Reef Central Online Community

Go Back   Reef Central Online Community > General Interest Forums > Do It Yourself
Blogs FAQ Calendar Mark Forums Read

Notices

User Tag List

Reply
Thread Tools
Unread 07/24/2017, 06:19 AM   #1
daviesp007
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Vermont
Posts: 29
How to repair a center brace

Hi all,

I have a 90 gallon tank that I bought 2nd hand. When I bought it, the previous owner had broken the center brace, and repaired it with thick, black cable ties. While it did the job, it was unsightly, and made the shadow cast from the brace even wider than the original annoying black plastic brace.

Fast forward 12 months, and after a 2nd outbreak of velvet (yes I do quarantine, and after the first outbreak, I left the tank fallow for a couple of months... but it reemerged), I decided a complete tear down, bleach the rocks and sand and start from scratch.

As the tank was empty, I decided it was time to fix the center brace. I wanted to replace the black plastic with something transparent, and I saw a picture online somewhere that looked like what I needed. I can't recall where I saw it, but attached are some pictures of my repair, so you can copy it should you want to.

It took me a while to track down the materials I needed for this repair. The material used for the brace, is 1/4" thick Lexan (a polycarbonate). I found the big box stores were useless for this, as they either wanted to sell a whole sheet of the stuff (at exorbitant cost), or only had fragile plexiglass. Plexiglass splits easily, and is difficult to drill. I sourced my Lexan from a local glass company, they just asked for the size I needed (2.25" x 17"), and cut it for me. The cost was $9.99, so not expensive. It pays to shop around your glass companies, as the same thing from another company was $16. It still doesn't break the bank, but that's $6 towards another fish! Remember, when deciding the length needed, it has to fit inside the tank.

I wanted to use nylon bolts, as I didn't want metal ones corroding, and releasing nasty stuff into my tank. I had trouble tracking these down, but eventually found them in Lowes. They are by a company called 'Hillman', and are 1/4-20 x 1-1/2 screws (written on the pack), 1/4-20 hexagonal nuts, and 1/4" nylon washers.

Before screwing this all together, I put some Super Glue to bind the remaining brace ends, to the Lexan.

I think the results are pretty neat, and no more shadow cast by that black plastic brace. I hope this helps!

Paul


Attached Images
File Type: jpg Brace1.JPG (77.9 KB, 67 views)
File Type: jpg Brace2.JPG (42.7 KB, 48 views)
File Type: jpg Brace3.JPG (56.9 KB, 50 views)
daviesp007 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/24/2017, 07:16 AM   #2
billdogg
Registered Member
 
billdogg's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Grove City, Ohio
Posts: 10,806
Nice job. FWIW - Lexan is plexiglass, just not the trademarked name. I have repaired several tanks that way over the years. What you did will last the lifetime of the tank.


__________________
I'll try to be nice if you try to be smarter!
I can't help that I grow older, but you can't make me grow up!

Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef with 40b sump, RO 150 skimmer, AI Sol Blue x 2, and a 60g Frag Tank with 100g rubbermaid sump. 2 x Kessil A360w lights, BM curve 5 skimmer
billdogg is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/24/2017, 07:45 AM   #3
BigT75
Registered Member
 
BigT75's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 235
That seriously looks great good job !


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


BigT75 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/24/2017, 10:08 AM   #4
mcgyvr
Registered Member
 
mcgyvr's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 20,050
Now fill it up and let us know when you shear the nylon screws in half


__________________
Who me?
mcgyvr is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/24/2017, 10:09 AM   #5
mcgyvr
Registered Member
 
mcgyvr's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 20,050
Quote:
Originally Posted by billdogg View Post
Nice job. FWIW - Lexan is plexiglass, just not the trademarked name.
Close...
Lexan = Polycarbonate
Plexiglass = Acrylic




__________________
Who me?
mcgyvr is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/24/2017, 10:47 AM   #6
daviesp007
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Vermont
Posts: 29
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcgyvr View Post
Now fill it up and let us know when you shear the nylon screws in half
I'm kind of hoping the nylon holds, helped by the Super Glue... I will post to this thread if they fail though.


daviesp007 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/25/2017, 09:15 AM   #7
mfinn
Registered Member
 
mfinn's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Olympia. WA.
Posts: 8,648
Nice clean job.
I did something very similar on a 55 gallon tank that the center brace was melted in half.
I used nylon bolts as well.
That was 3 years ago, and the brace has held up.


__________________
240 gallon soft coral tank
50 gallon lps tank
mfinn is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/25/2017, 10:26 AM   #8
ca1ore
Grizzled & Cynical
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Stamford, CT
Posts: 17,319
Looks like a good repair. I'd probably have used SS bolts (nylon ones can shear), but I'm OCD that way


__________________
Simon

Got back into the hobby ..... planned to keep it simple ..... yeah, right ..... clearly I need a new plan! Pet peeve: anemones host clowns; clowns do not host anemones!

Current Tank Info: 450 Reef; 120 refugium; 60 Frag Tank, 30 Introduction tank; multiple QTs
ca1ore is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/26/2017, 10:14 AM   #9
aznflyfisherman
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 957
I think your repair looks nice and clean, but why take the risk? 90g is a lot of water. Also how old is the tank, just my opinion it would cost quit a bit to clean up and repair damages it may cause if the tank fail. New tanks can fail too but knowing this old tank has already been compromise, I would always be wondering when is it going to fail.


aznflyfisherman is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/26/2017, 10:38 AM   #10
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC Member
 
der_wille_zur_macht's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: NY
Posts: 17,749
aznflyfisherman, I understand your point but it also seems counterproductive to a DIY forum.

That said I would like to offer my own specific feedback. Nylon fasteners are (by design) not as strong as other materials but I don't think there's nearly as much pressure on these parts as we may think, so it'll probably hold. At least, initially.

I would be worried about long term for two reasons. First, nylon hardware degrades rapidly with exposure to UV. Most reef lighting emits at least some UV so it's something to consider. This is easy to solve though by shading or painting the hardware.

Second, nylon is somewhat hygroscopic (it absorbs water). Once this process starts, it loses strength rapidly. A fish tank is obviously not a good place for a material that gets weak from water exposure. Again though the good news is you can solve this by protecting the hardware.

Cliff notes: paint the exposed nylon a dark color and keep an eye on it.

Stainless is an option but I think I'd paint stainless too. Threaded fasteners are a worst case scenario when it comes to corrosion resistance in stainless, thanks to all those acute angles in between the threads.


__________________
Inconveniencing marine life since 1992

"It is my personal belief that reef aquaria should be thriving communities of biodiversity, representative of their wild counterparts, and not merely collections of pretty specimens growing on tidy clean rock shelves covered in purple coralline algae." (Eric Borneman)
der_wille_zur_macht is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/26/2017, 11:13 AM   #11
andrewkw
Registered Member
 
andrewkw's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: St. Joseph Island
Posts: 1,069
I did the same thing to my 112 about 10 years ago. Still holding fine


andrewkw is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/26/2017, 12:02 PM   #12
daviesp007
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Vermont
Posts: 29
Quote:
Originally Posted by andrewkw View Post
I did the same thing to my 112 about 10 years ago. Still holding fine
Did you use nylon screws as well Andrew?


daviesp007 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/26/2017, 12:41 PM   #13
mcgyvr
Registered Member
 
mcgyvr's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 20,050
Quote:
Originally Posted by daviesp007 View Post
Did you use nylon screws as well Andrew?
They will more than likely be just fine..
I was kind of just messing with ya..


__________________
Who me?
mcgyvr is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/26/2017, 04:41 PM   #14
andrewkw
Registered Member
 
andrewkw's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: St. Joseph Island
Posts: 1,069
Quote:
Originally Posted by daviesp007 View Post
Did you use nylon screws as well Andrew?
Yes. Perfectly safe. I hardly was the first person doing this in 2007 or so and I'm sure some of those tanks are still going too. It was when I switched from MH to T5 I had to do something about the center brace shadow. I know it's the cheapest way to make tanks but it sucks there are so few standard stock tanks that have other bracing alternatives. Obviously rimless is way more money, but how much more could it possibly cost to make them with clear plastic / acrylic.


andrewkw is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/27/2017, 08:34 AM   #15
daviesp007
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Vermont
Posts: 29
I suspect the nylon screws would be fine, but as there is still no water in the tank, I decided to replaced them with stainless steel screws. Thanks for all the feedback!


daviesp007 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/27/2017, 10:52 AM   #16
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC Member
 
der_wille_zur_macht's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: NY
Posts: 17,749
I'd consider painting or coating them if you haven't yet. Even something like plastidip. I don't think it's likely that they'd fail from corrosion but you may be disappointed if they look ugly after a few months and then you're stuck like that. Easier to address now.


__________________
Inconveniencing marine life since 1992

"It is my personal belief that reef aquaria should be thriving communities of biodiversity, representative of their wild counterparts, and not merely collections of pretty specimens growing on tidy clean rock shelves covered in purple coralline algae." (Eric Borneman)
der_wille_zur_macht is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:20 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Powered by Searchlight © 2024 Axivo Inc.
Use of this web site is subject to the terms and conditions described in the user agreement.
Reef CentralTM Reef Central, LLC. Copyright ©1999-2022
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging v3.3.0 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.