[danielratti]

My 90 gallon just started bowing today and the glass is .40 inches think would there be any way to fix this quick? Any help would be Great

 

[greenbirds]

90 gallon, I'm assuming it's 4 ft long? Does it have its center brace in place? If not, it would be wise to lower the water level in the tank while you figure out what to do.

 

[danielratti]

There is a center brace but where the brace and frame meet is it cracked and seperated there could i melt the two together, silicone it, or use pvc pipe to make a new one?

 

[danielratti]

any ideas??

 

[remarkosmoc]

you need to buy a new top frame. drain 40% quickly

 

[danielratti]

i drained half is there any quick fix i could do tonight?

 

[Mcdaphnia]

Quick fix. Cut a board and screw two short boards on the ends of it so that it acts as a clamp when you set it on top of the tank with the short boards hanging down snug against the front and back of the top frame. Or you can bend parallel 90 degree bends on a length of electrical rigid conduit and install the resulting U shape.

I saw one guy's tank who did this with a 2 by 4 as a quick fix, and when I saw it, and noticed you could see the wood was bleached where the strip light had been balanced over it for a LOOOng time, he said he had been meaning to do a permanent fix but hadn't gotten around to it yet. It looked like it had become a permanent fix to me. It would have been OK in a fish room indefinitely, but it was in a living room display tank.

 

[Mcdaphnia]

If you had one of these on hand, it would be an instant fix, and you would not have asked if you had one, so just a future reference thing to have on hand if you might use if for various other things around the home and workbench too. http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=315

 

[danielratti]

is there a chance i could over tighten it i have a ton of those i work with wood alot but i think im gunna try the board thing and also i have parts of a frame and im gunna try to melt parts of that fram on there where it melted to see how that holds as well.

 

[remarkosmoc]

building a support clamp will work, but it is very possible to over tighten. I would run it half full until you can replace the top frame. Melting the frame back together successfully is unlikely.

 

[danielratti]

the support clamp was not to tight i did it so i would have room for expansion. it worked perfect it pushed all the cracks back together and i looked on the internet and i saw pictured where people just left the bar clamps on there tanks and worked for a while they said i got ahold of my friend who runs a lfs he said that i could leave that permenate if i want. He told me thats how his one 6 foot tank is at home with the wooden braces and they have held for 6 years now.

 

[Mcdaphnia]

is there a chance i could over tighten it i have a ton of those i work with wood alot but i think im gunna try the board thing and also i have parts of a frame and im gunna try to melt parts of that fram on there where it melted to see how that holds as well.

You could over tighten it, but I don't think people ordinarily would. You would set your wood "clamp" to just be snug against the half full tank frame. I would use two on either side of the broken brace, set back enough so I can work on it, and far enough so that a light or lid can balance on them unless it's glass. I would use one by material if it's available for the temporary cross braces, and something thicker for the clamping part.

I amd not sure that melting the plastic onto the melted frame will work. Often the frame plastic gets hard and brittle after being melted. There may be some useful info here for using solvents and glue to bond plastic pieces together.
http://www.oatey.com/Plumber/FAQ.html#Q08
I myself don't trust the plastic frames after they break, so I replace the brace with a permanent glass one. You only need to lower the water while installing the glass brace. It can be done with the fish tank otherwise running, if the filtration will work with lowered water levels.