Tank brace removal and creating a new one

BigJohnWoody · Nov 10, 2011

I have an AGA 120 RR. It has a thick black center brace and it's infringing on my lighting. Unfortunately I'm sure it's there for a strict reason and offers a purpose in structural stability. My question would be, can I remove it and put a different brace in it's place? I was thinking of making a cross brace out of acrylic. It would span across the tank and then have an L on each side that would slip over the edge of the tank to hold it together. It would not be the prettiest thing, but would allow me to light the center of my tank a lot better. Any concerns with doing this? Or how about some other ideas that would maybe look cleaner than my current idea? Thanks

ToXIc · Nov 10, 2011

is the tank dry or wet..

Murfman · Nov 10, 2011

I did the same thing but it is on my 125 sump. My plastic center brace was melted by a MH and I used 1" thick mahogany wood to make a bracket to keep the tank faces from bowing I did also silicon some 1/4" glass to it, giving it more support.

harlequinreefer · Nov 10, 2011

I've seen it done on aga tanks with acrylic and plastic screws holding it to the tank frame. Should be fine, aga overbuilds there frames. I've even seen a 90g aga tank with the black brace just cut out with no problems over a long period.

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BigJohnWoody · Nov 10, 2011

ToXIc said:
is the tank dry or wet..

Tank is wet. Been setup for almost a year

Murfman said:
I did the same thing but it is on my 125 sump. My plastic center brace was melted by a MH and I used 1" thick mahogany wood to make a bracket to keep the tank faces from bowing I did also silicon some 1/4" glass to it, giving it more support.

Thank you for your input

harlequinreefer said:
I've seen it done on aga tanks with acrylic and plastic screws holding it to the tank frame. Should be fine, aga overbuilds there frames. I've even seen a 90g aga tank with the black brace just cut out with no problems over a long period.

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Maybe cutting most of it out and actually attaching the acrylic to the existing frame with screws would make it look a lot cleaner. Although I suppose I would need to use plastic screws as I don't really want metal ones over my tank rusting.