Any experience fixing a cross brace?

[Kritter420]

Came home from work yesterday and noticed that the cross brace on my 55 gal had cracked almost all the way through and the front glass was bowed out almost 4". Instantly drained half the water to relieve the pressure and started calling around to find a new tank. Hit a petco and got one and all the fish are transferred over and all is well but now I have a second 55 gal tank sitting in my dining room I'm wondering if fixing it is a viable option. Is there a way of replacing the top rim of the tank or possibly just fixing the cross brace? If I can get this tank fixed to hold water than Ill use it, if not it may just collect dust until my boys are old enough to get a reptile. Any ideas are welcomed.

[mollyb]

it is pretty easy to fix/replace a cross brace if the tank is empty. I actually did it with the tank full (actually, only 1/2 full, like you said) and full of fish once. 120 gallon. Anyways, just carefully remove the old cross brace, clean the old silicone and have a new piece of glass (same thickness, width, length, etc as the old one) and resilicone it into place. I used a piece of string, looped around the tank , over the top and under the new brace to hold the new brace in place while the silicone set (24 hours). I didn't have to remove the rim.

[alron2]

I use a 1/8 inch X 1 inch aluminum flat bar that I bend 90 degrees on each end and place silicon on each end between the glass and the bar.

Ron

[Kritter420]

Thanks guys. I'm gonna see what I have around the shop and get it fixed up. I told my wife that once it's up and going I might experiment with planting it before figuring out what fish to fill it with. She's not too thrilled...👍