How not to start a reef tank, my first reef tank build

[Why-Me]

Personally If I had good silicone, I'd tape or support the seam from the outside and cut each inside seam and re silicone one at a time.

 

[living_tribunal]

Personally If I had good silicone, I'd tape or support the seam from the outside and cut each inside seam and re silicone one at a time.

It’s just hard to determine what is the seam and what is silicone after you’ve removed most of it.


I’m going to apply acetone to the edge once I have removed most of the silicone. This should only break down the silicone and not the seam.

 

[living_tribunal]

Figured it out baby, this is cathartic.

 

[Why-Me]

There ya go, lookin good.

 

[living_tribunal]

If you were to EVER take ANYTHING of substance from this build thread, let it be this.

If you are resealing a tank, get yourself one of these.

You can thank me later.

 

[living_tribunal]

FURTHERMORE, cleaning out the edges with acetone while your face is half stationed half way down the tank will knock you out!

 

[living_tribunal]

I’m probably going a lot thicker than I should.

Here goes nothing.

 

[Why-Me]

 

[living_tribunal]

Okay, I’m officially the biggest moron on here....

I ended up using white silicone....


Going to have to do this entire thing over again tomorrow...

 

[Why-Me]

It's ok dude it happens.

 

[Jots]

Looks like you're on the right path. As someone suggested earlier, don’t rush and take your time before lighting and stocking. Do as I say and not what I do...recommend 2 months prior to stocking and lights outs. This allows for substantial bacterial growth to populate as well as nutrients to stay low and keep the pesky algae from taking a foot hold.

 

[living_tribunal]

It's ok dude it happens.

At first I thought it was like some epoxies that go on white then clear up.

After a while, I was like this is way too white.

 

[Why-Me]

THIS is what everyone uses.

 

[living_tribunal]

THIS is what everyone uses.

I just need to get Ge silicone 1 clear

 

[Medical_Reef]

I'm up to speed. Congrats on the new buy! Hopefully the reseal goes well for you.

 

[living_tribunal]

Looks like you're on the right path. As someone suggested earlier, don’t rush and take your time before lighting and stocking. Do as I say and not what I do...recommend 2 months prior to stocking and lights outs. This allows for substantial bacterial growth to populate as well as nutrients to stay low and keep the pesky algae from taking a foot hold.

Well my display tank will have been going for 2 months once it gets stocked. The other two tanks are quarantine.

Others here have said diatoms are inevitable. I’m just going to ride it out. Both quarantine tanks were cycled before they were stocked. It’s the silicates from the sand and lighting which I think accounts for why the frag tank has diatoms and not the fish qt.

 

[living_tribunal]

I'm up to speed. Congrats on the new buy! Hopefully the reseal goes well for you.

Very touchy subject atm...

I learned something today, uncured silicone is a lot harder to remove than cured silicone.

Don’t be me, read labels or you’ll be scraping white silicone out of your tank at 10:42pm on a Saturday night.

 

[living_tribunal]

All of the razer blades are dull, my living room smells like burnt vinegar, and I’m pretty sure the fumes from the acetone/silicone cocktail are making me see Billy Joel. It’s time to call it a night.

I feel like I’ve gotten a free pass in reefing so far, it’s about time I pay my dues!

My only concern is the seam, I’m sure I’ve scraped off a fair amount of it at this point. The crappy thing is I have to in order to remove the white silicone. I’m sure it will be fine but I’m considering adding a small seam coat.

I end this day with my tail between my legs yet emboldened by my persistence through absent minded adversity.

Bon soir.

 

[living_tribunal]

Alright, round 2 here we come.

 

[Why-Me]

I can hear 'Eye of the Tiger' blasting from your living room from here