Habitat - Indoor :: 75 Gallon and Center Brace Questions

[tbirdie]

Hi All,

I am working on a new tank setup. It is in a 75 gallon with an ATBA. The tank that I bought was used (found it on craigslist) and had what I think is a makeshift center brace. The plastic trim has absolutely no indication of ever having a center brace, but there was a 10" wide, 3/4" thick piece of glass siliconed into the top with a little rubber lip running down the middle. The glass in the actual aquarium seems to be 3/8" thick as well. The lip does seem complimentary to the color of the plastic trim, which has a wood grain look to it. Overall, it just isn't like anything I've seen before and I think it was added afterwards, but what do I know? Here is a really bad picture of the removed brace:



Anyways, we thought we could work the ramp around it, but we just finished up the structure for the ATBA and the brace is so big that it's effecting the ramp clearance despite our efforts. We removed the glass today with much effort, and I'm planning on replacing it with an acrylic brace that is 4" wide, 1/4" thick. (I wanted to just cut the current brace, but I haven't found anywhere that will do it without charging too much money.) I just wondered if anyone has seen a tank that comes like I have described above, and if the replacement center brace will suffice. I haven't been able to find anything to calculate the size of brace that might be needed. My dad is a structural engineer and feels that 2" would suffice, but is appeasing me by doubling the size lol. He seems unconcerned about the size and I'm always inclined to trust him... he's a very smart man.

Has anyone run into a similar situation or have any thoughts?

[steve]

How does the tank look without the brace?

[tbirdie]

What do you mean? It doesn't have any indication that it's "missing" a center brace, or anything. It's empty right now, I haven't filled it with water yet. I just removed the brace and re-sealed the area, to be safe. I think I'll definitely add a brace back in, I just wondered if this looked like it came with it... or if the 2" or 4" acrylic brace would suffice. The 1/4" inch stuff is OPTIX brand, says it's 10X stronger than glass.

[steve]

I misread your topic.

Most would have a center brace, though I think there are a few without it. What does the rim on the bottom of the tank look like? Does it have a center brace? If it doesn't have one then there probably wasn't one for the top. (I haven't had many aquariums, but I think the top and bottom braces are usually the same.) The previous owner might have added it to use a hood or accessories that required it. Couldn't hurt to contact the seller to ask about it.

[tbirdie]

Np

Just checked, no center brace on the bottom either. I actually did ask the seller about it before the purchase. He said the tank was given to him by a friend, who had put it together for his mother, and she had passed away. He wasn't sure if his friend had added it or not, but told me he figured we could remove it. That's all I know!

[VeipaCray]

Older tanks were made of thicker glass for its rigidity. There was no center brace on the old heavy tanks. To keep costs down and profits up, the manufacturers switched to a tempered glass bottom and thinner plate glass walls. To mitigate the flex of the thinner glass walls under the weight of water pushing out, center braces on the rims were included to brace the longer lengths of glass. The exception is reef ready pre-drilled tanks where tempered glass cannot be used. The drilled bottoms on reef ready tanks are very thick.

[tbirdie]

I've never had a tank this big, so I have no idea what a typical weight is... but this thing weighs atleast 50 pounds when empty. The glass is 3/8" thick on the walls. I really don't know about the bottom. I do know that the tank was previously used for salt water and is going to require a few rinsings (hopefully this will suffice?). It's not really dirty and doesn't have an odor, so they cleaned it up pretty nicely. I don't know if that's thicker than tanks now-a-days or not. Sounds like you're saying the center brace isn't a must, but... it might help to go ahead and have it though... right?

[VeipaCray]

Hrmm.... All Glass made a standard and an economy 75 gallon tank. The standard was 3/8" and the economy was 1/4". Both of which had a brace. Perfecto also made a 3/8" with a brace. O'Dell made a 1/2" without a brace, but Perfecto bought O'Dell in the early 90's I believe.

If you want to glue in a center brace... it certainly wouldn't hurt.

If there's salt residue on the glass - rinsing with water should remove it.
If it's mineral deposits (hard water stains) white vinegar soaked paper towels will remove it. NEVER scrape it. Scraping at mineral deposits just scratch and etch the glass.
If it's scratched or etched already, there isn't much you can do short of replacing the glass and re-siliconing. USUALLY if the etching isn't too deep you could fill the tank with water and it will magically appear clear again.