How much bowing is ok?

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mithesaint

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 31, 2007
38
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Buffalo NY
I have a 135 gallon fixer upper that I'm working on. It is 72x18x24, and has the original frame, as far as I can tell. There is no center brace on the frame, and it doesn't appear that there ever was a brace. The glass is 1/2" thick.

It bows about 7/16" when full. That bothered me, so I got two glass braces made, each 1/4" thick and 3" wide, and siliconed them in place, dividing the aquarium into thirds. I let the silicon dry for 48 hours, and filled it. With the braces, it bowed about 3/16", and the braces gave way after 12 hours. Without the braces, its bowing 7/16" again.

1. Is 7/16" acceptable? Am I wasting my time?

2. Should I fill the aquarium part way with water, and silicone the braces so they're not quite so stressed, but still bearing wt?

Other thoughts?
 
I've just picked up a 150g with the same dimensions(couple inches taller). It had a plastic s=center brace that had been broken. I have had a piece of 1/2" glass cut to fit inside the tank and has been siliconed in. Put this together Friday and will to a fill test this coming weekend.


Did you silicone the glass inside the tank or on top? 1/4" x 3" does not give much surface area for the silicone to bond. I went with 1/2" x 8" single piece in the center.
 
LOL, I have a 72x18x20 in the living room doing the same thing. I thought about doing the brace too. If the tank was in a garage, I probably wouldn't care, but being that it is 3 floors up in an apartment I am planning to get rid of it. Like Bderick67 said, a larger surface area of contact may help for silicone. I personally decided to just get a new tank with braces being that I needed a lid too... but before that I had a few other ideas.

At Lowes they have aluminum angle pieces that have a 90 degree angle in them and are 6 feet long. Think long L shaped piece. They aren't cheap, $25 each if I remember correctly. They come in various sizes, and I was planning to silicone one on each side of the tank just below the trim on the inside. This does 2 things. The angle in the aluminum will help to stiffen the glass. Plus, you could then silicone a glass brace to the aluminum giving you are fairly large surface area for adhesion. If you can find one the right size, you shouldn't see it below the trim.

I would test the silicone's bonding strength with the aluminum, and also make sure to clean the surfaces really well first. I have siliconed aluminum to glass on the outside of a tank to reinforce a questionable corner, but I haven't tried to pull it apart to see how strong it really is. FYI, I used rubbing alcohol to clean all surfaces first.
 
Bderick67;2329331; said:
I've just picked up a 150g with the same dimensions(couple inches taller). It had a plastic s=center brace that had been broken. I have had a piece of 1/2" glass cut to fit inside the tank and has been siliconed in. Put this together Friday and will to a fill test this coming weekend.


Did you silicone the glass inside the tank or on top? 1/4" x 3" does not give much surface area for the silicone to bond. I went with 1/2" x 8" single piece in the center.
Click to expand...

I put it on the inside of the tank. Figured that gave me a little more surface area to work with for bonding purposes.

I think going wider with the brace probably would have helped more. My initial thought is that if it was made without a brace, and it's lasted this long....must be ok that way, right? I'll probably fill it with water again, and then silicone the braces back in. That way, at least they prevent further bowing...right?:confused:

Whatever the case, this will be in the basement for the next few years, so worst case scenerio....my sump pump gets 135 gallons of water all at once:eek::ROFL:
 
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