Euro bracing

[Cake_Boss]

Want to remove my center brace because it's blocking light for the SPS. I don't have a temporary place to house all my coral, so need to keep the tank functional. Glass is 3/8" thick. What are my options?

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[djkms]

Jamie,

Give Will at Premier a buzz. Last time I was at his shop he had some brace bars that basically replaced the center brace. He said he has placed the brace bars on tanks and removed the center brace with the system(s) being full of water. He didnt have one for my size tank otherwise I would have bought one from him.

 

[Cake_Boss]

Thanks, will do

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Called Will, he said I was nuts lol. He's done it do his own tanks, but they were empty. He said if I was feeling froggy I could put some clamps on the tank and do it, but he personally wouldn't try it. Yikes, guess I have to live with the center brace...until I upgrade or get a different tank to do it too.

 

[Cake_Boss]

Downloaded this calc to help calculate the thickness required for the walls and bottom.
Can I drain some water out, say 8", remove the center brace, then add the euro bracing?
How long should I let the silicone fully cure?
What dims should the braces be?
Can the coral and fish survive with just the powerhead and LR for filtration?

click the pic to make it show up bigger, its a screen shot of the calc in action. What does it all mean!! lol. Basically the calc says that at a height of 16" the min glass thickness would be 7.01mm or .28", 3/8"=.375. So structurally I'm good right?
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[Gomojoe]

Would seem to me that you would install the new braces and then once set remove the center brace. That way the tank doesn't bow at all while your curing the new braces.

 

[Wicked Color]

You could build a structural brace and do it, but the silicone takes AT LEAST 24 hrs to cure, can you drain it 8" and leave the powerheads on for a couple days?

 

[Cake_Boss]

I could drain it. What is required for a structural brace? Would it still bow at 16" of water?

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[Wicked Color]

building a brace around the tank would take some lumber and screws, not hard at all, the euro will be the difficult part to make.

 

[djkms]

Please record video along the way, I sense this is going to be good youtube material!

 

[Cake_Boss]

Am I thinking of different bracing? I was thinking of the strips. Twice as thick as the tank material right? Two strips length wise and two width wise. Width strips go over length right? Or is it just one piece?

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