How to repair broken center brace!!

[kangol99]

I just got this tank for almost free

, it has a some scratches and the center brace is broken, I'm going to use the Novus cleaner to try to remove the scratches but can I repair the broken brace? I'm thinking that if I use 2 pieces of acrylics on top and bottom of the brace with Weldon #???? I might be able to repair it. Any ideas?

[ August 16, 2001: Message edited by: kangol99 ]

 

[chinese101]

don't know about the center brace. i think you can go to home depot and get some kind of arclyic glue for that. what is this Novus cleaner thing? is it working? i am also working on a free tank with tons of scratches. i am using rubbing and polishing compound from the auto store. it works quite well, but requires long hours and arm strength. let me know if this novus thing works better.

Lee

 

[rwing]

I have yet to try this, but, I was considering a 65 gallon tank instead of a 40. They have the same footprint ( 36 X 18 ) but the 65 has a center brace. I would rather not have the brace because of shadows with a Metal Halide. The guy at the LFS said to cut the brace off and get a strip of clear plexi and screw it in at each end with nylon screws from HD. I dont know if I would try this with a new tank but it might be worth a shot for you.

 

[tomocean]

You might want to take at the following link - HTH:
http://www.thereeftank.com/cgi-bin/...ic&f=5&t=000057

 

[kangol99]

chinese101,

Novus is a arcylic scratch remover and cleaner, I'll use this to remove most or some of the scratches in the tank. Hope it works.

winger,

I think that I'll definately need a center brace becuase this is a 180g tank and this brace will prevent the tank from bowing which can cause leaking and possible breaking.

tomocean,
That link doesn't seem to be working.

 

[SPC]

Kangol99, I don't know exactly where your brace is broken but why can't you just use one pc of plexi to span the broken area? In other words lets presume the brace is broken some where in the middle. It would seem to me that you could cut a pc of plexi the same size as the brace and then place glue on the brace and C-clamp these two pcs together. If it were mine, this is what I would do.
Steve

 

[ksteiny]

Novus works great on light scratches but on a heavily scratched tank you will want to use sand paper. Start with about an 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper(and use it wet) and work your way up to around a 4000 grit. Then use your novus to buff it out the rest of the way. It takes some time to do it right, but you should be able to get out all but very deep scratches out. There are several scratch removal kits on the market if you can't find that fine of sandpaper. Also glueing a new acrylic center brace should be fine. Be sure to use the right kind of glue. Most hardware stores, around here at least, don't carry the proper glue for acrylic. You will want to use weld-on or a similar product.

 

[sharkdude]

http://www.globaldialog.com/~jrice/oddity_page/break.htm

check out jim rice's experience with a cracked center brace on a full 450!

 

[ckeadle]

I am trying to buff some scratches out of a 100gallon with the novus3 and novus2 it is a pain in the butt... even with a buffer. If there is something like a novus 4 or 5 I would get that too.