center brace

[muddybluewater]

I was cooking dinner and my wife tells me there is something wrong with the tank. The center brace fell into the tank. It really only hurt my pink echinata. I can see small bow to the front piece of glass. I am scared of the sides coming apart. The tank is oceanic and is made of 5/8"glass. Any thoughts on how to repair this with out completely draining the tank?

[Derek]

Can't you just put the brace back and attach it to the sides?

[+Hydro]

You can buy large wood clamps at home depot that will hold the tank until the brace can be properly repaired.

[+Hydro]

like these

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00917641000P?vName=Tools&cName=HandTools&sName=Clamps&psid=FROOGLE01&sid=IDx20070921x00003a

That is a scary situation, it will take some finesse to get it just right.

[muddybluewater]

I put a clamp on the tank for the night. I will get some silicone in the morning and see if I can lower the water level enough to glue it back tomorrow. The problem is leaving the water level down for 24hrs for the silicone to cure.

[Chrispar]

dont use silicone, it will seperate. Use nylon bolts and a piece of acrylic. here is how it looks on my bowfront.

its not that hard to do and it can be done with the clamp on as you have it.

So much stronger than even the original brace was IMO.

[+Timfish]

If this is a glass crossbrace that fell in I would definitely get some kind of clamp to support the glass front and back. I had this happen to a 200 gal. oceanic and tried to fix it by dropping the water level and siliconing it. It held for about two months and popped loose again. I was worried about the rest of the silicone joints so I replaced it for peace of mind. If looks isn't a problem The idea of doing something with acrylic that grabs both sides seems better than trying to silicone it.

[Chrispar]

whoops my bad, didnt see that it was a glass brace...

[+Hydro]

You can always use a 2 part epoxy to glue the brace back in. Should be hard in less than 50 minutes and is much stronger than silicone. I have used it to attach things to glass and it's REALLY strong. I used it to glue a handle on one of my glass tops for my tank and that small handle can support the entire weight of the glass, which it does every day when I feed my fish.

To be clear I'm not talking about the stuff you use to bond frags to rocks, this stuff is liquid marine epoxy http://www.amazon.com/Henkel-1154728-Loctite-0-85-Ounce-Marine/dp/B000H6A3D6 and can be bought at Lowes or HD.

[prof]

If you attempt to silicone it back in place you have to make sure to clean ALL of the old silicone from the brace and from the tank where it connects. Mineral spirits works well for this but I don't think it would be a good idea to get any in your tank

Silicone is a great product that does its job very well. It creates a strong waterproof bond and has a surface that keeps other things from sticking to it. This is the fault of fixing tanks. Don't put silicone on silicone, it won't last. I don't know how long epoxy will last when attached to silicone but it is worth a try.

Chrispar's fix will work as well. You just have to have enough plastic trim to attach to and a wider piece of acrylic.

Keep the clamp on! The seams will let go if you leave it off long enough.

[Jimbo]

If you need to borrow some powerheads for movement while you wait for the silicone to cure, I have a K4 and a SEIO 1100 that you can borrow. If you need them, call me at 565-7114 and we can discuss a place to meet to make it more convenient for both of us.

Jim

[muddybluewater]

Thanks for all the help. My tank is still sitting with the pipe clamp on it and I am still deciding the best way to take care this. I think I just need to remove about half of my water and clean and replace. After I get the brace back in I can put most of the water back in and get my closed loop running for circulation.