Jump to content
Coral Vue Hydros

BC29 Not so AIO any more


Degener8

Recommended Posts

The Story: Well Years back when I got back into Saltwater/Reefkeeping after a 13 year leave of absence I bought a BC29. I decided not long after that it wasn't my cup of tea and upgraded to a 40BR. The BC29 was used, until today for my daughters turtle. Well... the turtle grew over the years and now needs an upgrade.. The 40Br was decommissioned after moving to Kentucky when my wife joined the military as we picked up a 75 gallon tank.

 

 

So today when moving the BC29 from my daughters room I bumped a door knob on the way out and cracked the back of the BC 29... Ooopsie

 

Well the long and short of it is I wasn't terribly upset. I had long wanted to de-rim and rip apart this tank so here is my chance.. LOL

 

IMAG0133.jpg

Starting the de-rimming process

IMAG0134.jpg

 

IMAG0136.jpg

Few shots after taking off the entire top rim.. very apparent now where the crack was ..LOL

IMAG0135.jpg

I removed the side panels as well.. none of this is going back on.

 

I was quite surprised at just how crappy this tank actually is. The back glass had HUGE fills if silicone.

IMAG0137.jpg

IMAG0139.jpg

Both sides same story. It was easy to cut through though.. insert razor blade and pull it through. The only part that did not come off well was the very bottom since I don’t want to take off the bottom plastic I kinda had to chip the glass from within the plastic. Not terribly difficult but it was quite nerve racking since I really didn’t want to break the bottom glass or the side.. If I had this would be a total loss.

 

The edges of the front glass are beveled at the top. Which makes removing the silicone difficult.. so I started sanding it off.

IMAG0141.jpg

 

That is when I found this:

IMAG0140.jpg

the top glass was chipped then silicone and the top rim spread over it. Not a huge deal its just another sign of the quality we cant see.

 

I did chip the side glass myself. I'll try to get a pic of it soon. Its more like the glass flaked right at the back edge.. this tank will be water tested for a good long time before I bring it in the house I want to be sure the glass will all hold once replaced.

 

Its proving hard to get all the old silicone from the back edge of the glass

IMAG0142.jpg

 

Will this be ok to bond over?.. I am going to reseal the entire thing with black silicone so not worries about a color difference, just its bonded strength. These back edges are angled and wavy from the factory, but I don’t want to sand to much on them because I cant sand below the plastic bottom rim.

 

And finally the FTS.. well ¾ since its missing a panel of glass..LOL

IMAG0143.jpg

 

So on to what am I gonna do with this tank...

 

This tank is going to go to one of the following 2 purposes:

1) Gold stripped Maroon Clown Pair

2) 3 seahorse setup (2 male 1 Female)

 

Feel free to chime in your favorite option... I'll get more into the builds after I make my mind up which way I want to go.

 

There is a little more work to do cleaning up old silicone and getting the glass.. drilling it.. installing etc.

 

So what do you all think?

Link to comment

Thanks for following.. Hopefully it will be worth your time.. Build will be somewhat slow since all the water testing and I am definately using all new rock etc cycle will be normal.

I am thinking of making some Eco rock in Specific shapes for this. That way it can turn out exactly how i want it instead of being shaped close to how I want it.

Link to comment

Nope had not planned on euro bracing. I am pretty confident that once I replace the glass and it is all sealed back up it will be plenty strong. The glass is actually thicker that I thought it would be.. about the only pleasant surprise of its quality. its like 1/4 in glass i believe.

 

I believe that any standard home depot or Lowes water proof 100% silicone will work but I remember there was a thread with strengths and alot of technical jargon in it.. I am no chemist so don't care about that. I just want to know what people have used successfully.:)

 

So what brands of black silicone have people used on their tanks?

Link to comment

Do not just pick any silicone from HD, or lowes.

A lot of them have ingredients to prevent mildew, etc, which are toxic to your aquarium.

Also, don't waste money on aquarium brand. Just get 100% silicone, IE GE silicone I. It uses a caulk gun to dispense and should run you about $5.

Link to comment

Cool thanks.. I knew not to get the tub and tile type silicone.. knew it had to be 100% silicone.. just wasn't sure if there was a specific brand.. So GE it is :) thx for the reply.

 

I'll post an update today for the full plan including sump and plumbing plan for people to check for flaws or things I didn't think about.. Going to make this a GSM pair tank I have decided. I want it to look extremely clean so I will get the plan together and see what people think/suggest.

Link to comment

Ok so here is the plan.

I am going to detail the plan so I don't stray from its original vision (this may be lengthy so bear with me)

 

I will get the back glass drilled for a 1.5" bulkhead (2 3/8" hole)

The return will be drilled also for a 3/4" return (1.5" hole)

I will be making a fake back wall out of foam spray and a concrete/sand/shell mixture like making eco rock.

The return will be hidden inside this false wall as well as the overflow/return.

 

The return will come out and into a "spraybar" type tube I intend to make in the false wall. The output of this I think will be about 1" to 1.5" below the water surface.

 

I will make ecorock. The rock will be in basically 3 pieces. Each piece will be sized to fit with what ever livestock is attached inside a 5 gallon bucket. The reason for this is my wife is in the army and if we get restationed somewhere I need to be able to break down each piece and re assemble it easily. I feel that by making the rock exactly the size/shape I want it I can achieve this.

The scape will consist of 1 cave (2 pieces of eco rock that when assembled for a cave the back wall will have a small ledge to support the top of the structure where they join and the bases will be flat to sit nicely on the bottom. There will be some arches built into the eco rock for a goby/shrimp pair so they have places to safely dig around.

 

The 3rd rock will be in front of the cave semi flat and a long 1/2 moon type shape. This is where I will be mounting a zoa field.

 

The rest of the sandbed will be used for my plate corals and acans.

The bottom of the tank will be covered with 1.5 to 2" of sand of mixed sizes (all small enough for the goby shrimp pair)

 

Sump: Since I am going to use the stock BC29 stand I have for now I am going to custom build a sump in the stand. Exact dimensions and lay out will be planned when the time comes.

 

Return:Magdrive 7 I think (or similar gph pump)

Skimmer: Undecided at this time. I am not worried about getting a skimmer for now. Its going to be a few months before I am to that point.

 

Lighting: Aquastyles LED DIY kit...or Possiby one of the www.LEDTRiC.com lights. Undecided as of yet.

 

Livestock:

Gold Stripe Maroon Clown Pair

Goby/Pistol shrimp Combo

Maybe some type of Blenny not sure.. maybe a lawnmower.

and snails for algae control.

 

Coral livestock:

Fungia plate coral. (I have had this guy for 3 years now and love him.)

Welso Open Brain . ( i have a frag of a brain that I got a few years back. It started at about 3/4 of an in and is a good 4+ when inflated now. Starting to get some of the ruffles and such they get when adult)

Neon Candy Cane, (Got this about 3 years ago also. it started as 2 heads and has over 20 heads now. its added loads of heads but grown very little in comparison tall wise.)

2 different acan frags. (had them a few years also.)

Zoas varried varieties as I pick them up.

Birdnest SPS prolly a couple different types.

A blue or purple varient of Stylophora.

Lastly but will likely come before some of these corals ... a BTA for the Clowns and or a nice LTA is i find one that is striking.

 

So thats the basic layout.

 

So a few questions:

What type of foam is best used to make the main portion of the back wall?

Any special care needed for sealing the edges after putting the mix over the top? (I dont want water getting behind the foam and rotting it or something like that)

 

Let me know what you think.. concerns suggestions etc.

 

Thanks for reading if you actually made it through the whole thing..:)

Link to comment

From the answers I received from Central Aquatics I can move forward with planning the Closed loop on the BioCube now.

 

I am going to try and make a sketch up of the basics to get an idea of what is to come.

Link to comment

So here is a really crappy sketchup since today was the first day I have really done much in it.

 

 

So here is the holes I plan to put in the glass to accomodate the sump/overflow and returns and the closed loop.

All%20the%20holes.jpg

 

I need some suggestions on what pump to use for the closed loop. I was thinking something like magdrive 5 since it did not need to be high flow.. mainly stocked with zoas and lps and an anemone.

 

I know I originally wanted a fes easier SPS in the tank but the more I work on this plan I think i would rather have a few diffetent BTA's or other type anemones instad of SPS. Hopefully the anemone will not walk all over my LPS and Zoas

Link to comment

Well to continue to document my planning...

while researching for drilling and putting in overflows for my build. I have decided that drilling the back wall probably isn't going to work for my drain to the sump. I would like it to be really quiet so now that I know that none of the glass is tempered I am going to drill for a herbie overflow.

 

I will drill a total of 4 1.5" holes in the bottom of the tank. and 4 in the new glass on the rear of the tank.

 

I will drill the bottom prior to buying the new back glass. (if the bottom shatters or cracks new glass will be required there also..LOL so if that happens I may make a custom cube)

 

I will order next friday the hole saw required. I am wondering if I will be able to get all 8 holes I need out of one hole saw or if i should just buy 2 from the get go.. prolly better just to have a spare.

 

Once holes are drilled I will place another order for all bulk heads and return kits and I will isntall the new back glass and get the glass or plexi for my overflow installed so it will be cured by the time everything gets here..

Link to comment

Thanks. I am pretty set on the maroon pair also. Don't care if they ever spawn really just always loved those clowns. It will be a slow build but I am kinda prefering that at the moment.. life is far to hectic to rush anything.. and 2 teen age kids are keeping me pretty busy along with work. I'm just gonna dabble at this tank from time to time til its ready..:)

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...