Aquarium Top Bracing

[Bearkat1234]

I have a 56g 30" long tank.

I cut off the top center brace leaving about 2" inches of the brace on the front and back side of tank and bolted a piece of acrylic same thickness and width as part of the brace i removed with stainless bolts because is was blocking light from my new Kissel A150W LED.

thick this should be ok? It lets my light pass without shadows.

thanks

 

[sleepydoc]

Maybe. If you did it when the tank was full what you probably did was take all the force that the brace was holding and release it, letting the walls bow out and hold the force themselves. Assuming you then drilled the holes and bolted the acrylic piece in place, it will prevent further bowing, but do nothing for what'd happened when you initially took the brace out.

Other questions are how much tolerance is there in the screw holes (I.e. How much can the walls flex outward before the acrylic bar actually starts pulling back) and whether the remaining piece of the plastic brace will start to crack when force is put on the holes