I've always been annoyed by the shadows the braces on my tank cast. I have 4 ai sol lights and a standard 180 tank has 2 braces leaving 3 2x2 square areas to reach into the tank so the way the lights were mounted did not help. I finally got around to replacing the braces with clear.
The 1st step was making the new braces. I used 1/4 clear acrylic it cost my 12 bucks for a sheet that was 24x24 inches.
I cut 4 three inch strips and glued 2 together giving me 2 half inch braces then cut them to length.
Next I braced the tank using a bar clamp about 6 inches away from the current brace I was working on. I put a container under the brace in the water and cut the old brace leaving an 1 3/4 inch tab. Next I fit the new brace in and drilled through the new brace and existing tab. Then I used nylon screws and tightened them down. I removed the bar clamp and repeated on the other side. I guess it's worth mentioning my tank is built into the wall so I was really only worried about stress on the back panel of glass as I have a 2x4 running the top length of the tank along the front with the structural edge to the tank
The finished product
The next step was to make clear frames for the plastic netting over the tank for this I cut 3/4 inch wide strips of the same acrylic and mounted them so they were 3/4 inches tall to prevent warping. Next I glued the netting to the bottom. And now I have no more brace shadows.
The 1st step was making the new braces. I used 1/4 clear acrylic it cost my 12 bucks for a sheet that was 24x24 inches.
I cut 4 three inch strips and glued 2 together giving me 2 half inch braces then cut them to length.
Next I braced the tank using a bar clamp about 6 inches away from the current brace I was working on. I put a container under the brace in the water and cut the old brace leaving an 1 3/4 inch tab. Next I fit the new brace in and drilled through the new brace and existing tab. Then I used nylon screws and tightened them down. I removed the bar clamp and repeated on the other side. I guess it's worth mentioning my tank is built into the wall so I was really only worried about stress on the back panel of glass as I have a 2x4 running the top length of the tank along the front with the structural edge to the tank
The finished product
The next step was to make clear frames for the plastic netting over the tank for this I cut 3/4 inch wide strips of the same acrylic and mounted them so they were 3/4 inches tall to prevent warping. Next I glued the netting to the bottom. And now I have no more brace shadows.