Extra Support Brace for tank

[BiGBlak]

I was just wondering if anyone has added a DIY brace to one of their tanks. Im getting a 5ft tank and for some reason i feel 5ft should have atleast two braces but heard they only come with one so i was thinking on adding another one but dont know how to go about it. Has anyone replaced a broken brace on a used tank ? if so how did you go about doing it and such.

[cuckoochews]

When replacing a brace, you remove the whole top frame, brace and all, scrape off all the old silicone, and silicone on a whole new top frame, brace and all. To add an additional brace, I would think you should use a strip of plastic similar to the frame and w/ plastic cement, glue and clamp it till set, to the underside of the top frame inside lip, as not to interfere w/ the setting in of the hood. Never did this, though, so that's just my opinion.

[Honey Badger 1]

BiGBlak, you are over complicating things again. Your tank will not need another brace, if they did, they would already come from the manufacturer with two braces. Why go through all the trouble, work, and expense if it is not necessary?

[BiGBlak]

Just seen this vid and thought it was a good idea and it couldnt hurt to have it but they didnt have much detail on it so i came here to see if anyone had done something like this before. Go to the 1:20 mark

[BiGBlak]

BiGBlak, you are over complicating things again. Your tank will not need another brace, if they did, they would already come from the manufacturer with two braces. Why go through all the trouble, work, and expense if it is not necessary?

LOL its just what the LFS guy was saying how he felt the tank im getting braces dont seem as strong or sturdy as Aqueon and such. I know I know im sorry.

[mizzoutank]

BiGBlak, you are over complicating things again. Your tank will not need another brace, if they did, they would already come from the manufacturer with two braces. Why go through all the trouble, work, and expense if it is not necessary?

I second that one.

They have their manufacturing processes/design to ensure that whatever the produce is safe for the consumer.

They base it all around a thing called "factor of safety" from a quick google search I've found that most build their aquariums/recommend that number to be around 3.
So what that # means is that based on the design-it should handle 3x amount of what is needed for the tank to fail.

They use this # for aquarium glass thickness to support the water weight and pressure.

That cross bar on the tank is to help the glass from bowing more than it should-if you were to ever encounter an issue.

I wouldn't worry one bit about the bracing-if you focus on the floor being able to support the tank and over designing the stand-you'll have nothing to worry about besides feeding the fish and keeping the water clean

[dbosman]

If the tank didn't originally come with a brace, it doesn't need one. Old tanks used to be made of thick glass and didn't need them. Newer tanks are engineered as light and thin as possible to save weight, and still arrive intact to the store and a car ride home.