Sinistard's 68.8 Acrylic Tank Journal [Photo Intense]
- Thread starter Sinistard
- Start date
Lunchbucket
Premium Member
i have an online link on my home computer. remind me and i can get you the link on sunday or monday
Lunchbucket
Lunchbucket
Lunchbucket
Premium Member
i didn't figure you would have to wait till sunday for a link or an answer 
Lunchbucket
Lunchbucket
Sinistard
New member
I picked up a used 50g breeder today to use as a frag tank. I got a good deal on it, only 20 bucks. I have a pump and some lights I can use so I don't have to spend to much to get it going.
I had a couple questions to ask before I use it.
It was used as a fresh water tank before and I wondered what I should do to clean it to make it safe to plumb into my system.
Also it is drilled at the top of one of the sides but they patched the hole by siliconing a piece of glass over the hole and I wondered how I could go about removing the patch. I planned to drill the tank anyway so if I don't have to cut any holes thats less work for me. Is there anything that will remove silicon?
I'll post some pictures later.
I had a couple questions to ask before I use it.
It was used as a fresh water tank before and I wondered what I should do to clean it to make it safe to plumb into my system.
Also it is drilled at the top of one of the sides but they patched the hole by siliconing a piece of glass over the hole and I wondered how I could go about removing the patch. I planned to drill the tank anyway so if I don't have to cut any holes thats less work for me. Is there anything that will remove silicon?
I'll post some pictures later.
msuzuki126
New member
beautiful tank! you need some fishies! maybe you won't have any noticable cycle at all. Soon I plan on starting a 75 gallon tank which would be similar to yours.
melev
Well-known member
You should be able to clean the tank with white vinegar and water. A razor blade will cut through the silicone seal of that patch, but you want to be very careful to not get slashed in the process. 
As long as the silicone isn't discolored, the tank should be safe to use.
As long as the silicone isn't discolored, the tank should be safe to use.
Sinistard
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7457082#post7457082 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
You should be able to clean the tank with white vinegar and water. A razor blade will cut through the silicone seal of that patch, but you want to be very careful to not get slashed in the process.
As long as the silicone isn't discolored, the tank should be safe to use.
Thanks melev, I'll be sure to get the razors with the rounded ends to make sure I don't poke myself
The silicone on the tank looks fine. Although it looks like someone may have resiliconed it as some point. The silicone around the bottom is a blue color not clear. I don't know if any manufactures used blue silicone. The label i found on it has an anchor symbol, is that oceanic?
It is a very cool urchin, it came as a hitchhiker on the LR in my Nano. It started out the size of an eraser. I did see one at a LFS once.
xdusty6920
New member
2 questions for ya. what lfs was it that you picked the staghorn hermit up from and saw all the other cool creatures?
where in the world did you get that sump? that thing is super clean, nice, and about as perfect of a sump as ive ever seen. i like the split baffle idea. i wonder if your gonna get a froth buildup at the surface where the baffle is though.
anyways, looks absolutely awesome. im extremely impressed. if you select and place your corals with as much detail as your construction, you'll end up having the smallest totm ever.
where in the world did you get that sump? that thing is super clean, nice, and about as perfect of a sump as ive ever seen. i like the split baffle idea. i wonder if your gonna get a froth buildup at the surface where the baffle is though.
anyways, looks absolutely awesome. im extremely impressed. if you select and place your corals with as much detail as your construction, you'll end up having the smallest totm ever.
Sinistard
New member
I have a few other updates.
The macro in my fuge was quickly taking over so I decided that I needed something bigger to allow for more growth. I figured I would use some of the unused space in the sump to grow the macro. I picked up a plastic tub and made legs for it out of 1.5" PVC. The tub sits inside the sump with the overflow water fromthe main tank that does not go to the fuge or skimmer running into it. I drilled hole in the sides of the tub just above the water line of the sump for the water to overflow out of the tub into the sump. This keeps the tub in place by adding some water weight.
Here are some picture of the insump "macro fuge" being built and in place.
I drilled holes in the bottom of the tub in all 4 corners.
I also drilled holes in the PCV, 4 holes
I used large wire zip ties to connect the PVC to the tub, here is the final product minus the holes for the overflow
Here is the "macro fure" in place. You can see the hole in the tub. The water is a bit low in this picture, I need to add about 10 gallons to they system to get it to the right hight.
I plan to get a growth light from Lowes to hang over the tub.
I also picked up a used Medusa 2 stage temperature controller.
I think I will have some temperature issues once it warms up this summer so I decied to run a fan over the sump to help cool the tank.
I have the fan and my heater plugged into the Medusa and it is set at 80 degrees. This also gives me some protection against heater malfunction.
Last thing is my local reef club CORA had a meeting a couple weeks back where we built a DIY kalkreactor and I built one to add to my auto top off system(which I'm working on). A big thanks to George from Geosreef.com and the other members of CORA who set this up.
A pictue of what we called Kalkenstein
I plan to have a gravity feed auto top off with a 10g or so container and a float switch and solenoid. Nice and simple.
Thats it for now.
The macro in my fuge was quickly taking over so I decided that I needed something bigger to allow for more growth. I figured I would use some of the unused space in the sump to grow the macro. I picked up a plastic tub and made legs for it out of 1.5" PVC. The tub sits inside the sump with the overflow water fromthe main tank that does not go to the fuge or skimmer running into it. I drilled hole in the sides of the tub just above the water line of the sump for the water to overflow out of the tub into the sump. This keeps the tub in place by adding some water weight.
Here are some picture of the insump "macro fuge" being built and in place.
I drilled holes in the bottom of the tub in all 4 corners.
I also drilled holes in the PCV, 4 holes
I used large wire zip ties to connect the PVC to the tub, here is the final product minus the holes for the overflow
Here is the "macro fure" in place. You can see the hole in the tub. The water is a bit low in this picture, I need to add about 10 gallons to they system to get it to the right hight.
I plan to get a growth light from Lowes to hang over the tub.
I also picked up a used Medusa 2 stage temperature controller.
I think I will have some temperature issues once it warms up this summer so I decied to run a fan over the sump to help cool the tank.
I have the fan and my heater plugged into the Medusa and it is set at 80 degrees. This also gives me some protection against heater malfunction.
Last thing is my local reef club CORA had a meeting a couple weeks back where we built a DIY kalkreactor and I built one to add to my auto top off system(which I'm working on). A big thanks to George from Geosreef.com and the other members of CORA who set this up.
A pictue of what we called Kalkenstein
I plan to have a gravity feed auto top off with a 10g or so container and a float switch and solenoid. Nice and simple.
Thats it for now.
Last edited:
Sinistard
New member
Thanks Dusty. I hope my tank ends up looking as good as the totms I have seen.
I got the Staghorn hermit at Jacks in Easton. They had 2 Staghorns when I got it. I stopped by there yesterday and they still had the other one but it was looking bad. I think the shell on it is dieing, I'm sure it could use a better home but it may be to late for it now.
It's a trigger system sump/fuge model #TS24R that I won at the frag swap. I think premium aquatics sells them. It is a very nice set up for a fuge, not really enough baffles to use for a high flow sump.
The split baffle is nice, it puts the flow though the main area nice and even. I have not had any build up in the area, in fact its the cleanest section of the tank right now. No algae build up.
Thanks again
Sinistard
New member
Thanks for the info.
As far as I can tell there is no green tint to the silicone so I hope it's safe. Is there any way to test for copper in the silicone?
Thanks for the identification.
I think it may have eaten some zoas in my nano but I'm not 100% sure. It was hanging out around the zoas and then a few days later I noticed some of them were gone. It's in the fuge now so no more coral snacks for it.
xdusty6920
New member
i kinda figured it wasnt a hand made sump because it was so.....seamless. but then i thought, "well he's got an extreme eye for detail" and then i thought "did melev.....no.......he couldnt have......did he?" lol
i would have liked to pick him up and i still may. id prefer for his shell to still be alive but im sure i could give him a better home requardless. next time im in the area ill pop in and check him out.
for the copper in the silicone, i dont think there is a 100% way to know for sure out there. what i would do is fill it up with some warm/hot water and toss a junk power head in there. then let it sit for at least a week, then test.
the reason for the water being warm at the start is because the warm water would soften the silicon a small amount and probably help it release an chemicals it may be harboring. the reason for the powerhead is to keep any trace copper in the water column so it could be detected by a test. the reason id wait so long is because i'd think if any copper where in the silicone, it'd be detectable by then. if you only gave it an hour or a day etc, it might not be concentrated enough to detect yet.
hope that helps, or at least gives ya some ideas of which way you wanna go.
i would have liked to pick him up and i still may. id prefer for his shell to still be alive but im sure i could give him a better home requardless. next time im in the area ill pop in and check him out.
for the copper in the silicone, i dont think there is a 100% way to know for sure out there. what i would do is fill it up with some warm/hot water and toss a junk power head in there. then let it sit for at least a week, then test.
the reason for the water being warm at the start is because the warm water would soften the silicon a small amount and probably help it release an chemicals it may be harboring. the reason for the powerhead is to keep any trace copper in the water column so it could be detected by a test. the reason id wait so long is because i'd think if any copper where in the silicone, it'd be detectable by then. if you only gave it an hour or a day etc, it might not be concentrated enough to detect yet.
hope that helps, or at least gives ya some ideas of which way you wanna go.
