Aquarium Top Frame Replacement

PapaDragon · Jul 25, 2018

Anyone have any experience replacing the frame of an aquarium? The top brace is broken and I would like to replace it. I bought the tank used so I don't know the manufacturer. It's 220 gallons 72x24x29.

Thanks,
John

w2inc · Jul 26, 2018

PapaDragon said:
Anyone have any experience replacing the frame of an aquarium? The top brace is broken and I would like to replace it. I bought the tank used so I don't know the manufacturer. It's 220 gallons 72x24x29.

Thanks,
John

I switch out braces all the time. I prefer the euro style and normally remove center braces on all my tanks to replace it with 3” wide 3/8 or 1/2 inch strips full length, front and back. I use GE SCS 1200 silicone. I called their tech support and it is what they recommended. I had a local construction supplier, but later found one on amazon. Clean it as well as you can with a razor and maybe some acetone. I leave up o an 1/8th inch slop for the adhesive. I don’t worry about the sides of a 24” tank unless they are less than 3/8”. I have used thinner front and back braces. they have cracked but the tank suffered no damage.

puffy127 · Jul 26, 2018

I did this for a 125 gallon. I was able to buy a frame from here:
http://www.aquariumframeswholesale.com

When the trim came in, I got a hacksaw blade and cut out all the old trim (make sure your tank is halfway empty), 4-6 inches at a time, (it's tedious, but any more than that you risk cracking your glass when pulling off the trim) and then cleaned off all the silicone. I followed this video: https://m.youtube.co...h?v=rAJfaSEUp58

Put silicone on the new trim and put it on with something heavy on top of it to hold it down while the silicone cures (24 hours).

If your tank is not empty, it will be difficult because when cutting the trim, all that plastic debris will fall into the tank. If the tank is not empty, I would try something like this: https://reefbuilders...c-center-brace/

PapaDragon · Jul 26, 2018

Thanks for the advice. I just bought a 220g aquarium on craigslist and totally got taking advantage of. The stand was crap the dude had glued the top braces in place so I couldn't tell until I got home. Complete dirt bag in my opinion. I found a place https://www.aquariumframeswholesale.com/ that will send me a new top frame but I need to remove the old one. I also would like to reseale it since I have it empty and don't trust anything that guy told me about the integrity of the silicone. The glass looks awesome and the overall tank looks like it wasn't abused, but who knows. I'm pretty upset about it.

My goal is to get a steel stand for it because I want it to be about 32 inches tall and a steel stand will give me the maximum space under the tank. I probably won't get to the stand until after Christmas though. I forgot how expensive everything in this hobby was.