Reinforcing seams with triangle/square rods - Extruded rods an option?

CatsnClownfish

New member
Thanks for all your help in my prior thread.

I'm finally able to return to building my ~50g tank, and I just bonded the eurobrace top to the four assembled sides. My last steps are to bond the overflow chamber, bond the bottom to the top, and add Weld-on 16 touch-up where needed (after adding rods maybe? see below). My tank dimensions are 46" x 17" x 17" (I'll fill up to only 15" or so). My tank's walls are all 0.5" cell cast acrylic with routed edges. I bonded with Weld-on 4 using the pin method and camper foam on MDF boards. This is my first time using these methods: I used to just do straight capillary method with shims.

I didn't accomplish perfect seams. I have a few bubbles here and there, mostly small but not all as small as I'd like. So I was reading about adding triangle or square rods along the seams for added structural support. I was going to put them along all four seams on the bottom and possibly two vertical seams at the back of the tank. Maybe even all four at the top, too. This tank will go in my office, so I need to over-engineer it"”I don't want to be fired for a leaky tank!

Five questions:

1) I seem to be able to find only extruded rods, not cell cast. Is it okay/wise to use extruded rods for this?

2) How much will adding these help the tank not leak?

3) Does it matter if I use triangular rods instead of square rods? Square seems better to me because of the added strength from contact at the rods in the corners to each other.

4) What should I use to bond the rods down? Weld-on 4 and a pin method? Weld-on 16? Weld-on 40 (which I don't own yet)? Something else?

5) Would it be a good idea to put Weld-on 16 on the seam first I was about to put a rod on, and then quickly put the rod down too so that I had that Weld-on 16 seal across the inner seam? If I do this, I'm guessing I can't use Weld-on 4 for bonding then, but maybe not"”for some reason, I was thinking you couldn't let Weld-on 4 interact with Weld-on 16 (or vice versa) when either one or both was still wet.

Thanks all. I'll post picks when I'm done. I've been taking them along the way. I couldn't have done this without the great help on this site and others.
 
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