Hi I'm a bit of a noob to the aquarium scene. Just got done re-sealing a tank and was doing a little research on how to make my own tank. DIY rimless tanks look cool but they also kinda scare me 😬 I came across these little metal bracket things and wonder if anyone has tried something similar? or if there's a reason why I haven't seen anybody use these and it's a recipe for catastrophic failure. I had an idea to de-rim the top of an old tank and place these on the corners. Would that work?
Posted by backyardbabirusa
7 Comments
After someone gets a rimless tank they ask how do you keep the water evaporating from it. Looks nice but you’re asking for trouble converting one. The risk you’ll be taking with water damage isn’t worth it.
I don’t see how those would add any structural support and they certainly aren’t going to do anything to prevent bowing.
The biggest stress on a rimless tank isnt the corners as much as the middle of the panes. the rims are mean to give support to the middle of the span to try and prevent bowing in the glass and eventual cracks. Definitely do not pop the rim off a normal tank. Rimless tanks use thicker glass I believe which makes them resistant to bending from the water pressure
(edit: typo)
I’m not an expert on rimless tanks, but I’m fairly certain they work by using thicker glass to prevent bowing. Refurbishing a rimmed tank into a rimless seems unrealistic
They will do nothing to help hold the tank together, but they *will* provide some protection for (and from!) the sharp corners of the glass. Which is particularly nice with a de-rimmed tank because they don’t round off the edges like they do with rimless ones.
I would not trust glass that was meant to have a rim without a rim. It’s probably thinner
They wont do much if anything look into euro bracing if you prefer that rimless look