how important is the center brace?

woke up this morning and noticed that my center brace broke off from the rear and was sagging. panic sets in right away thinking that the the tank might burst right away. drained 3/4 of the water and is worried about my livestock.
anyway my question is this. i have put it back with silicone and has clamps on all sides supporting it right now. can i fill the tank as soon as possiblefor i have no spare tank to put my livestock in and it is impossible to catch all of them for i have tons of live rock and like i said i have no spare tank. is it okay to have the silicone under water after a couple of hours since the tank is supported by clamps. the silicone won't dissolve in water does it?
my second question is this, since the center brace broke off for i don't know how long has it been broken off. does the integrity of the whole tank in question now?
this is a 135g tank. thanks

 

I would say that it is pretty significant. It is there for a reason. I had the center brace on my 36 bowfront break and about 4 months later the tank started leaking. After it broke, the tank bowed out another 1/4 inch or so. I wouldn't say that your tank is going to blowout, but I would get it fixed as soon as possible. You can use a simple strip of acrylic in place of the old brace. Just be sure to attach it well to the front/back.

Hope this helps,
Ivan

 

well. i manage to fix it right away. stripped all the old silicone and attached it with new silicone with clamp supporting it front and back.
my concern is i need to fill the tank up soon for i have no extra tank for the fishes that i have and was wondering if it will affect the curing of the silicone.

 

I would agree with the above and get it fixed asap. However, structurally a lot depends on the initial quality of the build.
In my opinion and in no means am I scare mongering but I would be looking at replacing the whole tank. If the brace can come undone then I wouldn't want to take that risk on the rest of it especially not having a back up.
Hope it all works out for you

 

Sounds like the brace was broken before as you removed the old silicone? In my experience with silicone, it will not dissolve in water and cures in about 24-48 hours. I would say that you are ok to put water back into the tank, just watch the joint and tank carefully.

Good luck

 

What you can do is cut off the remaining brace to about 1" on either side. then take a strip of acrylic and cut it to fit. drill the acrylic and you can get plastic screws. Put several of them in on either side and you should be ok.

 

forgot to mention that this is a glass aquarium

 

Is the frame plastic or does it have a Euro style bracing?

 

Guitarman said it.... That is the best way to go.

 

it is plastic.
can you elaborate more on your suggestion? i can't picture it in my mind. sorry and thanks