Emergency...crossbrace is broken

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M

Moloch

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 8, 2010
884
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Raleigh, NC
Short backstory: I picked up this 55 on CL and had to reseal. I failed, so I found a local guy to do it for me. While he had the tank he noticed that the crossbrace has been repaired 3 times and painted over, so he reinforced it with 3 overlapping pieces of acrylic and a bunch of silicone. All was well.

The tank has been setup for about a week now and I just noticed that the crossbrace has completely separated from the back side of the tank (one of the places where it had been repaired)

Basically it looks like the silicone has failed, but the thing doesn't even stretch across the entire tank now...would this be from bowing? I don't visibly SEE the tank bowing out, although if I squeeze at the top I can push it together a bit (NOT seeing exactly how far I can push it)

LUCKILY my hood goes all the way across the tank, so it didn't cause any sort of crash when it broke, I just noticed something dipping into the water and this is what I found.

Do I need to worry about it? Is this structural, or is the brace just there to hold hoods??
 
If it is bowing, I would say that it is providing support. I would look at fixing it.
 
I can't really tell if its bowing or not...it doesn't look like it is.

This crossbrace has seems to have been broken & repaired 2 or 4 times in the past...it could be that its just missing that much of its length...
 
The only way to really tell is to measure it. Measure the ends and then measure the middle to see if there is a difference.
 
Ah, duh.

Its bowing about a 1/2" at the center.

Edit: It should help to take half or so of the water out of the tank yeah? Its only housing 2 sen's & two pictus cats so the loss of depth shouldn't really mess with them too much...
 
Yeah, those will work.
 
Ok...looks like its a trip to the parents house....grab as many of these as I can that will fit, come back, empty the tank, apply the clamps and refill.

From there I have to figure out some way to go about repairing this thing. I think the centerbrace is just completely shot, so I'll be looking to replace it with a solid piece of acrylic, I'm just not entirely certain how I'll do it.

Found a thread on another random forum where people will cut their brace out but leave a lip, then drill holes through their new acrylic piece and through that lip, use nylon bolts & silicone to secure it in place...my problem with that is....no real lip:\

I'll figure something out I guess.

Thanks again pharaoh I think this is probably the 5th question of mine you've answered this week...and its monday :ROFL:
 
Pretty sure it's Thursday.
 
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Man that makes me feel a lot better.

I'm pretty sure I've only been thinking its monday for the past 20 minutes or so... but still...thats a relief.

pics:
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