Rimless or eurobracing?

[NVTE]

You cant go wrong with a rimless tank.

Then you can't even go wrong with Eurobraced.

 

[reef_doug]

guys, I would like to thank you for your input. I have decided to go with my first mind and stick with the eurocracing. I cant fathom mopping 150 gallons of water off the floor. Safety first I always say.

Good call Christian :beer:

I would only consider this size in rimless if it was 1" acrylic and even then a bit nervous. Acrylic bonded seams are much stronger than silicone with glass, adding Vortecs or Tunzes and then you really get concerned.

 

[Reefolution]

Acrylic can easily bow with out bracing. But yes the seams are stronger. If you have any wave action in your tank I would use Euro bracing because the force of the wave can wear down the silicone. That 2" of brace provides a lot of insurance. Keep the water in the reef, not in the rug!

 

[Enjoy]

Im setting up a 48x30x20 Rimless Starphire with 1/2" glass. You guys are scaring me!!

I contacted CadLights because I was so nervous about it being rimless with these dimensions. They said that there is no problem at all... With that being said, is the tank builder held responsible if the tank does crack, or seam splits?

Who usually covers the damages that occur? Builder, or Owner? And im not talking 3+ years down the road. I mean if the tank splits in the first year or less.

 

[coral_killer37]

I'm sitting here in colton ca and I just felt an earthquake. I do believe we must keep in mind we are in L.A. And we have to take precautions when ordering our dream tank. That being said I think glass looks better than acrylic. All the info regarding glass has been noted.

 

[MrSandman]

I have the same size tank. I have the inset eurobrace on mine. Looks pretty clean.

What's an inset eurobrace? Got pics?

I currently have a Leemar rimless (3x2x2) that's been up and running for over 2 years now. My previous tank was a 5x2x2 eurobraced tank that ran for about 4 years. Aside from the rimless looking cleaner (IMO), any time you put your hands in a rimless tank its much more comfortable as you don't have to reach over any brace to get to the bottom. This is especially the case if you plan to have the tank sitting on a relatively tall stand. Cleaning the glass, reaching for a frag on the sand, putting frags on a frag rack, adjusting a vortech, fragging a colony, etc. Having no brace makes doing all of this much easier. I also found that the eurobracing would get dirty and build up saltcreep, or lime/scale on the inside quite often and cleaning it was a pain. With eurobracing, if you plan to run halides you'll be more likely to burn your arms on the lights anytime you put your hands into the tank since you'll have to be reaching over the brace to do it.

The only real downside to the rimless is that structurally it is a weaker tank. Perhaps a hybrid tank would be good for something longer than 36". Most of the Eurobraces i've seen have been like 4" wide. I wonder if the builder would be willing to do a 2" eurobrace to get the best of both worlds. If they use thicker glass on the 2" eurobrace then it could, in theory, provide just as much support as a thinner 4" eurobrace. I've been considering an upgrade to a larger tank and was thinking of going the hybrid route myself. Just a thought.

 

[29reef]

No good photos to share atm sorry, the tank was made by leemar. Basically the eurobrace is set down about 3/8" from the top of the glass. I like it because it reduces the salt creep that I experienced with a normal eurobrace. I like to have a ton of flow and I just see salt creep everywhere in a rimless and normal eurobrace I had a little creep that would form on the top and eventually leak down if I didn't clean it every week or so.