Over the Edge

[Regalblue]

A big thank you to Over the Edge for their donation to the MCA. 

http://www.aquariumframeswholesale.com/

[Stramn]

just wish they could make me some 72"x36" frames

[linuxrulesusa]

just wish they could make me some 72"x36" frames

Probably worth asking.  They seem like reasonable people.  I'm sure there might be a higher cost involved for a one off job, but doesn't hurt to ask.

[OTE]

just wish they could make me some 72"x36" frames

unfortunately we cannot. We can make bigger 2 piece custom frames from our existing standard frames but those frames are only 12.5" wide or 18" wide

Our standard frames are made on injection mold dies, which cost tens of thousands of dollars to build. The cost of developing a mold for a frame that big would be astronomical. probably well over $100,000. that's just for the mold itself. that doesn't include the setup fee, run time, cost of materials, etc..

it really would be not be economically feasible.

[Stramn]

You make 36x18 frames... Anyway to take 4 of them and link them together?

[OTE]

You can try linking them together with an epoxy but i wouldn't recommend it.

being 36" wide, that is a lot of distance to cover for 2 frames being side by side. You would lose a lot of the center brace strength from the frames

[Stramn]

Yeah get what you are saying. There must be a way to find bracing for it. It has remnants of a factory frame on the bottom, some company must make a frame for it.

[OTE]

Is the top frame on this tank a one piece frame with a center brace in it?

A 72 x 36 tank is very uncommon tank size. As such I would think that it would be a custom built tank.

Usually custom built tanks with that odd of a size wouldn't have a one piece frame on it as the person building it wouldn't be able to find the frame.

[danielratti]

72x36 is glass cages from the sounds of it. thats a common take on there lists for sale... I emailed them so I will let you know

[OTE]

Glass cages actually gets most of their frames from us.

If the tank is from glass cages, it would most likely be plastic extrusion rather than a one piece frame

[Stramn]

I'm not sure, the remnants of a factory frame is just a single stripe of black plastic on the bottom back panel. The tank has DIY euro bracing from at least 2 of its previous owners. One owner had it euro braced with a center only brace, the second owner modded it for an overflow, removed the center euro brace  and had 6 returns drilled in the back glass with twin center braces added in like modern 72" tanks would have.. But I loathe euro bracing so I want to scrap the glass bracing for plastic molding. The inability to run HOB filters really annoys me. I'd rather have 6 aq110s than a sump, since those wont overflow an make my living room a river.

[OTE]

just what i suspected. What you have is a piece of plastic extrusion that is leftover from one of the previous owners. all that plastic extrusion does is give the tank a trimmed look, purely for cosmetic reasons

unfortunately there's really no options as far as plastic bracing that i can think of that would be sufficient. as i said, nobody makes a 72 x 36 frame, which is probably why the tank was euro braced originally.

[Stramn]

Marineland DD tanks have the same 72x36 foot print and I know they don't have euro bracing... I've seen them with true plastic frame bracing.

[OTE]

they are actually using something similar to the extrusion i mentioned, hence why they state on their website on their deep dimension aquariums page "expanded-plastic decorative frames"

the braces are only there to hold your lights and tops

[danielratti]

Lol. A sump will not overflow your living room if it is done right.

There are also other things that can be done to prevent such things from happening. Get a inline check vavle for the overflow so when the power goes out problem solved. Another thing to do is drill a small hole in the retunr just under where it goes into the water this will stop back syphon. There are tons of things you can do.