Broken Center Brace

[sbhaines85]

Last night I accidentally broke the center brace on my 125 gallon aquarium. The brace was made of glass. Any chance I am able to fix this? The glass piece seems to be simply siliconed in place, below the plastic trim and sitting on top of the glass wall. I can wiggle the broken piece back and forth. Is this something I can fix or should I just cut my losses? Thanks in advance for sharing your opinion.

 

[mcarroll]

I'd almost rather it be the plastic type of trim...

If you have the missing piece, then you could silicone it back into place. This is possible because the fresh breaks would at least be clean glass, which adheres great to silicone.

If you try to remove the broken plate to replace it with a new one, you have to remove 100% of the silicone they used during assembly. If there's so much as a residue, the new silicone you use for the new brace will have its holding power compromised. NOT GOOD, and it's very hard for you to know for sure one way or another.

If you get lucky and the silicone comes off as one, solid chunk, that's about the only good outcome. If there's scraping and chemicals involved, I would not have any confidence.

Maybe look into whether there is a plastic top-frame that will fit this tank! :)