Display tank mid brace broke. Starting over…

[NASAGeek]

It has been an interesting month. The mid brace on my four foot tank broke. I threw everything into an emergency 30 gallon while I figured out what to do. Saved a bunch of the live rock and used it to start over. Test frags are all in thanks to friends and various online shops. Tons of bacteria from bio bricks also helped avoid a complete crisis. Fingers crossed. Here we go again….

 

[lapin]

Good luck

 

[smitten with ocean life]

looks great!

 

[PhilT]

is this glass or acrylic tank? Brace just cracked in middle or near front/back?

 

[NanoSteam]

There must have been some significant bowing?

 

[UncommonSense]

Center braces are technically replaceable; older glass tanks actually employed glass center braces!

 

[NASAGeek]

is this glass or acrylic tank? Brace just cracked in middle or near front/back?

The previous tank was a standard 55. The plastic brace in the middle gave out. Glass was bowing. This new one is a 53 gallon starfire crystal cube. Love it!

 

[NASAGeek]

There must have been some significant bowing?

Yes. I didn’t know glass could do that. Thought it might break any moment.

 

[NASAGeek]

Center braces are technically replaceable; older glass tanks actually employed glass center braces!

I gotcha. Good excuse to upgrade. It was either going to be another 90 - better quality, and I don’t want a sump to deal with. Maybe one day. I prefer to keep things super simple like “Danny’s Aquariums” on YouTube. That being said, I am using a canister filter filled with previously cooked ceramic media. All sponges removed. I do run polyfilter pad at the very top of the oase. I own a couple skimmers, but I generally don’t use them. Handles n03/po4 via very small water changes. Using kalk for alc/cal/ph with a touch of all-for-reef / mag dosing manually. I’m hands on, but like keeping it simple. Work is stressful. Like my tanks to be “hands on” but very simple, with no thinking. Just salifert test kits and tinkering. I keep saying I’m going to build a “real” system one day, but I’m still in denial that the current house is my forever house.

 

[NASAGeek]

For reference, here’s the tank next to it.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!