# Cracked brace on 55 gal long



## DerekNgm (Oct 16, 2016)

Hey my first post here just looking for some advice from someone with some experience with this problem! So long story short I have been working away from home for a few years and haven't been able to have a tank for quite some time now. As I pulled my 55 gallon tank from underneath my stairs I noticed my centre brace is cracked and the plastic frame on the top is cracked in 2 spots so I'm wondering is there an easy way to fix this or is my only option replacing the frame?


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## LXXero (May 4, 2016)

Well, i wouldn't bother replacing the entire frame unless you have a good source for the exact one. Tank's exact sizes can vary by manufacturer and a half inch here or there would make another brand's frame possibly incompatible. However, sometimes you can find the exact ones. Although it could be a pain to get it off if it's been siliconed on there, and you will want to scrape the glass clean before putting a new brace on.

You could just cut out the center piece and glue in a piece of glass instead. Glass center braces are cooler anyway, but it's more expensive so most tanks are manufactured with plastic ones now-a-days. That's what I'd do, if you can get a piece of glass cut cheaply somewhere. You could also just ditch the plastic frame entirely and euro-brace it. That's getting fancy for a 55 gal, but it'd look cool, haha. I honestly wouldn't spend too much repairing a 55gal though since they are fairly easy to come by and aren't usually that expensive to find another one.


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## DerekNgm (Oct 16, 2016)

Thanks for the reply! I'll have to phone around and see what is cheaper. There is a glass shop right around the corner from my house so I will go there on Monday. A few more questions about the glass brace, what thickness of glass should I use the same as the aquarium itself and how wide should I get the price cut I was thinking 4" would be good?? Should the glass be snug in there or should there be a small gap for the silicone? Finally what type of silicone do I want to use and do I get it from the fish store or hardware store. Thanks in advance


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## Pdxmonkeyboy (Oct 17, 2016)

Don't quote me, but i am almost certain that it doesn't need to be anywhere near the same thickness as the tank.. it is simply not subject to the same forces as the walls.

Regarding silicone.. you can use GE silicone I or silicone II. Use the door and window variety NOT kitchen and bath.. that has anti mold agents in it. 
Cheers


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## LXXero (May 4, 2016)

I would actually make it thicker than the tank's glass...it's a brace so the sturdier the better right? It's not like it will be that thick. If you have a 55gal i doubt the glass is much bigger than 3/8 and if you did a 3/8 or 1/2 brace that'd probably be fine. You should probably have them put a grind on the edges you plan to glue, and smooth over the long edges so they aren't sharp.

as for how wide, yeah, i mean use your judgement, at least as wide as the plastic brace, 4-6" would probably be OK.

You need it to be pretty close, but like you said, you need a slight gap for silicone. I'd search around some tank builder threads to see what kind of tolerances other people used...

The only silicone you could possibly use at a hardware store would be GE1, but really, you should use proper aquarium silicone if you can get it. Many fish stores will carry Aqueon branded silicone. There's one RV silicone which is aquarium rated as well but I can't recall the name and it's not the most common stuff either. I'd try to track down the aqueon-branded stuff if you wanna be safe. The GE1 is more runny and harder to work with, and getting the stuff meant for fishtanks will be 10x easier to work with.


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## LXXero (May 4, 2016)

RTV 108 is the other silicone i was thinking of. It's way stronger than GE1. It also comes in black (RTV 103)

And Aqueon and marineland both make silicons specifically intended for fishtanks..

I would pick one of those options, over GE.


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