Broken Center brace suggestions for school tank

[dbartco]

Post up pics/suggestions of your center brace fixes. Plastic on mine broken on one side. Looking for ideas to fix a school tank. I have pulled the tank out of Cedar Lane Elementary in Ashburn and am putting the tank in Purcellville at Emerick this year. Need to do maintenance while it is dry.

 

Tank is a 65 gallon, 30 inch long tank

[Kevin Garrison]

Cut the brace out, use clear acryllic to replace.  I have Dave's (Mogurnda) old 65g and that is how he fixed his when it broke.  I will take a picture tonight when I get home.

[L8 2 RISE]

If its dry you can just buy a new plastic frame and replace the whole frame

[Enkay]

Measure the dimensions, order a new frame from http://www.aquariumframeswholesale.com/ . Remove the old frame carefully. Put the new frame on with silicone.

 

You are done. I did it for my 65 which had the middle brace broken.

[dbartco]

Measure the dimensions, order a new frame from http://www.aquariumframeswholesale.com/ . Remove the old frame carefully. Put the new frame on with silicone.

 

You are done. I did it for my 65 which had the middle brace broken.

 

Did you not get a center brace on the replacement, or did you do the custom. I dont see a 30 x 12 with the center frame. I hate to spend $40 for the custom...

[Coral Hind]

Here is an example of what Kevin G was talking about. I have done this and it worked fine for me. I didn't do it for a broken brace but to remove the brace because I didn't like the shadow it caused with my light fixture. I got the nylon bolts and nuts from Lowes.

 

[Coral Hind]

If this is for a fish only system I have a 75g you can have. It was my QT tank so it had copper used in it.

[davelin315]

Here is an example of what Kevin G was talking about. I have done this and it worked fine for me. I didn't do it for a broken brace but to remove the brace because I didn't like the shadow it caused with my light fixture. I got the nylon bolts and nuts from Lowes.

 

Did the same myself. I think you may have even had that tank for school at one point in time...

[dbartco]

I did the same for my 65, for the shadow. But the crack is right along the edge, so there is little to glue to.

[Coral Hind]

My last tank was an Oceanic 210 which had a huge glass center brace that I removed. I built a wood top frame out of flat stock 1"x3" screwed on the ends and ran an all thread through the center to help squeeze the center together. The all thread was painted with a white epoxy paint. I will have to see if I can find any pictures detailing that.

[Enkay]

Did you not get a center brace on the replacement, or did you do the custom. I dont see a 30 x 12 with the center frame. I hate to spend $40 for the custom...

I got it as a replacement. Not custom. I have a 65 high which is a standard size. 36 x 18 footprint.

[sachabballi reef]

My last tank was an Oceanic 210 which had a huge glass center brace that I removed. I built a wood top frame out of flat stock 1"x3" screwed on the ends and ran an all thread through the center to help squeeze the center together. The all thread was painted with a white epoxy paint. I will have to see if I can find any pictures detailing that.

That sounds incredible. Hope you can find some pics. So creative!

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[dbartco]

My last tank was an Oceanic 210 which had a huge glass center brace that I removed. I built a wood top frame out of flat stock 1"x3" screwed on the ends and ran an all thread through the center to help squeeze the center together. The all thread was painted with a white epoxy paint. I will have to see if I can find any pictures detailing that.

 

remembered that, kind of why I asked the question

 

thinking of cutting a t-shaped piece of acrylic, maybe that would be able to grab enough of the old frame.

[Kevin Garrison]

Okay, question for the plastic gurus, will weldon(16) adhere acrylic to plastic?  If so that would also solve the problem

[AlanM]

I was told on RC that it would not work to adhere ABS to acrylic (which I think is PMMA). 

 

I used Loctite epoxy plastic bonder for some pieces I did in my overflow and it seems to hold really hard.  I tried to remove it and wasn't able to.  I think it's just epoxy with a few solvents in it that do some plastic dissolving.  I couldn't find info that said it was reef-safe, but it didn't have any metals in it so it doesn't seem like it is a big deal.

[Coral Hind]

dbartco - Can you post up a pic of what the damaged area looks like? What is the front to back measurement of the tank?

[matt]

Is there enough of the edge left to use the acrylic strip replacement and then zip-tie it with small holes drilled in the remaining trim edge?

[Coral Hind]

Good idea but I would use maybe stainless wire or something stronger than zip-ties. They tend to get brittle with age and that happens even faster when exposed to strong lighting with UV in it.

[dbartco]

going custom. Like $40, but that is $30 in piece of mind....  I will put it in the grant app..

[dbartco]

here was the offending culprit.

 

[dbartco]

As you can see, I already did the "fix" for the shadow (i forgot....)

[Coral Hind]

I agree, $30 for a custom brace with peace of mind is worth it.

[Enkay]

That thing definitely needs replacing. Dont risk it. Good decision.

 

Unless you could build a custom one with acrylic strips. Ohaverd had posted that he has excess left over from his project. You could buy some and create a custom frame. Just a thought.

Edited August 16, 2013 by Enkay