Flimsy Brace

[FreshyFresh]

All shenanigans and crazy talk aside, does a single 36"x18" glass top usually have or need a center support? I've personally never seen a standard 3ft tank with a center 'brace' on the top frame. Apparently they do exist.

48" tanks were brought up in this thread, which use 2 glass tops in factory form, thus the need for the center brace to support one end of the glass tops.

 

[Wyomingite]

I have an old 75 gallon with no brace in the middle, as well as my 225 that has no braces. The glass is really thick on both so there isn't any bowing. I also had to have glass custom cut to make lids for both, as well, because you can't buy lids made for them anymore.

The 90 and 55 that I had that the braces broke on were much thinner glass and bowed significantly when the brace broke.

The mechanical purpose of the brace is to prevent bowing. The fact that thinner glass can be used for lids and that the center brace is used to support the lid is incidental. If the glass used to construct a tank is thicker, then a cross brace isn't needed for any mechanical purpose.

WYite

 

[Wyomingite]

All shenanigans and crazy talk aside, does a single 36"x18" glass top usually have or need a center support? I've personally never seen a standard 3ft tank with a center 'brace' on the top frame. Apparently they do exist.

48" tanks were brought up in this thread, which use 2 glass tops in factory form, thus the need for the center brace to support one end of the glass tops.

The 75 gallon I mentioned above actually had a 48" versa-top, but one part was broken and the glass was chipped severely. Since it didn't have a center brace, I couldn't use two separate versa-tops like 75s and 90s do today, so I had to get the glass cut to span the full 48". The glass of that old versa-top was thicker than the versa-tops you get for today's 75s or 90s.

There's economics behind all of this. First, using thinner glass in tanks and adding a plastic brace on the frame reduces the base production cost of the tank since plastic is cheaper, increasing profits. Then, if you can use thinner glass on the lids, and then have the customer buy two of them, it decreases production cost of the lids and increasing profits because you're selling more product (e.g. instead of selling one 48" lid at a production cost of say $15 and selling it for $36 dollars, you're now producing two lids for $7 each and selling them for $20 each). It's a win-win for the manufacturers.

WYite

 

[dougall]

All shenanigans and crazy talk aside, does a single 36"x18" glass top usually have or need a center support? I've personally never seen a standard 3ft tank with a center 'brace' on the top frame. Apparently they do exist.

I'm pretty sure that any standard 65g aquarium manufactured today (with a 36x18" footprint will have a center brace, not to support the lid, just to stop the aquarium splitting apart at the top.

48" aquariums have a different brace to support the ability to have 2 24" lids rather than a 4 foot piece of glass to go across the top, and to make sure you buy the lids from the aquarium manufacturer, as they all have slightly different widths of brace.



oh yeah, then there's eurobracing.


personally I'm happy with rimless and braceless aquariums. but thicker glass, more expensive, and very, very heavy

 

[fishorama]

My DIY 40g long rimless had glass at least twice as thick as any 55g I've ever seen. It weighed a ton! No need for a center support, but it did have a 4 or 5 inch thick piece of glass in the bottom center...kind of how I think of old "eurobraced" tanks but I'm not sure that's accurate. I think of "eurobracing" as 2+ inch acrylic or glass top rims with a few cut outs for filters or & cords. I only had 1 tank like that & couldn't give it away fast enough, lol...Let's just call it a PITA to be nice...never again!

I did take measurements of my 40g long to a local National Glss place, they were happy to cut a couple front to back glass supports so I could have a standard 4ft light. They rounded off the edges so I couldn't be injured reaching in...they seemed happy to help...or maybe bored to tears...I think it was like $5...back in the day

 

[dougall]

A piece of glass in the bottom center?

I would have at least expected it on the top... Commercially Oceanic aquariums had a glass brace on the top that wasn't a part of the rim.. they also had much thicker glass than other manufacturers too

 

[dougall]

And that sounds like eurobracing. There's a brace that goes around the top rim of the aquarium instead of across the middle. Sucks for HOB filters, but good for a planted aquarium as you don't get that dorking great shadow in the middle of the aquarium.

 

[Wyomingite]

A piece of glass in the bottom center?

I would have at least expected it on the top... Commercially Oceanic aquariums had a glass brace on the top that wasn't a part of the rim.. they also had much thicker glass than other manufacturers too

Not all. My 225, my 75 and my 55 don't have any bracing across the middle. The 55 and 75 were bought new, and there is no sign that there was ever any kind of bracing on the 225.

WYite

 

[fishorama]

I remember seeing a glass panel on the bottom in very old 4 ft tanks. Maybe before plastic rims were common or for thicker glass the rims wouldn't fit. I also asked here about that back when I got it. I "think" a couple old timers had seen that, like RB maybe...Mine was homemade (not by me) but I don't know...I'll look for my old thread...

 

[fishorama]

Well, I meant to write a 4-5 inch wide x 1/4 inch? bottom center glass brace. I couldn't find an old thread of mine that anyone knew about those...maybe another fish board? It's been more than 10 years since I got it & it was definately old...