OT: Is this tank safe?

[nightraven]

My girlfriend has a FW tank set up in her living room. It is a 55 gallon tank. During an upgrade of her lighting to a twin-tube strip light, while installing the glass top you need to use for those light strips, I discovered that the center brace on her 55 Gal. tank is broken. She says the tank has been setup running for 5 years and it has been broken for the same amount of time (we have been dating almost a year.)
My question is this, is this tank a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode one day and drench her apartment with all the water contained in the tank, or is the center brace just overkill by the aquarium manufacturing company?
Also it has a slight scratch on the inside of the glass where a peice of substrate got caught under her cleaning cloth. Could this be a nice place for a tank fracture to occur?
Thanks in advance.

 

[flydan]

Hey,
The broken center brace is a major problem. I would replace the tank ASAP. (I have heard that on some tanks you can order and replace the entire top piece with the center brace but have never seen them sold seperately.)
The scratch isn't a problem. IF there was enough stress on the glass to bust it that is the weakest point, but I've never heard of one busting because of a scratch.
Dan'l

 

[nightraven]

Thanks fella's. Kinda what I told her but she wanted to hear it from more than just me.

 

[simm]

I wouldnt trust it. If you do a reef or a FO with Live Rock you will be adding more weight to the tank and maybe more tension against the glass and could possibly break more.

 

[scottyok]

I broke the top brace on my 55 fresh water tank almost 8 years ago. After noticing the bowed front and the broken brace with a 1/4 inch gap between the break I drilled holes on either side of the break and put some heavy gauge plastic coated wire (from inside romex) to close it up. I check it occasionally to make sure it's not deteriorating. It's holding up just fine and I saved some $$$ BTW, the fix is hidden under the light.