SkiFletch
New member
With all my livestock living in a trough in the basement (God bless farmers...) I'm taking these next couple weeks to re-hab a bunch of my hardware. I've cleaned/drained/scrubbed/etc the the display and in so doing found quite the troublesome problem with it. My tank is an older 65g. The previous owner had removed the black plastic center brace and replaced it with a glass brace, 4" wide and 1/2" thick. That brace is now no longer secured and the tank is of course at risk of over-bowing and breaking were it filled with water (currently dry).
And so I'm left with a decision to make on how to offer more bracing. The way I see it, there are 4 ways to do this. First, the "simplest" method would be to fully remove the glass brace, clean up all the silicone, clean the joints, and re-glue it. This option offers the easy, I have all the parts solution, but it does come with drawbacks. Most namely it restricts my access to the overflow box significantly, and any form of center brace makes getting things in/out of the tank a pain, and also makes cleaning/working in it a pain.
2nd option would be to make my own "thin" brace by welding some stainless rod to some stainless angle. My hood overhangs and would hide the stainless, and that would certainly never break. It would allow me relative unfettered access to the overflow box, but would still be in the way for cleaning the tank and/or working in it. I have all the tools/experience to do this, and in some ways it's almost "easier" than option 1. Cut 3 pieces of steel, gob up a weld, done.
3rd option is to go with a glass "euro" style brace system. Where say a 2" wide rim of glass is added to the entire inside edge of the aquarium. This offers the torsional strength so it doesn't bow. This option would by far be the slickest/cleanest, but I'd have to get someone to make/cut the glass custom. That might get expensive fast... I really have no experience how much custom glass like that costs? Assembly is easy/straightforward, and the benefit is unfettered access to the overflow, AND no center brace.
Final option is another "slick" one that I'm not sure if it would even work... Replace the old black plastic brace with welded stainless steel angle, or perhaps even u-channel. If I stick to just about the same thickness material, my hood would still fit and I'd have serious torsional strength. It would basically be a eurobrace of stianless steel, but of course thinner and even less obtrusive. Would cost me about $50 in parts, and welding it would be tricky for sure, but man it would look cool.
So anybody that made it this far, do you have any other ideas? Maybe I'm missing something? Perhaps on some corner of the web someone sells something pre-made for this? If none of those, which one of my ideas would you do, assuming you had the skills to do any?
And so I'm left with a decision to make on how to offer more bracing. The way I see it, there are 4 ways to do this. First, the "simplest" method would be to fully remove the glass brace, clean up all the silicone, clean the joints, and re-glue it. This option offers the easy, I have all the parts solution, but it does come with drawbacks. Most namely it restricts my access to the overflow box significantly, and any form of center brace makes getting things in/out of the tank a pain, and also makes cleaning/working in it a pain.
2nd option would be to make my own "thin" brace by welding some stainless rod to some stainless angle. My hood overhangs and would hide the stainless, and that would certainly never break. It would allow me relative unfettered access to the overflow box, but would still be in the way for cleaning the tank and/or working in it. I have all the tools/experience to do this, and in some ways it's almost "easier" than option 1. Cut 3 pieces of steel, gob up a weld, done.
3rd option is to go with a glass "euro" style brace system. Where say a 2" wide rim of glass is added to the entire inside edge of the aquarium. This offers the torsional strength so it doesn't bow. This option would by far be the slickest/cleanest, but I'd have to get someone to make/cut the glass custom. That might get expensive fast... I really have no experience how much custom glass like that costs? Assembly is easy/straightforward, and the benefit is unfettered access to the overflow, AND no center brace.
Final option is another "slick" one that I'm not sure if it would even work... Replace the old black plastic brace with welded stainless steel angle, or perhaps even u-channel. If I stick to just about the same thickness material, my hood would still fit and I'd have serious torsional strength. It would basically be a eurobrace of stianless steel, but of course thinner and even less obtrusive. Would cost me about $50 in parts, and welding it would be tricky for sure, but man it would look cool.
So anybody that made it this far, do you have any other ideas? Maybe I'm missing something? Perhaps on some corner of the web someone sells something pre-made for this? If none of those, which one of my ideas would you do, assuming you had the skills to do any?
