daviesp007
New member
Hi all,
I have a 90 gallon tank that I bought 2nd hand. When I bought it, the previous owner had broken the center brace, and repaired it with thick, black cable ties. While it did the job, it was unsightly, and made the shadow cast from the brace even wider than the original annoying black plastic brace.
Fast forward 12 months, and after a 2nd outbreak of velvet (yes I do quarantine, and after the first outbreak, I left the tank fallow for a couple of months... but it reemerged), I decided a complete tear down, bleach the rocks and sand and start from scratch.
As the tank was empty, I decided it was time to fix the center brace. I wanted to replace the black plastic with something transparent, and I saw a picture online somewhere that looked like what I needed. I can't recall where I saw it, but attached are some pictures of my repair, so you can copy it should you want to.
It took me a while to track down the materials I needed for this repair. The material used for the brace, is 1/4" thick Lexan (a polycarbonate). I found the big box stores were useless for this, as they either wanted to sell a whole sheet of the stuff (at exorbitant cost), or only had fragile plexiglass. Plexiglass splits easily, and is difficult to drill. I sourced my Lexan from a local glass company, they just asked for the size I needed (2.25" x 17"), and cut it for me. The cost was $9.99, so not expensive. It pays to shop around your glass companies, as the same thing from another company was $16. It still doesn't break the bank, but that's $6 towards another fish! Remember, when deciding the length needed, it has to fit inside the tank.
I wanted to use nylon bolts, as I didn't want metal ones corroding, and releasing nasty stuff into my tank. I had trouble tracking these down, but eventually found them in Lowes. They are by a company called 'Hillman', and are 1/4-20 x 1-1/2 screws (written on the pack), 1/4-20 hexagonal nuts, and 1/4" nylon washers.
Before screwing this all together, I put some Super Glue to bind the remaining brace ends, to the Lexan.
I think the results are pretty neat, and no more shadow cast by that black plastic brace. I hope this helps!
Paul
I have a 90 gallon tank that I bought 2nd hand. When I bought it, the previous owner had broken the center brace, and repaired it with thick, black cable ties. While it did the job, it was unsightly, and made the shadow cast from the brace even wider than the original annoying black plastic brace.
Fast forward 12 months, and after a 2nd outbreak of velvet (yes I do quarantine, and after the first outbreak, I left the tank fallow for a couple of months... but it reemerged), I decided a complete tear down, bleach the rocks and sand and start from scratch.
As the tank was empty, I decided it was time to fix the center brace. I wanted to replace the black plastic with something transparent, and I saw a picture online somewhere that looked like what I needed. I can't recall where I saw it, but attached are some pictures of my repair, so you can copy it should you want to.
It took me a while to track down the materials I needed for this repair. The material used for the brace, is 1/4" thick Lexan (a polycarbonate). I found the big box stores were useless for this, as they either wanted to sell a whole sheet of the stuff (at exorbitant cost), or only had fragile plexiglass. Plexiglass splits easily, and is difficult to drill. I sourced my Lexan from a local glass company, they just asked for the size I needed (2.25" x 17"), and cut it for me. The cost was $9.99, so not expensive. It pays to shop around your glass companies, as the same thing from another company was $16. It still doesn't break the bank, but that's $6 towards another fish! Remember, when deciding the length needed, it has to fit inside the tank.
I wanted to use nylon bolts, as I didn't want metal ones corroding, and releasing nasty stuff into my tank. I had trouble tracking these down, but eventually found them in Lowes. They are by a company called 'Hillman', and are 1/4-20 x 1-1/2 screws (written on the pack), 1/4-20 hexagonal nuts, and 1/4" nylon washers.
Before screwing this all together, I put some Super Glue to bind the remaining brace ends, to the Lexan.
I think the results are pretty neat, and no more shadow cast by that black plastic brace. I hope this helps!
Paul
