Fixing the center brace of a 120g acrylic tank

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Raleighfishnerd

Aquarium Advice FINatic
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Aug 6, 2012
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Friend of mine just gave me his 120g because he cut the center brace out and now the back panel Bows out. Thinking I could just get a new piece of acrylic and attach with nylon screws and acrylic cement.
Would this be possible I guess is my question.
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The screws will actually weaken the attachment if its under lots of stress. The screw holes and screws themselves cause a stress point which will be the first place to crack. The acrylic weld on the other hand creates a molecular bond that will actually be stronger than the acrylic itself if cleaned and prepped properly.
 
Has anyone done this and if so can you give me some pointers


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Acrylic is real easy to work with. I go to Industrial plastics and check out their 'off-cuts' bin for appropriate sizes and its discounted 30% from the regular $6/sqft. They have even given me free small pieces (1"x4ft) for odd jobs.
Acrylic Weld-on is the glue I preffer as its thicker than the other stuff (can't remember the chemical).

Just get a piece that's long enough to overlap the front and back of the top where the brace was. 1" overlap should be more than enough. Clean the top well, glue it and that's it.
 
Any special cleaning needed? What should I use for cleaning the area? Mineral spirits or just water and a strong elbow?


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Rubbing alc or the sorts. Rinse / wipe with water afterwards. Dry and glue


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So my friend actually cut out the overflow that was in the tank and covered the holes with a piece of acrylic and silicon. He wasn't using a sump and I will be. I feel this tank is going to be a lot of work to get right


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Silicon is not reliable with acrylic. Weld-on or the likes with acrylic and silicon with glass.


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Yeah that's why I plan on taking out his alterations to the tank and putting an overflow back in. Does that make sense?


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So I peeled all his silicon out of the bottom of the tank which revealed a nice 10-12 inch crack in the bottom of the tank :/


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