rayk

I am in the process of removing the plastic trim and cross braces from a glass aquarium, so I can add euro-bracing around the top. My tank is a 180, so it is 1/2" thick glass. Now, that can get kind of expensive, buying 3 inch by 72 inch strips of 1/2" glass, so I am going to use a different technique of 3/8" glass on the inside and another 3/8" glass on top. I know this may be overkill.

As for removing the trim, here is the equipment list:
Materials:
- razor blades, razor blades and more razor blades
- good razor knife, preferably with some kind of finger grip handle. $8 one versus a $3 one, believe me, your fingers will thank you.
- putty knife.
- one box of band-aids or other blood-stopping mechanism.

There may very well be better ways to do this with power tools or something, but I thought a dremel would melt the plastic, tried one attachment for 10 seconds and it did, so I gave up and went manual.

First, I widdled away at one corner until I got to the glass. This is just taking small chips out of the plastic. From the inside, from the outside, just get down to the glass.

Second, I used the razor blades to score the top of the trip, just about where the outer edge of the glass would be underneath. Use ALOT of razorblades for this. I think I used 3 or 4 razor blade changes per side. In an All-Glass brand aquarium, the plastic almost 'wants' to break off here. In this picture, you can see where I scored the top of the plastic trim.



And, further down the line:


I had to work the putty knife under the outer edge just a bit before it snaps off. But the big problem, in my case, was the silicone on the top of the glass. This was thick, and I had to get to it, so that is why the outer edges came off first. After the edges are off, it was easy work the putty knife.


And the final top piece. Notice how I was able to keep it all in almost one piece, except for the first corner where I had to get a start.


Now the really fun part of scraping all that silicone off. Must get down to the glass again, because the new silicone won't stick to old silicone. With any luck, I should have that done in a few weeks, and the euro-bracing glass should be in.

This aquarium will also have a coast-to-coast overflow running along the back, and an external overflow box on the back with 3 standpipes, one in full siphon mode, one regular durso and one dry backup (i.e. http://www.beananimal.com design).