is my tank okay? (seriously, i need some advice!)

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darwinvsjesus

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 5, 2010
130
1
0
Tonawanda, NY
so i bought an older tank, the kind with the reaaallly thick glass and no 'brace', just a metal bar that comes out. now, this makes it very hard to put the glass tops on. so, i can 1. have some tops custom fit. 2. buy a new tank.

the tank is fairly beat up, and it was practically free. i paid 250 for a rena xp3, stand, tops, and tank. the tank has been up for a day with no issues, but like i said, the lids aren't 'secure'. how could i custom design lids? what else can i do? since i basically got the tank for free, i might as well spring for a new tank and do who knows what with this one. if i can't secure a glass top, i',m screwed. by secure i mean, it sits unevenly, not like the new ones with the plastic brace.
 
its a 125 gallon, 72 inches long, 22 inches high, 18 inches deep. people must have put glass tops on these tanks way back when. so how can I get them on this one?
 
Don't bother with glass. Get the measurements needed for the top and go to Home Depot and have them cut some Plexiglas for it. Cheap and easy.

A picture would really help here. I am a bit confused as to how this metal bar is inhibiting you from putting a glass top on. I have something similar on my tank and I just have 2 sets of glass tops. 1 for each side.
 
Don't waste money and buy a whole new tank just because it doesn't have a glass top. That's crazy talk. Buy some eggcrate? We need pics though, I agree the metal thing makes no sense.
 
i will post a picture tomorrow. (wife's expensive camera, and the moron husband can't use it, of course) it's basically like a make-shift divider. and the glass top is supposed to rest on it, but it's totally uneven, and i don't really like it. it'd like to have something cut so it will sit even. i'm not worried about actually bracing, the glass on this tank is 3/4 inch thick, and i'm checking the front of the tank every hour for bowing. it's not. i suppose i ought to check the back, but can't get back there. anyway it seems stable, and the water level is nicely even. so basically, i need advice on how to make my own center piece that will hold both glass tops, instead of this awful, hastily placed metal strip.
 
Either cut a new wider metal strip or a piece of glass/plexi-glass then glue it down on the edge of the trim. Doesn't sound too complicated, but we'll see soon enough.
 
the old braceless tanks had a three peice glass top:

two end peices

one middle peice that was hinged that sat in the middle as each end peice had a lip that the middle peice rested on.

thats how they made the tops back then, but they don't make them anymore.

older tanks with this style of top and extra thick glass were better IMO.

but you can't get them like that anymore.
 
plexiglass is nice. i use plexiglass for my 10g tanks. Easy to work with all you need is a tape measure, saws-all, some gorilla glue, and some type of clamp (last two only if you need to add in some type of spacer as i needed to.)

wouldn't need the spacers if you put in a hinged type cover, i went with a slide type, cuz i didn't feel like runnin to the LFS to get the hinges! ;)
 
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