Euro Brace

[Byrd's Reef]

I'm looking to remove my plastic black brace on my 150 gallon 6'x28" tank. All tips, tricks, experience or advise needed, I don't wanna wake up to all my fish and coral on the floor

 

[Goslugsgo]

Out of curiosity, what are you hoping to accomplish?

Removing a structural component from a 150 gallon water container seems... ill advised.

 

[Byrd's Reef]

Out of curiosity, what are you hoping to accomplish?

Removing a structural component from a 150 gallon water container seems... ill advised.

I will replace it with 3" glass

 

[Goslugsgo]

Right on.

To my knowledge one cannot adhere plastic to glass and vice versa. There may be new technologies available, however, that I am not aware of.

 

[Byrd's Reef]

Out of curiosity, what are you hoping to accomplish?

Removing a structural component from a 150 gallon water container seems... ill advised.[/QUOTE[

 

[Byrd's Reef]

Right on.

To my knowledge one cannot adhere plastic to glass and vice versa. There may be new technologies available, however, that I am not aware of.

It's glass to glass, the tank already comes with a plastic brace, that what I wanna remove and replace it with a glass brace

 

[andrewkw]

For a euro brace you are probably going to have to drain the tank. You may not need the silicone to cure water tight but I'd at least want it dry to the touch if it were me. I have never done this.

The alternative fix for a running reef would be to replace the black plastic center brace with a clear acrylic strip. You can do that with the tank running, but again I'd drain it as much as you possible can first. Then cut the brace and bolt it in with nylon screws. I did this in 2007 or 2008 and my tank is still holding water fine but I was scared. The clear acrylic still casts a bit of a shadow but nothing compared to the black plastic.

This is not my picture, one I found on a google search but same idea :

 

[Byrd's Reef]

For a euro brace you are probably going to have to drain the tank. You may not need the silicone to cure water tight but I'd at least want it dry to the touch if it were me. I have never done this.

The alternative fix for a running reef would be to replace the black plastic center brace with a clear acrylic strip. You can do that with the tank running, but again I'd drain it as much as you possible can first. Then cut the brace and bolt it in with nylon screws. I did this in 2007 or 2008 and my tank is still holding water fine but I was scared. The clear acrylic still casts a bit of a shadow but nothing compared to the black plastic.

This is not my picture, one I found on a google search but same idea :

Lucky for me I have a brand new tank, no water to remove, thank God

 

[Byrd's Reef]

Sorry for the lack of details, I recently purchased the brand new 150 gallon eqyuon tank, and I'm going to remove he plastic bracing and replace it with the glass euro brace, my tank is completely empty, all cosmetic job shall be done well before fish and coral, I'm just look for advise or experience one euro grading before I begin my reef journey again

 

[Byrd's Reef]

 

[Ashish Patel]

DIY bracing would be better then asking a thin plastic strip to hold 1000LB's of pressure. In modern reef with modern flow and lighting those plastic brace deteriorate too fast. So I am all for this....Find out how thick your glass is and based on that you can cut strip of glass and silicone them on the top. Dont be afraid to go thicker on the eurobrace and make it longer. My eurobrace is about 2.5" and 1/2" thick glass. Tank is around 120gallons.

 

[Byrd's Reef]

DIY bracing would be better then asking a thin plastic strip to hold 1000LB's of pressure. In modern reef with modern flow and lighting those plastic brace deteriorate too fast. So I am all for this....Find out how thick your glass is and based on that you can cut strip of glass and silicone them on the top. Dont be afraid to go thicker on the eurobrace and make it longer. My eurobrace is about 2.5" and 1/2" thick glass. Tank is around 120gallons.

Thanks

 

[Rocklin Mike]

Would a 6' tank still require the center brace or is perimeter euro brace sufficient?

 

[Byrd's Reef]

Would a 6' tank still require the center brace or is perimeter euro brace sufficient?

That's one of the questions I have

 

[Goslugsgo]

Ah ok, I understand what you're after now. Kindly disregard all of my previous commentary!

Beautiful tank, by the way. SCA's 72" 210 and 240 are euro braced so it's possible. The only issue I see is that those are built by pro's with extremely accurate manufacturing.
Hopefully the braintrust here can help you out.

 

[Holdbar7]

Any news on your Euro brace project? I'm thinking of doing this to a 65 gal I just got used.

 

[Byrd's Reef]

Any news on your Euro brace project? I'm thinking of doing this to a 65 gal I just got used.

65 gallon tank will be a cake walk, it becomes problematic after 75 gallons

 

[NefTunzReef]

Nice tank, B! Is that a new tank from the one you bought last year?

 

[Byrd's Reef]

Nice tank, B! Is that a new tank from the one you bought last year?

Yup

 

[Holdbar7]

65 gallon tank will be a cake walk, it becomes problematic after 75 gallons

As in 2.5in strips on all 4 sides should be enough? Or you think I could go thinner?

I live next door to a glass place and am just going to have them cut me some tempered strips.