Center brace?

skinz78 · May 24, 2011

Recently my 12g frag tank has just not been working out for me, LOL it is too small! I still have my first ever tank that I used for a reef but the problem is that the center brace has came unglued and fell out. In all the years that it has been sitting in storage I have lost the center brace. The tank is a 4' long 45 gallon glass tank and I am wondering if it would be possible to add a new center brace out of acrylic? I was thinking a 4" wide strip of 1/4" glued in and attached to the plastic rim. Can I just use super glue or 2 part PVC glue, or is there a certain type of adhesive that I need to get?

skinz78 · May 24, 2011

I actually just found the old center brace, it was only siliconed in, in this case would it be OK to use some super glue gel to glue it back in?

Troylee · May 24, 2011

A piece of aircraft cable in the center with nylon bolts would be the hot ticket IMHO.....;)

skinz78 · May 24, 2011

Ya lost me there? I found the brace just need to glue it back in.

PR_Reefers · May 24, 2011

Glue will not be reliable once tank is filled... Imo if glued it will eventually always break again. Hence I would go with lee's advice.

That being said i kept a 55 g tank of cichlids for almost 2 years with a broken center brace! I You could notice that the glass would curve leaving about 1/4" or more were the brace was supposed to meet the sides.I would not recommend it!! Thankfully nothing ever happened.

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hybridazn · May 24, 2011

Get a piece of glass cut to fit inside the tank and silicone it in place. Works like a charm

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Reef UP · May 25, 2011

Troylee said:
A piece of aircraft cable in the center with nylon bolts would be the hot ticket IMHO.....;)

I think what he's talking about is drilling and tapping the tank and using airplane cable around the bolts there is a way you'd splice it back together and pull it tight easy fix google airplane cable for aquarium center brace !