46G Water Stream Bowfront Tank: Build Log with Pics.

[beckdg]

i have also seen reports where people suggest prepping w/acetone for caulking.

if this is true it would also help to remove excess after scraping w/razor.

in any account i would assume a good wash job would be necessary after wards.

ge silicone 2: have not seen it used for an aquarium... just vivs!

remember due to the fact that your viv will be an aquarium also you must use only materials known to be safe for this environment.

i did read that ge silicone 1 is safe (no biogard) but some people have suggested it may be very hard to find... if at all because silicone 2 is supposed to be a replacement... best to call around locally b4 you go to get it.

you may want to do some research yourself... even read label/contact manufacturer. (if you find it).

[MustacheMatt]

I have decided to start the project over a second time. I've designed the new tank to have less amounts of GS and silicone, while allowing more land and water. I scraped down the aquarium with a razer and then scrubbed out the remaining resin. Also I read up on some forums, which many have stated that people called GE and discovered that GE II with the bioseal label is the exact same thing as the GE II without it, which many people have been using. I know a couple places around town that sell the GE I though, so I will probably be going with that. Also I am going to use aquarium gravel to cover the GS this time around. And allow more time for curing.

The only problem I need to solve now is how to keep my plants alive while I wait for the tank to become safe. I've got some air plants as well as a couple of others on the way from blackjungle. Any suggestions on how to keep them growing while the GS/silicon cures?

[Nightfall]

I hope take two goes better for you. If you have any questions as far as keeping fish goes feel free to ask me any time. And yes, only use 100% silicone in anything you intend to keep fish in.

[beckdg]

as for your plants a plastic storage bin can easily be set up with just what the plants need pretty much thrown in there...

it's a cheap easy solution provided you can arrange for the different needs for your plants...

i have found with my little experience that some plants do not like to be moved so doing this once and letting them take to there environment may be of utmost importance here... good luck

side note... play sand should work well also (i really did like the sand idea... different!)... lowes or home depot... about $3... should be enough for quite a few similar projects

also pea gravel/river rock is also much much cheaper than aquarium gravel... lava rock can be hammered down to a sand, chipped into smaller rocks or just left as full size rocks give you a good color choice and is very porous... great for bacteria growth

i personally am currently using pea gravel (lower area of substrate)and lava rock (piled in front glass for my shrimp to think they can hide and are still very viewable) in my aquarium... no problems!

all of these can be purchased at any garden shop lowes/home depot for about $3-$6 the same amount of anything at a pet store can make a person broke!

[Gold3nku5h]

I dont know if anyone has covered this yet, which if not, i would be very supprised, but sorry i didn't feel like sifting through all that to figure it out either. More than likely its not a problem with the water... well it is, but due to your about 3 pounds of GS foam. Im not sure how long you let that stuff cure for, but its not supposed to be in direct contact with your water. You should have siliconed the outer layer of GS then placed your covering over that. I dont know if you did, but if you did, then you may have used the wrong kind of silicone, but all i can tell you is that the actual water you use isn't the problem with dead fish. To run a test take fresh water, and aclimate it to the specifications of the fish, then do the same inside the terrarium, run it through the pump for a day. Take 1 fish, and put it inside the clean water, outside of the tank, and another inside. Or if the fish hasn't died outside of the tank, place him in the tank over night, and see what happens.

[froggsong]

I haven't read the entire thread through yet, but I just want to say that I have never had a fancy guppy survive more than a couple of months, if it even lasts a week or two... All of our other fish, as well as my common guppies are fine, and we have only lost two fish that were not fancy guppies, so I'm not sure that I personally would call fancy guppies hardy fish... I rarely even buy any anymore, even though they are my favorite fish. I have also noticed that unless I keep my water at 78-80 degrees, the guppies (not any of the other fish) seem to get ick or some other disease and die. So, I keep the fish tank at 80 degrees. We have had no losses since keeping the tank at this temp, but then again I have not bought any fancy guppies in quite some time. I'm going to get some more soon though, as it could have been because of the only stores I had available to buy them from having bad stock (I know they did because they always ran out of fancy guppies due to the DYING rather than being sold, too bad I didn't know that before I started buying them!). Also, you should check the return policy of the store you are buying the fish from, because generally, if they die within a certain time period, you can have them replaced or refunded. I have gotten refunds on MANY fish... Before I spent it on my other pets, I had amassed 60 dollars worth of gift cards from returning fish and just getting a refund, most of that from 3 dollar fancy guppies...

[MustacheMatt]

I redid the tank completely, setup so that there would be more water. Im in the process of cycling the tank at the moment with one danio. He seems to be doing fine, minus the gill inflammation from the toxic ammonia and nitrites.

[froggsong]

I'm really really sorry you had to tear it all down. I liked it so much. maybe you can try it again some time with the old design. Good luck with this one.

[Dwent]

Ace setup MustacheMatt. glad the danio is doing well too. did you do anything different this time around other than the sand-gravel swap?
interested to know what the culprit may have been...

[MustacheMatt]

what I did different was I let the silicon cure till I couldn't smell it, I also used ge I instead of ge II.