# Broken center brace



## slb.76 (Jul 30, 2012)

Hi, tank is a 36" x 12" x 20", 37 gallon that I'll use for breeding. Replacing the whole trim would be too costly. I thought I'd use a strip of acrylic that is the same width as the brace and i would cut out the center brace leaving about 2" on each end. I would then use a soldering iron and make 2 holes on each end and bolt the acrylic to the trim. My concern is what bolts to use and would I need to worry about the acrylic warping from the heat of lighting. Any help, ideas, suggestions would be helpful. I'm all about the DIY. Cheap and effective. Thanks.


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

This type of repair has been done by many. Use stainless steel fasteners. Whether the plxi warps from the heat will depend on how much heat there is and whether it is applied directly.


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## slb.76 (Jul 30, 2012)

BillD said:


> This type of repair has been done by many. Use stainless steel fasteners. Whether the plxi warps from the heat will depend on how much heat there is and whether it is applied directly.


Thx, I managed to get 4 stainless steel bolts.


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## kd5exp (Mar 21, 2014)

You might think about LED lighting, they put out very little heat. I have found some strip LED's on ebay for under $8 and they work very good. You can cut them to length needed. All you need is a 12 volt wall wart power supply, solder the wires to the strip and seal it with silicone. Even tho they are advertised for putting under a car for lighting they don't weather to good under a tank cover. I have put mine on top of the cover and put a strip of the wide foil tape you use on ventilation ducts so it reflexes the light all down. So far so good. I have a 46 gal BF that I need to make a top for because the center brace is broken and want to do the same thing. It has a little more bow on the front than it needs right now.


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

The bolt holes drilled in the frame tend to open up into new cracks. This kind of repair is used a lot and fails a lot.

Step 1. Use PVC pipe cement or Primaglue to glue the broken frame back together. Sand it smooth and then reinforce it underneath since if the brace cracked, it is probably still weak. Step 2. Cut a piece of PVC pipe in half lengthways. You get more surface contact if you cut the pipe in unequal halves. If you set the pipe under the cross brace, it does not interfere with lids, and the white color does not show enough to worry about. Wiggle the pipe to seat it and then clamp it for a short time until the cement cures. PVC adhesive has worked on every plastic frame I tried it on, but Oatey makes a universal solvent cement that will bond dissimilar plastics like PVC CPVC, and ABS together.


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## Mike_G (Nov 8, 2011)

You could also cut out the center brace and replace it with a siliconed-in piece of glass

The brace on my 37G had a couple of cracks starting from the edge of the inside radius and going toward the center of the brace- I drilled the ends of the cracks to stop them from going any further and so far so good


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