Just thought I'd mention my recent experience in removing the centre brace on my 46 gallon bowfront as it could've been disastrous!
First of all, the tank it up and running and full of water. I wanted to cut the brace out to get rid of the mid tank shadow with single 55 LED fixture hanging 4 inches off the top of tank.
I drilled small holes on either side of the brace both at the front and rear of the tank (4 holes total). I then tied 130lb test TufLine braided fishing line connecting the front and back on the left side and the same on the right. This gave me 2 braided line centre braces running parallel on either side of the stock brace (I tied these with many knots as tight as possible). I used a breeding tank floating under neath the centre brace to collect the plastic filings while using a Dremel to cut one end 90% and then the other to 98%.....then BAM! As I came close to making my way through the remainder of the other end, the pressure released and was caught luckily by the fishing line that was tied in. Both lengths of line went tight!
I've since tied more line using the same holes for good measure and consider myself verrrry lucky.
So a word of warning. If not for the support I tied in lieu of the brace, my water, sand, coral, fish would have been all over my living room carpet and if you consider doing this if not already, be careful, some centre braces serve a very useful purpose!
On a brighter note, my shadow is forever gone
