My 250G shallow build
- Thread starter JoshuaG
- Start date
JothamTheSlayer
New member
Your daughter (assuming she is) looks like shes having the time of her life!
JoshuaG
New member
Just a quick update, I have about 200 pounds of dry rock, a mix of Florida rock and Fiji. All of it was dry. I had some issues on the last tank with very high phosphates, even when I had no fish in the tank. I believe the Florida rock has phosphates inside it and after reading a few threads on RC where people had the same problems, this was the general consensus on how to solve it. You take muriatic acid and mix it in a 1/10 ratio with RO water. Give it a good couple minutes in the mix and it will eat away the top layer of rock and hopefully release quite a bit of the trapped junk. Here are a few pics I took, I hope it helped!
Here is the reaction after dropping a few rocks in.
After several minutes, gunk is pretty nasty!
All cleaned! The bucket you see here is the rinse water, just RO. Even that got pretty dirty. I plan on doing another rinse before adding it in the tank.
Here is the reaction after dropping a few rocks in.
After several minutes, gunk is pretty nasty!
All cleaned! The bucket you see here is the rinse water, just RO. Even that got pretty dirty. I plan on doing another rinse before adding it in the tank.
silentscream
New member
Nice work Josh :thumbsup: Looking forward to your build progress!
JoshuaG
New member
Thanks Bob and Justin!
One problem with glass tanks and external overflows is not being able to notch the back panel with teeth. Well, I'm sure you can but I don't want to know how much it would have cost. On my old tank that had the same overflow, I kept having snails and fish that would get back there, so here is what I decided to do. My first thought was to have Tap Plastics do it but they wanted an arm and a leg. With my limited tool set I wasn't sure if I could do it, but I figured I would give it a try.
72 teeth that needed to be cut out, lol.
Would have been much easier with a router, which I lent out, or a table saw, which I don't have. But this actually worked out pretty good.
And all nice and pretty. Only took about an hour but my arm is killing me
Now I just have to figure out someway to mount it in the overflow box.
One problem with glass tanks and external overflows is not being able to notch the back panel with teeth. Well, I'm sure you can but I don't want to know how much it would have cost. On my old tank that had the same overflow, I kept having snails and fish that would get back there, so here is what I decided to do. My first thought was to have Tap Plastics do it but they wanted an arm and a leg. With my limited tool set I wasn't sure if I could do it, but I figured I would give it a try.
72 teeth that needed to be cut out, lol.
Would have been much easier with a router, which I lent out, or a table saw, which I don't have. But this actually worked out pretty good.
And all nice and pretty. Only took about an hour but my arm is killing me
Now I just have to figure out someway to mount it in the overflow box.
KMP
Wag More; Bark Less
Josh, maybe (2) "L"s for the corners (one inverted) and a "T" for the center made out of plastic to put behind the teeth to wedge it in. Just need to cut it to just the right size. That would also enable you to pull it out and clean out anything that gets wedged between the plastic and the glass sides.
Second thought, you could probably not worry about the "T" or "L" - just cut pieces of plastic the right size, put one on each corner the height of your teeth and one in the center. For the center, I would leave a gap at the bottom so it doesn't trap gunk.
Second thought, you could probably not worry about the "T" or "L" - just cut pieces of plastic the right size, put one on each corner the height of your teeth and one in the center. For the center, I would leave a gap at the bottom so it doesn't trap gunk.
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JoshuaG
New member
That is exactly what I was thinking of doing. I had these acrylic rods from Tap, so for now cut them to size and wedged them in there. I'm thinking it might actually hold, I used 4 supports and the piece is very solid now. The only slight concern I have now is the extra pressure being put on the overflow box.
Hey Josh.....wanna cut another one of those for my overfllow? 
I have the mini version of that tank. Same builder. So far, only a peppermint shrimp went for a ride. I may see how this goes and may add teeth. We'll see how many of my critters take the waterslide ride first.
Looking great Josh!
I have the mini version of that tank. Same builder. So far, only a peppermint shrimp went for a ride. I may see how this goes and may add teeth. We'll see how many of my critters take the waterslide ride first.Looking great Josh!
elmexotics
Member
beautiful tank. can't wait to see the completed setup.
KMP
Wag More; Bark Less
there you go - brilliant minds think alike 
you might want to put some down low; or, get some other pieces cut. i could be wrong, but would since those supports are only at the tip that when the water begins to flow it might kick the bottom out. regardless, its all trial and error - roll with it!
you might want to put some down low; or, get some other pieces cut. i could be wrong, but would since those supports are only at the tip that when the water begins to flow it might kick the bottom out. regardless, its all trial and error - roll with it!
JoshuaG
New member
I'm hoping not, each foot will have around 400 pounds on it and it's on a concrete sub, should be good to go.
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