Steel wires for bracing a tank

[AquariumArch]

Dear all

We are currently looking to use steel wires rather than steel cross braces on a large aquarium we are installing. This is common place in Germany however bar Deltec, we are unaware of anyone else who does that kind of thing.

The idea behind steel wire bracing is that the wires do not restrict the light coverage or access to the tank. The steel wires are tightened accordingly and then the tank is fill with water.

Has anyone seen or done this before? Any threads on RC for this kind of thing?

Regards

Aquarium Architecture London

[TheBends]

This was suggested to me when I brought up my broken center brace on my 70 tall. I ended up going eurobracing instead but that's another story.

It is common practice in many other industries to use steel cable for bracing and I see no reason why it wouldn't work here. I guess my question is what is the size of the tank?

[BeanAnimal]

Steel cable will be more than strong enough but you have a few things to consider.

1) it will need to be attached with a large footprint to spread the load and prevent point loading of the panels.

2) The wire will need to be stainless steel, as will any components used to clamp or tension the wire.

3) because the wire is so flexible, loading the wire (leaning on it, for example) can easily transfer ALL of the load to the panels and cause failure.

Stainless can still oxidize, so coating it would not be out of the question.

[trb]

One of the local guy's brother is making stainless steel braces to replace the glass center braces on several local guy's tanks. Edit: In rereading your question, I see you mention instead of steel cross braces, but it might be an idea to consider, at least for the part the contacts the tank glass. I would think using a narrow diameter SS tubing would be much more stable than wires anyway.



Installed pics:

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/DSC_0170.jpg

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/DSC_0164.jpg