Glass shelving

[adamcourtney]

Hi all,

After seeing some glass shelving at a store recently i'm thinking of adding some myself, a great way to cut back ont he amount of live rock i'd have to buy for my 400l tank.

Does anyone know, if i make my own (i.e get glass cut at my local glazier) what type of glass (thickness) i'd need to buy?

Also in the marine tank should i be usuing a certain (non dangerous to fish) type of sealant/glue?

WOudl these stands be stuck tot he bottom of the tank or rested on the substrate (coral sand)?

Thanks in advance...

Adam

 

[NaH2O]

Hey Adam, welcome to RS (again...I caught ya on your other thread )

In my opinion, it is better to have as much live rock in your tank as you can afford. The live rock will serve as your bacterial filtration...ideally you would want 1-2 pounds per gallon (sorry about using american measures, let me know if you need me to convert to metric). If you are looking for ways to raise the live rock to appear as you have more, you can make racks out of PVC piping with holes drilled in them (in order to keep water from becoming stagnant). Also, I've read that some people use PVC as pylons - stuck vertically into their sand/substrate, while the rock rests on top...this will also elevate the rock, and will allow for better flow under as well.

I did have a question....when you use the term coral sand....are you referring to crushed coral or aragonite sand? Crushed coral tends to trap detritus if not maintained and will keep nitrate levels elevated.

As far as the type of silicone....I'm unsure....I'm not very handy - that's what I love about this board - lots of help. I'll search around and see what I can come up with.

Hope this helps!

 

[TDEVIL]

well, not actually sure what you are talking about mate

i know some people use PVC to keep the LR off the bottom of the sand bed, but that is mainly for circulation around the LR

and with a reef tank you want as much LR as possible

if you are trying to save money, by not buying a lot of LR, then try to buy some base rock (usually $1 or so a pound)
and use it so your costs will be down and the base rock will become LR in time
i have around 2lbs per gal in my 150gal (about 300lbs rock)
about 100lbs is base rock and about 200lbs is LR i bought online and you cant really tell the difference now, this saved me a lot of money

as far as the glue, use aquarium safe glue, usually found at the LFS

TD

 

[adamcourtney]

Hello, and thanks again!!

Its crushed coral, not sand, sorry, now you've got me wondering, my nitrate levels are , not high, but higher than i'd wanted and i'm using as a nitrate reductor as it is, they have gone down but not to nil levels as i'd have expected.

maybe it is the crushed coral...... its about 3/4" thick as a substrate...

Adam

 

[NaH2O]

Here is something I found about silicone the quote is from another thread on this site:

Originally posted by Craig Manoukian
I used aquarium silicone, 100% silicone with no fungicides or herbicides will do the trick.
:smirk:

 

[BoomerD]

This COULD be done, however, IMHO, you'd be better off using eggcrate & pvc to allow a better waterflow through the rock. 100% Silicone can be bought at places like Home Depot, but be sure to get the kind that has no algaecides or other poisons in the compound. I'd think that depending on the amount of rock you want to place on the glass, and the spacing of supports would determin the thickness of the glass. 1/4" minimum would be my recommendation. Again pvc & eggcrate would be a better option IMHO, and I will agree with NaH2O that more rock will serve as a better filtration system.

 

[NaH2O]

Adam, have you considered or do you have a refugium? How about a sump to your system? You could install one and have a remote deep sand bed (DSB) that will aid in the denitrifying process. Changing substrates is another consideration....I'm sure you will get varying opinions on this. Do you syphon to clean up your substrate when you are doing a water change?

 

[NaH2O]

Adam, I was just wondering what your water change schedule is? It is possible that you may need to do more frequent water changes to help keep your nitrates down.

 

[Pro_builder]

Silicone.- Use 100% Silicone not Silicone II.

The CC could be the cause of the elevated Nitrates, but I would check other areas like, over feeding, water changes, etc first, before jumping to conclusions. Yes, my opinion is, DSB's are better. But, this is in real debate right now an what is best.
I would use the Egg crate and PVC, that way if a rock slips from your hand and hits it it won't make broken glass in the tank either. Although, Base rock would be better.
HTH

 

[adamcourtney]

So far i've been doing water changes every 2 to 3 weeks and about 15% to 20% per time, it hasn't made much difference to nitrate levels though i note nitrite is 0 level all the time.

PH has been my other big weirdo, I have an IKS aquastar midi temp & PH monitoring unit and although i see a +/- 0.2 per day variation over the whole day the levels on average have gone from circa 8.2 down to 7.99 on friday.

However, from friday to today the water has gone from 7.99 to todays 8.13. The additions have been simply one atlantic anenome and 2 corals, one being the colony as per my other posting the remainign being a toadstall coral...

 

[NaH2O]

You are tapping into a portion of my brain that has long been covered with cobwebs. pH will vary, however, I'm unsure as to how much variation is acceptable. I do know that overnight pH is different than during the day. Running a refugium with macroalgae will help in prohibiting the pH change.
<Please someone correct me if I'm wrong>. Are you adding any supplements? Here is a nice article on >>Chemistry and the Aquarium<<.

By the way, it's good that your nitrites are 0. What else do you test for?

 

[adamcourtney]

I guess I should say whats in the tank;

2 common clowns and 1 yellow tang
1 feather duster
1 orange leg hermit, 2 "others" (of which one is a bit destructive)
2 toadstall (one large one small), the one you guys identified for me, metallica green polyp.
Some calerpa on live rock
Bubble anenome
Atlantic anenome
about a dozen mixed "turbo" type snails
2 fire shrimps (also known as blood)

Lighting is via a giesmann halide unit, 2 x 250w plus 2 x 24w for atinic.

I test regularly for amonia, nitrate, nitrite, calcium and alkalinity, it gets done once per week normally , twice or more, if i notice something out of step to monitor it..

Supplements i have currently are Rowa Kalk, red sea buff and red sea calcium +3.

As for feeding i feed marine mix to the fish they get fed once per day and only hat they can eat, during this time the computer controller is in "fodder break" mode and all filtration and currents are turned off..

I also add some "marine snow" once per week, about 8ml.

Occasionally the crabs get a cockel each, once per week maybe, the shrimps like these too but never seem to come out in the day

the iks unit monitors PH and alerts me, it also monitors and controls temp switching on one or more heaters if required as the temperature goes below certain thresholds, i try to maintain 25.5C (erm thats about 78F).

On the rock conversation i have approx 30kg of base rock and currently about 40kg of live, its looks a little sparse at present, the idea of the glass shelving was to

Other than that filtration consists of the in tank juwel jumbo filter unit (basically its a powerhead and then it circulates between 2 corse, 1 fine, 1 nitrate, one carbon and then one filter pad before releasing to tank.

Then I have an external eheim unit. An aquamedia nitrate reductor 400.

a) aid in circulation by allowing a couple of voids
b) create caves under the "plateu" of the shelving that would aid things like sponges and inhabitants prefering the "shade"
c) look nicer (?)

Here in the uk we do get egg crate style rock shelving and it does have large holes in for circulation etc but its not as nice (in my opinion)

I guess I could always use a tank forming acryllic and drill holes 1/2" all over it...?

 

[Scooterman]

Originally posted by Pro_builder
Silicone.- Use 100% Silicone not Silicone II.


HTH

Question Pro, Silicone II is 100% pure from what I've read on the GE tubes, I was told not to use silicone I but maybe there is something I'm missing here, can you fill me in? I used the II on my sump so far with no noticable problems(I hope).

 

[jupiter]

Originally posted by Scooterman
Question Pro, Silicone II is 100% pure from what I've read on the GE tubes, I was told not to use silicone I but maybe there is something I'm missing here, can you fill me in? I used the II on my sump so far with no noticable problems(I hope).

Silicone II reads pure silicone and it is. What you should be using is Silicone rubber. This is Silicone I, aquarium sealant, and all other "glass tank" sealants. Silicone II has a number of acrylic polymers. Silicone II is EXTREMELY good at holding glass and many other materials together. It is also better at holding acrylic to glass than silicone I and has a higher rating. Unfortunately, as soon as you submerge silicone II in water it loses its hold and quickly peels off. It is NOT good for fish tanks. Forget the debate about fungicides and whether silicone I has pesticides that II doesn't. Physically speaking, silicone II does not hold as well as I under water.

If your sump is holding, don't worry about it. I get leaks in my full length overflows because I used silicone II to seal part of it but since the circulating pump is MUCH faster than the leak I don't have a problem. (In fact it would take about a year before the leak would drop enough water to make my sump overflow.

Another thread:

 

[Scooterman]

Humm, I replaced the bottom of my 30g sump with the silicone II, it seems to be holding up after 6 months, think I should make a change? It does have acrilic dividers also, they seem sturdy also but I didn't know this as I was told to use it instead of silicone I at the time.

 

[Witfull]

back to topic, glass shelves is not a good idea. breakage! plain and simple. rock breaks glass. and with the way we all play in our tanks, the way snails move things around, fish and inverts dig, a land slide or a rock or two falling can and will happen. this could have only minor effects or major effects.simply having shards of glass in the tank that will cut you and your fish to having a Major rock slide breaking the tank. there are other options available as stated above.
just my 37 cents worth. (i account for inflation)

 

[mwrager]

Originally posted by Witfull
back to topic, glass shelves is not a good idea. breakage! plain and simple. rock breaks glass. and with the way we all play in our tanks, the way snails move things around, fish and inverts dig, a land slide or a rock or two falling can and will happen. this could have only minor effects or major effects.simply having shards of glass in the tank that will cut you and your fish to having a Major rock slide breaking the tank. there are other options available as stated above.
just my 37 cents worth. (i account for inflation)

LOL on the inflation, glass break would be my biggest concern. I know my hands are in my tank everyday. I get cut and scratched on the rocks. I would hate to have broken glass to look out for also.

 

[Craig Manoukian]

adamcourtney,

Welcome from across the pond and you've received great advice from the posts above. Let us know if you need anything additional and do keep us posted!

Used Aquarium Silicone, Silicone I, in my sump/refugium and it is holding the plexiglass and regular glass beautifully!

:smirk: