Cracked Eurobrace

[kevinpo]

Tom hit it on the head. The cause is the lack of a generous radius in the corner. It also needs to be on both sides of the piece. Acrylic will be weakened if it is flame polished. Usually it is not a problem but if it get a little too hot (from the torch), plus the sharp edge, plus UV radiation, plus constant stress, plus time, can result in failure.

Even though metal halide bulbs only produce small amounts of UVa and UVb, over time (3-5 years) the acrylic will begin to show small cracks/crazing.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[wrightme43]

why are airplane windows round on the edges?
cause the square ones kept breaking or the frame around them. Sharp edges/ or cornors equal a stress riser.

 

[snobanker]

Oh yeah square would be much much worse. Sounds like the fix on this is going to take care of it easy.

 

[Krish]

Something just dawned on me when I thought about this thread...Do all acrylic tanks require eurobracing? And what would happen if you had an acrylic tank say 72x18x24 without one? The owner's son of the company down here that built my sump, made his brother a 6 foot acrylic tank. He had to remake it because the first one was made out of too thin of acrylic and it started to bow. He remade it with thicker acrylic and I just relized that when he showed it to me the day I picked up my sump, that it had no bracing at all on the top. And when I say none I mean it looked like your standard 10 gal tank...No brace in the center, definately no eurobracing...just an opened top! Do I need to call him and tell him???

Good luck tomorrow Chuck on getting that tank fixed. If the company does decide to give you a new one and Tom get's that one fixed, it would make a cool sized sump!

 

[big t]

Well it depends on how thick the acrylic is and how tall the tank is. If he used 3/4" plastic it would be ok up to about 15 inches tall w/ no brace and little bowing.

 

[Krish]

Well it depends on how thick the acrylic is and how tall the tank is. If he used 3/4" plastic it would be ok up to about 15 inches tall w/ no brace and little bowing.

The dimensions were 72x18x24 and I'm not sure what thickness they used, but it looked bulletproof from the side. I'll have to find out and let him know about bracing it if it is less that 3/4. They know what they are doing, but this is the first time they actually tried to build a tank. Thanks for the info Tom...

 

[Krish]

Any luck yet today Chuck???

 

[MtnDewMan]

Thanks to Tom and Todd for coming by and putting in a couple of patches. It was noted quite a bit of crazing as the pieces were mated meaning likely a lot of stress in that eurobrace that has taken place. Soooo, the patches are in place and likely the bar clamps will stay in place until I can get a new tank lined up. I think today's fix will go a long way in giving me peace of mind so that I can get a new tank in the next couple of months. A pain, but maybe I will get a 100 gallon instead of a 75 who knows.

Thanks again Tom and Todd for the long drive you made.

Anyone want a 75 gallon to be used a sump in the near future???

 

[Krish]

Hey man Chuck...You could hardley tell anything was done even with those clamps on there..Looks kinda cool (LOL) Glad those guys got you sorted out. It seems Tom is always out on the road lending a helping hand...Good for you Tom! Glad to see you are back on track. Can't wait to see you tear it all down again to get that bigger tank! You could sell me your back wall so I could get some of that crazy coralline off of it...I'd trade ya for a Bahamian vacation...

 

[CarlaW]

Would you go with a 6' 100 or a 4' 100? 125's are 4' too ya know.

 

[NaH2O]

Chuck, what size acrylic was used for your tank? Is there something to keep an eye out for in the eurobrace to catch it before it cracks?

 

[CarlaW]

Chuck, what size acrylic was used for your tank? Is there something to keep an eye out for in the eurobrace to catch it before it cracks?

Another question might be, does acrylic get a little brittle with age? How old was your 75 Chuck?

 

[NaH2O]

HOLY CRAP!!!! After reading this thread, I went down to look at my Eurobrace...Guess what??? My Eurobrace is cracked on the left front side only. Do I do the same thing as Chuck? I've only had my tank a little over a year.

 

[CarlaW]

Oh geez Nikki, in my opinion yes.

 

[big t]

Nikki, that is not good. When we glued up chucks top it crazed like crazy. I am not sure if it was just because of how old his tank is, or because of how long it has been exposed to halides or what. We used weldon 40, I also don't know if using a different type would make a difference. When gluing new acryic it dosn't craze like that.

Charlie, the problem here on these tops is 2 part. The main problem is that in the corners there is no radius, it is pretty much a straight corner, there needs to be at least a 2 to 3" radius. The second part is flame polishing, it looks great when new, but degrades to a crazed mess pretty quick. Personally on my tank it is crazed up on the right side pretty bad, and has been getting worse. Looking at your new 180 I think you can rest easy, it is very well braced.

 

[NaH2O]

OK - I took a pic of my crack, so I'll post it here in a sec. My eurobracing is 1 inch thick! The crack is about half way across the acrylic then it joined in with a seam. You should see it in the pic. And yes, I'm female, so I'm fighting back the tears. UGH! This tank is really trying me.

 

[NaH2O]

Tom - what is the first thing I should do? My husband remembers hearing a loud pop a couple of months ago. He looked around the tank to find the source but couldn't find it. I checked and checked over the next day, but didn't think about looking at the eurobracing.

 

[big t]

Contact IAP and tell them your tank broke.

 

[NaH2O]

No bowing is seen on the tank, and the seam is halfway in tact still. I really can't believe this, and am quite shocked. My canopy is never warm, and I only am running 2 - 250 W SE MHs that are off the water about 8 inches or so (going off memory). Here is a photo:

 

[Krish]

Ouch...Sorry to hear that Nikki. First Chuck, now you...Hope you get yours sorted out now...