Glueing an overflow box under water.

[MysticBlue]

Hey guys so I have bought an overflow box for my 75 gallon. The problem is my aquarium is fully setup with water coral the whole 9 yards. How do I glue it underwater to the glass? It’s acrylic so it’s going to be difficult to glue to.

 

[KrisReef]

@chuck Norris!

 

[TokenReefer]

What's in there now?

Marine epoxy maybe... It's not something I would do with the tank full myself

 

[KrisReef]

Glass to acrylic requires top secret mixture of silicone and solvent to get a good adherence. No one can glue the pieces together underwater, which is why you need Chuck; he has top secret security clearance and he can put the adhesive on the acrylic box out side of the tank and put it in place so quickly that the glue is adhering to the glass before the plastic gets wet.

 

[MERKEY]

Get a 100g Rubbermaid tub and drain everything into it.

Put heater, Skimmer, in also to keep temp and oxygen up.

Put a small power head for water movement if you'd like

Then dry your 75g in the area extremely well where you want to glue the overflow and go at it!

 

[MysticBlue]

What's in there now?

Marine epoxy maybe... It's not something I would do with the tank full myself

It’s full of live rock water sand corals clownfish watchman goby snowflake eel two mollys coral beauty puffer fish. It’s completely established.

 

[TokenReefer]

Is it replacing an existing overflow? Are you going to drill a new hole? Just curious I suppose as it doesn't pertain to gluing... I would do as suggested above tho

 

[MysticBlue]

Is it replacing an existing overflow? Are you going to drill a new hole? Just curious I suppose as it doesn't pertain to gluing... I would do as suggested above tho

Replacing an old one. So the only way to glue is with the tank drained?

 

[TokenReefer]

Replacing an old one. So the only way to glue is with the tank drained?

Ah. I don't know but I know what it takes to do it dry I can't imagine doing it in a running system

 

[KrisReef]

Replacing an old one. So the only way to glue is with the tank drained?

I take it you and Chuck still aren't talking.

The other practical issue it that the old silicone seal on the tank may be in the way when you remove the old overflow and put in a new one?

Curious, what is wrong with the old one that it needs to be replaced? It might be repairable in place if the glass to plastic seals in the old one are still functional?

 

[MysticBlue]

Hey guys so I’ve drained the tank and moved the rock and sand into buckets and moved all livestock into a different aquarium. Today I’m adding everything back and I noticed the sand I took out smells really bad and when I put it in the aquarium it made the water foam and it turned it yellow. How long until I can add my coral/fish back to the aquarium?

 

[KrisReef]

that's a bummer. Too late to suggest you rinse the sand really good before putting it back in. No telling how long it will take to be "safe" from where I'm sitting. Sorry about this. If you can make new water it , rinse the sand with fresh water to remove all the funk and then add new water and it should be fine. A carbon filter might help.
Sorry.

 

[MysticBlue]

that's a bummer. Too late to suggest you rinse the sand really good before putting it back in. No telling how long it will take to be "safe" from where I'm sitting. Sorry about this. If you can make new water it , rinse the sand with fresh water to remove all the funk and then add new water and it should be fine. A carbon filter might help.
Sorry.

I didn’t even think to rinse it that was my problem. I added some carbon and some seagel to try and help. How long do you think it will take for the water to be healthy?

 

[MoshJosh]

EDIT: Sorry, didn’t see you already started the process of moving things. Best of luck

 

[Tired]

You've probably stirred up a lot of nasty stuff in that sandbed. Safest bet is to dump all that sand and water out; don't risk it.

 

[Bluedore]

You've probably stirred up a lot of nasty stuff in that sandbed. Safest bet is to dump all that sand and water out; don't risk it.

Agree! This is the safest!

 

[KrisReef]

I didn’t even think to rinse it that was my problem. I added some carbon and some seagel to try and help. How long do you think it will take for the water to be healthy?

I have a diatomacious earth filter and a Hang On Tank Magnum (~20 year old Hot magnum a buddy gave me and the last VOrtex filter ever made and sold new) that I throw on a tank when things like this happen. They could probably get the water visually cleaned up in a couple of hours but not knowing what was in the sandbed it is a wild guess how long it might take with just a skimmer and socks working? The reason folk are suggesting a water change and rinsing the sand by removing it from the tank and "rip cleaning" it until it makes no dust or dirt flying around when it goes back in is that both actions remove the accumulated funk from the tank so they are not in the equation for health vs. water quality that is unknown to all of us at this time. If it has settled in the tank it will likely form a film that gets remobilized into a cloud when a fish swims by. Need to remove that. In the wild, storm surge sweeps it into the depths or into the dirty side of the lagoon where not much grows that looks like hard coral.

 

[MysticBlue]

I have dumped all water and sand and added all fresh. I’m now trying to work out a few kinks in the plumbing process. The water movement is way faster than it was!!! I’m pumping one pipe partially open at 2,500 gph and the pump can not keep up. Do I need a bigger pump or do I need to use shut off valves to control how much water flows?.