Emercencey! My aquarium center brace broke!

[jetchanic]

The Center brace broke on my aquarium.  My girlfriend came home and called me saying that my fish were dieing.  My glass tops and my lights were in the aquarium.  I dont know how all of my fish didn't get electricuted.  One of the ulwiles was stuck under one of the glass tops.  He is not dead but not doing so well.  When i came home one of the ulwiles was dead.  Now my lights obviously do not work.  Does anyone know anything about coralife powercompacts?  I really need help.  I have reattached the center brace and am letting it cure over night.  If anyone can help i really need it.  If you have some lights that you dont need and would like to help then please let me know.  All of the rest of the fish look fine and are swimming around like normal.  I am pretty upset about loosing two fish but i could not live with loosing all of them.  Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks shawn.

[Delock]

Re: Emercencey! My aquarium center brace broke!

what size tank?

[jetchanic]

Re: Emercencey! My aquarium center brace broke!

84"x16"x24"

[myjohnson]

Re: Emercencey! My aquarium center brace broke!

sorry to hear the bad news. Did you ever figured what triggered all this from happening in the first place?

[jetchanic]

Re: Emercencey! My aquarium center brace broke!

I dont really know.  I got it as a leaking aquarium.  I should have removed the center brace and re siliconed it when i got it.  I It just looks like the silicone gave up.  When i got home the center of the tank was an inch wider than the sides of the tank.  I then drained half of the water and it went back to it original width.  Now it is clamped in place and curing.  i hope that it works.

[myjohnson]

Re: Emercencey! My aquarium center brace broke!

sounds like everything will work out.....hopefully.

Do you have an extra tank to put them in-in case that tank doesn't hold?

[imagirlgeek]

Re: Emercencey! My aquarium center brace broke!

We had the exact same thing happen with a 210 a few months ago.  The silicone on the center brace just gave up.  Our lights ended up in the tank as well and were ruined.  I'm sorry to hear that it happened to you too, but sounds like you are doing the right thing.  

Geek's experience with broken center brace

We have pics on page 2 (I think) that show the brace guygeek put on it while it cured.  

I'll look around in the garage today to see if we've got any extra lights that would fit your tank.  Let us know if there is anything else we can do to help.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Emercencey! My aquarium center brace broke!

Order a new ballast for your lights.

[nacra99]

Re: Emercencey! My aquarium center brace broke!

Is it a plastic center brace or a glass one?

If it is glass, you have to clean the glass very well  at the attachment points before you silicone it back, otherwise the silicone won't take hold. You might possibly need solvent to clean it, but i'm not sure how you are going to do it with the tank that has water in it.

If it is the plastic type (like in the AGA or Perfecto aquariums), there are a lot of mods out there which reefers use to remove the center brace in order to install MH lighting over it.
Here's an example:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/fish-tan...ary-42652.html

I know there's one person who used stainless steel cable to span the width, which is preferable if you are installing lighting over it as acrylic tends to soften when heated.

good luck.

[jetchanic]

Re: Emercencey! My aquarium center brace broke!

It is a glass brace.  I resiliconed the entire tank so i already had silicone and razor blades and acetone to clean the area.  Everything is cured now and i will be filling it up soon.  If anyone has a six foot light fixture or two 3 foot ligts that they would like to get rid of  then please let me know.  thanks shawn.

[jetchanic]

Re: Emercencey! My aquarium center brace broke!

i have priced new 96w ballasts and I would pay more for ballasts than both lights costed me.  This sucks.  Im just glad that the fish didn't get electricuted.  The other ulwile that was stuck under the glass did die.

[J-WS6]

Re: Emercencey! My aquarium center brace broke!

that sucks man. sorry to hear that.

[bethesdaboy]

Re: Emercencey! My aquarium center brace broke!

i have bunch of those 36 in things kicking around, you are welcome to them.

[peterp63]

Re: Emercencey! My aquarium center brace broke!

What brand is your tank?

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Emercencey! My aquarium center brace broke!

i have priced new 96w ballasts and I would pay more for ballasts than both lights costed me.  This sucks.  Im just glad that the fish didn't get electricuted.  The other ulwile that was stuck under the glass did die.

They are dirt cheap online.