iball1804 Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Awesome! Try to replicate the ADA silicone seams. Where there's only silicone between the panes. That would be awesome! Link to comment
xxbrianxx Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 haha yea that's what I would be going for.....but that's gonna be hard...I'm not great with silicone lol Link to comment
iball1804 Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 It's all good. If anything, make sure to put down masking tape to make the lines sharp. Link to comment
xxbrianxx Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 yea I always do, but my main issue is removing the tape quick enough. I like making the seams look perfect, but it takes awhile, and at that point the silicone has already dried. So when I try to peel off the tap, it messes up the seam Link to comment
iball1804 Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Well, poison the tape so you can peel back one side of the tank at a time. Link to comment
xxbrianxx Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 poison the tape? Link to comment
iball1804 Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Haha position! Gotta love auto-correct Link to comment
xxbrianxx Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 haha i know right? isn't it hard to connect the seams though if you only do parts of it at a time Link to comment
asting Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Are you connecting acrylic to acrylic with silicone? That's your problem. It's often used to connect acrylic to glass (really just to sandwich it between glass), but it isn't structurally sound. the reason it works decently is that people usually make baffles with a small difference in water level, leading to a small difference in pressure. Why not weld it in? It'll be more permanent, but you won't have issues. Link to comment
xxbrianxx Posted November 20, 2011 Author Share Posted November 20, 2011 water yet? naw, it'll be soon though! I'm headed home in a few days for thanksgiving and I plan to spray paint the back black, get rid of the baffle since I decided to just go with a HOB filter instead of an AIO, re-weld the acrylic and add a small coat of silicone to the edges. Once that's dried, I should be able to start adding stuff. When the tank cracked, my dad just put the rock that was cycling into his tank. It's been sitting there for a few months now, so they should be good for my tank. I'll probably just go with a soft cycle since the cycle wouldn't be very large anyways. Are you connecting acrylic to acrylic with silicone? That's your problem. It's often used to connect acrylic to glass (really just to sandwich it between glass), but it isn't structurally sound. the reason it works decently is that people usually make baffles with a small difference in water level, leading to a small difference in pressure.Why not weld it in? It'll be more permanent, but you won't have issues. Well the issue was, the baffle was a tight fit, so it put too much pressure on the tank walls. I did use weld on, but only used silicone for the baffle since I knew I'd probably want to change something eventually. Link to comment
picOnly Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Agreed I helped a friend build an acrylic cube a few years back, we found that the use of right angle clamps and welding the sheets together yielded the best results. Just be sure you have no air bubbles in the joints as it weakens the bond and just plain looks bad. Link to comment
Reef Casa Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Cool looking little tank I always use weldon 16 never had a problem but I always silicone on top just in case - can't hurt right? what are your plans for the scape? nice tea cups Link to comment
xxbrianxx Posted November 28, 2011 Author Share Posted November 28, 2011 nice tea cups hahaha thanks. For the scape, I have a piece of LR currently cycling that looks something like a small mountain. I'm going for an iwagumi look and plan to have gsp in a huge carpet on the bottom. It's kinda hard to explain, but you guys will see soon enough. So I went home over thanksgiving and spray painted the back black, re-welded the tank, and siliconed the edges just in case. I'm planning to use 1/4" acrylic triangles in the top corners as braces and places to screw the lid onto. Link to comment
xxbrianxx Posted December 11, 2011 Author Share Posted December 11, 2011 Finally almost to the point where I can put some real saltwater and rock in. I finished the lid, corner bracings, and drilling holes for the screws today, but at that point it was too late to run out and buy extra salt cause I just ran out. Dang, wanted to fill it up today but I guess it'll have to wait. Here's some updated pics tho: Link to comment
castiel Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 Looks great, nice work on the lid (and tank as a whole) Link to comment
xxbrianxx Posted December 12, 2011 Author Share Posted December 12, 2011 thanks man, appreciate it. Here's the current plan for what it's going to look like...excuse the color scheme, I know it's not the most natural looking set of colors haha. Just picked random ones. The "grass" at the bottom is GSP, the the sticks are obviously acros/other branching sps, the small circles are zoas and palys, the large circles are acans and maybe micros. And on that note does anyone know where I can get A LOT of gsp? I have a decent sized piece of it in the other tank but it'd still take forever to cover the entire floor of the tank. Link to comment
giannone Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 you'd be suprised in about 3-4 months i bet your floor would be covered if not sooner Link to comment
ash71089 Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 i like the idea of the gsp covering the floor.. i think it will look awesome. try posting a WTB thread on the livestock thread.. i'm sure there are a lot of people willing to give up some gsp Link to comment
nickjqz Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Here is a thread where someone did a similar thing with gsp just so that you can see some growth shots of the gsp on the floor. Link to comment
xxbrianxx Posted December 12, 2011 Author Share Posted December 12, 2011 Well I doubt the gsp will grow very fast if I'm keeping the parameters right for SPS. I think I might just put GSP in there for a few months, let my parameters go to sh*t, and wait for the GSP to cover the ground first. And yea I'll try posting a WTB thread. Nick, do you know how he got the GSP to only grow outwards? I would think they would grow equally in all directions, but apparently not...that's why I was planning to cut my frag up and place them at equal intervals all over the ground, and let them grow into each other. But if I don't have to do that then that's even better Link to comment
nickjqz Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Are you asking how it doesn't grow on the main rock? He said The base rock is a solid 7lb slab of LR. It actually started at 13lb but it was too big so I chisled it down for the contest. The shape is slightly convex so the edges don't touch the glass. For now, the GSP is growing on the glass only and can't grow up onto the rock due to the gap and shaded areas. Link to comment
21093r53 Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 haha thanks bro. I actually just started 4 days ago so I'm still getting used to everything lol. Definitely a new experience. Man I can't wait to get this thing setup down here....sucks I have to wait until second quarter gotta see what my workload is though....see if I can even manage having a tank haha. I'll be counting down the days for sure lol! dude between school, girlfrayand, and a reef there is no study time! so i just study during class Link to comment
jgilvey Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Well I doubt the gsp will grow very fast if I'm keeping the parameters right for SPS. GSP noob here...why would that be? Link to comment
xxbrianxx Posted December 13, 2011 Author Share Posted December 13, 2011 Are you asking how it doesn't grow on the main rock?He said Hm yea that makes sense. Sorry didn't know the answer was in the thread, was kinda too lazy to read haha, thanks tho. dude between school, girlfrayand, and a reef there is no study time! so i just study during class Haha imo girls aren't even worth the time right now. Got off a bad one right before college, so I think I'm gonna be single for awhile GSP noob here...why would that be? Because GSP typically likes "dirtier" or more nutrient-rich water than SPS. So if the water's too clean, GSP growth will be pretty minimal Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.