Eurobracing a 20l?

[Linilou]

Im going to be setting up a 20l for the new year, and Its going to be rimless.

Im going to get a 20l, aga and de-rim it,

 

My question is, ive done as much research as I can find, and it seems that quite a few people have derimmed there 20s with out problem, but others have eurobraced just in case,

 

Does a 20l really need to be eurobraced? and if so, how the heck do you do it?! Every tank thread ive ever seen steps you through the process of de rimming, but never the accual eurobrace.

 

And wile im on the subject of asking questions, how should I get my 24'' fixture over the tank with out hanging it, I live in a apartment where you cannot drill into walls/ceilings, so hanging isnt an option

 

thanks guys!

[Linilou]

no suggestions?

[jdi1982]

I have had my AGA 20L de-rimmed for a year and a half and have had ZERO problems with it. I measured the bowing in it with the rim on it and again once it was removed, there was a minimal difference.

[Dasani]

I think it should be fine de-rimmed with out brace. It's not that tall, so not a lot to support up top.

Although if you did, be very careful on want you hang on the back.

As for the lights, fishneedit.com has a new 30" t5. Or you build a pvc bar to hang it on.

[glazer]

There's plenty of people around here that have de-rimmed all different sizes of tanks and will tell you that it's perfectly fine. That's cool and I am very glad to those that are having success. Personally I would never trust a tank that was designed and built using a rim to go without one.

With a rim on 20L it's true you can see a bit of bowing... even if that bow doesn't visually increase when the rim is removed doesn't mean it's all good. That bowing is transferring stress to the corner seams. The part of the plastic rim, the sides is what keeps the front and back from wanting to "peel" off.

 

The eurobracing would involve siliconing thicker glass pieces on edge around the top edges of the tank. Think of trying to break a board across your knee. Place your knee in the center of the board and grasping both ends and pulling you can put a serious bow in it. Now turn the board on edge and see if you can even get it to bend. Eurobracing spreads the stress on the glass evenly. No stress at the center point and you minimize the "pulling away" factor at corner seams... hope that made sense.

 

 

As far as your light... you can make up some glass or acrylic struts to mount the legs of the fixture on. Pic to give you an idea what I mean.

 

 

If you leave the rim on then the struts would sit just like in the pic, or if you brace the tank they would sit on that. IF no rim or bracing then cut the struts oversized and put a dado (groove) in the ends of them to sit down over the edge of the glass...make sense?

 

 

 

Steve

[markandstaci]

You could always leave the bottom brace on if you're nervous about completely derimming the tank. It would be the easiest option because (a) you would only de-rim the top and ( you probably wouldn't need to consider the eurobrace.