Plywood tank center brace (again)

[murph]

Still exploring ways to center brace my potential plywood tank without restricting light from entering tank.
Tank will be 54 inches long and have 48 inch fixtures so the 3 inch plywood braces on the ends will not restrict light. For middle bracing however I am considering 3/4 stainless steel epoxy coated thread rods.
I am wondering if this will brace the top sufficiently or if the more important factor is width of brace.
The rods would be placed every couple of feet so top bracing would consist of 3 inch wide ply on the ends and two SS thread rods every two feet for middle bracing. Or possibly combine two SS thread rods in conjunction with separate pieces of ply six inches on the outside/center of the tank effectively making a clamping mechanism for the center brace and assure dead on squareness in width of tank from side to side prior to filling with water. I would certainly think this would cause less light restriction than the commonly recommended 3 to 6 inch ply center brace.
The ends of the SS rods would be visible on the front/outside of the tank but I could hide that with a valance type ply structure. Maybe even put curtains on it and if things go bad with the live stock I can just pull the shades and forget about it

Any and all opinions are welcome.

 

[murph]

Bump. wondering if anyone had done this or had opinions on it.
Tank plans are pretty much finalized at 50Lx18Hx30w and construction will hopefully get started this weekend. Thinking 3 or 4 3/8 or even 1/2 stainless steel threaded rods for middle spaced a few inches apart and one on each end.
I guess worst case scenario is to use these as top braces and even if bowing is a problem I can add ply braceing later.
While I am at it if any one knows how much epoxy I will need for these dimensions; half gallon, gallon?

 

[acrylic51]

For your epoxy coverage you might want to give AquaticEco a call maybe they can give you an idea as to how much you'll need.......

 

[psusocr1]

just eurobrace it,, it really wont have to be that bad if instead of one thick piece ogig through the middle you used two or three thinner peices across the width

 

[phixer]

Murph, I was thinking the same thing. Or you could use pendant lights. The UV light might cause the epoxy to become brittle and chip off over time, but this probably wont be an issue. Or you could place heat shrink over it and shrink it down with a torch.

 

[murph]

Originally Posted by psusocr1
just eurobrace it,, it really wont have to be that bad if instead of one thick piece ogig through the middle you used two or three thinner peices across the width
Sounds reasonable. My existing glass tank has a two inch center brace which does not noticeably restrict light. Will just have to make sure I don't purchase pieces of LR to large to fit between the braces.
I may be back to the drawing board for a bit longer. I am now thinking it would be best to just incorporate the sump into the plywood structure itself rather than a separate tank behind or under. This should totally eliminate any flood potential and all I have to worry about is the structure itself leaking for some reason.