Missing center brace

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Rinzy

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jun 20, 2011
Messages
143
Location
East Bay, CA
My brother has a 72 gallon bowfront that needed to be resealed and he was having problems with it so he bought another 72 gallon - I checked it out today and the previous owner had cut the center brace off the tank. Is that going to cause problems? I would think that it would be crucial to have on a bowfront. Here's some pics - first one is his original tank with the brace - then the one with it cut out
 

Attachments

  • image-1207512058.jpg
    image-1207512058.jpg
    125.3 KB · Views: 145
  • image-2448385061.jpg
    image-2448385061.jpg
    112.9 KB · Views: 150
  • image-1415781370.jpg
    image-1415781370.jpg
    135.4 KB · Views: 111
You really shouldn't fill a tank if a brace has been removed BUT that's not to say it still wouldn't work. My 46 bowfronts braces sag a little bit and aren't showing any tension from being filled on either one. They don't seem to be doing anything support wise but it could he risky when considering 72 gallons of water on your floor
 
The guy he bought it from said he cut it out because it created a dead spot with his lighting and had it running for 5 years prior to selling it. I personally would be wary - my brother said he filled it and had water in it for 5 days with no leaks but I'm urging him to re sell this tank. This will be his first aquarium and I don't want it to end up being a horror story.
 
If he still has the old one perhaps he can remove the top brace from that one and silicone it onto the new one.
 
Alyxx said:
If he still has the old one perhaps he can remove the top brace from that one and silicone it onto the new one.

Touché - I didn't even think of that. He does have the other tank - I'll see if he wants to do that.
 
Apparently a hot knife is very helpful in melting and removing the silicone holding the brace in place.
 
If he doesn't want to cut the other tank, he should be able to get a new acrylic strip to glue in there as a replacement support. :)
 
Imo the center braces are more there for whats resting ontop the tank (lights and tops) then actual structure integrity. Like I said none of my bowfront center braces seem to be taking any load from the tank walls just hangs there. So if it were me I would just add an acrylic strip like stated just to keep and top from bowing due to having to reach 4' end to end. Remember though this is an at your own risk kind of thing lol
 
The center brace on your tanks are there for a reason and should never be removed for any reason. In doing so can result in total tank failure. Your tank will start to bow out both front and back.

How the tank lasted for years and years without failure in my strong opinion was pure luck!

I wouldn't chance it. Think about all the time,money invested in your tank then think about your fish and top it off with ruining furniture,floors etc....

Not worth it. You may think there doing nothing but they are. They are a very important part of the tanks design.

If your fish aren't dieing and they're healthy and happy, don't change anything drastic. I'd call removing the center brace a drastic change and strongly advise not to change the structure of the tank.

From a physics perspective, that brace prevents the two walls (front and rear) of the tank from bowing out from each other and is absolutely essential on a tank larger than 30 gallons. Even with tempered glass, it still bends when water presses against it.

Again this is JMO for what it's worth.
 
When I bought a used tank at my lfs, there was an issue with the center brace, it was cracked. The top unit is one molded piece, you can actually just purchase the entire piece which includes the center brace. I would not trust repairing it with silicone, but that's just personal preference.
 
Sorry to interrupt but my 26 bow front didn't come wit a support brace is this bc it's so small? My 36 did. Never really gave second though till I was reading this....
 
Like others have said, simply glue a new brace in there. You can use any type of plastic or metal material that's safe for the water and a high quality epoxy. You could even measure and bend a piece of aluminum over each edge as the new brace and glue it, then paint it black.

No brace, and eventually the luck will run out. It may just leak, or the glass may crack and open up a level of "HOLY ......" like you've never seen before in your home. Such as a huge piece of razor sharp annealed glass falling on a person looking at the tank.
 
Jbaygurl78745 said:
Sorry to interrupt but my 26 bow front didn't come wit a support brace is this bc it's so small? My 36 did. Never really gave second though till I was reading this....

Under 30 gallons and usually you won't have a brace. Over 30 gallons and you'll find a brace.
 
Yeah, the brace def is there for a reason, I got a used 55 with a broken brace and when I fill it up you can see the glass bows out up to two inches, maybe more! Scary! I'd just swap the trim pieces and sell the old one as is on CL, if someone else wants to fix it, cool for them.
 
Back
Top Bottom