Need "Versa-Top support" ideas..

[LM]

HI all,

I have a 37G tank (essentially a 29G that is taller... 30x12x22).  the center brace broke a few years ago that I patched using wires, but it finally catastrophicaly broke off...  and I just managed to order a new top trim piece (taking the old one off is going to be a pain...)

And yes.  without that center brace, there's enough bowing of the glass to make it unsafe without it... (currently the water level is 4-5in below the top rim)

But, that's not my question.  my question is the reason for the brace failure in the first place.

Basically I have a tank hood that is 2 panes of glass with a plastic hinge (30in wide Versa-Top).  i also have a 55W CFL retrofitted strip light sitting right on top of the glass hood.

now, just with the glass hood and the strip light, all is well... until one of my cats (8lbs) decided she really likes the heat the 55W generates and started to sleep on top of it.  This, as you can imagine, puts A LOT of stress on the glass hood, bows just enough at the center to use the center brace as part of the support (not just the edges).  In reality, I think the center brace takes a lot of the stress of the glass hood bowing..

So I need to figure out a way to support the glass hood and alleviate any pressure on the center brace (so it won't break again).

I thought about ways to make the Versa-Top rigid somehow, but couldn't think of any way without hindering it from operation.

I thought about making a wood frame with a center brace to support the glass hood, to sit on top of the tank rim and putting the glass hood on top of it, but the underside of the glass is so wet, I don't think the wood is going to last very long with all the humidity and moisture even with coatings, not to mention need for the water collected underneath the glass to drain back into the tank and not dribble outside...

I don't want to buy a huge canopy as tank is too tall for me to handle as-is and added height would make tank maintenance very difficult..  so I'm looking for an effective, simple fix for this...

any ideas?

I suppose I can get ~1/2in thick glass strip that is about 1-2in wide and glue that onto the front/back of the glass and made it into a secondary brace to support the plastic on on the trim..  but not sure how strong that would be, to support, you know, a cat sleeping on my hood...

Linda

[NetMax]

Hi Linda : )
Those plastic cross braces eventually break (weight of lights and
glass, daily thermal expansion, softening from excess heat,
embrittlement from the lighting etc). A strip of stainless steel
riveted underneath the plastic can be used if the break is not at the
very edge. The same metal piece can sometimes be used under the top
trim and over the glass edge to act as a hanger (some of these top
trims are easy to remove and none are structural.

I think what accelerated the crossbrace's demise was the cat trapping
the heat, so the plastic softened, expanded, and couldn't contract
when it cooled because of the glass plates, so after a few cycles of
stretching, it broke apart. Not sure what you can do about your cat,
but making more widely-spaced holes in the light canopy might help.

cheers
NetMax

[John Klingler]

What finally worked to keep our cat off the aquarium was to lightly crumple a bunch of aluminum foil balls (1 sq. ft. of foil to a 4-5 in. ball) and cover the top of the aquarium. The next time he jumped up, he scared the snot out of himself and has been back up since. Since cats are about as varied as fish though, your milage may vary. My parent's tried to keep their cats from behind the TV the same way - the cat's ended up making little aluminum nests.

John