing I forgot to mention was that I did not place it back in the middle, I moved it closer to the right side of the tank about 3 inches to make room for a new hang on filter, it held just fine and with out any bowing.

Ratkiller · #8 09/29/2006, 01:14 PM

One cool thing I noticed when doing research for a sump, is that instead of haveing a brace going across the top, front to back. I've seen acrylics with a 2-3 inche border going around the top. Looks pretty slick. But the tank it self wasn't very wide only about 13 inches.