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smacky 
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 Topic: My 46 Gallon Bowfront
Posted: July 18 2010 at 11:06pm |
The deployment I was planning on has been postponed enough that my wife has allowed me to get a tastefully sized aquarium. In other words, way smaller than I would have chosen, but it's better than nothing and it's worth having a happy wife. I picked this up along with a stand and canopy from the aquarium classified section.  It was a bit dirty, but I spent the evening cleaning it up and it looks a lot better. I'll take a picture of the clean version tomorrow. The first thing I'm going to do is replace the plumbing to make it fit the space and the circulation plan I have. I came across one small problem while I was cleaning it. There is a very small leak at the bottom of the overflow bulkhead. It was really small, probably only a few drops a second that leaked into the tank. Should I try to fix this? Should I not even worry? If I do fix it, what's the best way? Should I just try to patch the leak or take the whole thing off and seal it back on? I'll be rearranging the furniture in the house tomorrow afternoon and I'll post some photos of it in it's space then.
Edited by smacky - July 18 2010 at 11:08pm
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rwccomptech
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Posted: July 19 2010 at 12:33am |
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I would fix it and use the silicate that they sell at pet stores thats use to fix leaks in the sealing. A few drops a second will surely grow until its reached a few cups a day. it will be noticeable and its a pretty easy fix.
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Ron
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60x turnover
30" current pc fixture
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: July 19 2010 at 12:51pm |
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GE Silicone I 100% silicone will work just fine. It's about $3 at any hardware store. Put some underneath the bulkhead and then tighten it down. Then let it cure for 48hrs and you're good to go!
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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Lewy
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Posted: July 19 2010 at 1:42pm |
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are you talking about the window silicone?
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smacky
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Posted: July 19 2010 at 1:53pm |
Here's a photo of the cleaned tank.  Mostly clean anyway. I'm going to pick up some tools to scrub off the rest and then take off the overflow bulkhead. I think I'm going to install the plumbing before I reattach it though, it seems like that would be the easier way to do it.
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Ahanix
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Posted: July 19 2010 at 2:12pm |
 CapnMorgan wrote:
GE Silicone I 100% silicone will work just fine. It's about $3 at any hardware store. Put some underneath the bulkhead and then tighten it down. Then let it cure for 48hrs and you're good to go! |
You can also go to the plumbing section and get plumbers silicone grease, costs about the same, you rub it on and I was told there isn't a curing time on it.
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becken
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Posted: July 19 2010 at 4:47pm |
Lewy wrote:
are you talking about the window silicone? |
I would say no. Most of those have some sort of mildew product in it to keep the silicone from getting mildew from the weather. like the others have said, GE 100% silicone #1.
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75g with 40g breeder, Dion stand and canopy, G4 skimmer, mag 12 return with seaswirl, 2 AI Vega LEDs
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: July 19 2010 at 5:33pm |
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That's correct. It has to be 100% silicone w/ no additives. GE Silicone 1 is the right stuff, not II or the "rain ready".
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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Ahanix
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Posted: July 19 2010 at 5:40pm |
becken wrote:
Lewy wrote:
are you talking about the window silicone? |
I would say no. Most of those have some sort of mildew product in it to keep the silicone from getting mildew from the weather. like the others have said, GE 100% silicone #1. |
Just to make further clarification, I think it is labeled as GE #1 100% Silicone for Windows and Doors, the bathroom stuff has the mildew inhibiting agent, from what I was told. I can give you the item number when I get home off the tube I was told to buy
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smacky
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Posted: July 20 2010 at 1:00am |
I took a photo of the tank in its space.  Everybody seems to say this about their tank photos, but it really does look a lot bigger in the room. Maybe that's because it's a pretty small room. I've got the silicone and am looking forward to a long weekend I get to put together all the plumbing and replace the overflow. The 18 gallon rubbermaid that will house the RDP refugium and the return pump sticks out of the back of the stand just a bit, that's why I have it at the slight angle. I figure I will put the return pump at the back of the sump and it will be a straight shot up to the 90 degree elbow at the return. Next to the fuge will be a smaller sump that the tank will drain into that will have room for a filter sock (should I choose to use it), and the skimmer. Then I'll connect the two sumps with a couple PVC pipes. There's not a lot of space down there, but I want to try to get as much volume as I can in the stand. I'm looking at 4 feet of head with only one elbow and am thinking about getting a Mag Drive 3 or 5 for my return pump. With that head, they'll give me 270 or 310 gph respectively, with the rest of the flow provided by some Koralias on a switching timer to create alternating currents. What does everybody think of Mag Drive? Is there something more reliable or quieter?
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: July 20 2010 at 1:39am |
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Mag drive's are ok, but they draw a lot of electricity compared to similarly sized pumps. I'm personally a fan of the Rio Hyperflow series pumps.
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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smacky
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Posted: July 20 2010 at 1:55am |
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I like the price, and the flow of the 8HF looks about right. Are they pretty quiet? Mag Drive is the only one I have used before.
Edited by smacky - July 20 2010 at 2:12am
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smacky
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Posted: July 20 2010 at 11:03pm |
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I went to The Aquarium today to pick up a return pump and some bulkheads. They were out of the bulkhead size I needed but I did end up getting the Rio 8HF. I also found an ASM G-1X skimmer on their inventory reduction table. It was marked down 100 dollars and I got it for 189.00, which I didn't think was too bad.
I've read that some people have problems with the pump, so we'll see what happens.
Anybody have any experience using larger pumps with this skimmer?
Tonight I'm going to install the overflow and hopefully I can pick up the bulkheads and other plumbing tomorrow.
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smacky
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Posted: July 29 2010 at 12:20am |
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Not much has changed since my last post. I am having a custom sump made and also ordered a 36" ATI 4 bulb Sunpower T5 fixture. I'm going to need to build a new canopy to fit it, but I have a week off from work in about a week and a half so I should be able to get that done.
My Marco Rock also arrived over the weekend, then this week I got an email from them about a sale on the very rock package that I had just purchased from them. Oh well.
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SGH360
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Posted: July 29 2010 at 1:16am |
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i have a question how did you get all of the crud off with out scratching the glass?
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smacky
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Posted: July 29 2010 at 8:19am |
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I used water and a soft cloth to get a lot off, then I used a plastic algae scraper to get the rest. It took a while.
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smacky
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Posted: August 10 2010 at 12:13am |
I brought my sump home over the weekend. My stand is very narrow front to back and couldn't get any standard tank to fit in and have very much volume. So I had tcfab make a custom sump that fit perfectly.  The intake chamber barely fits my ASM G1X skimmer, but it works. I had to cut out the back of the stand and replace it to get the sump in, and then I finished up all the pluming this afternoon. I started mixing up saltwater as well, but it is going slow as I have no RO filter and am making runs to Good Earth to fill up my two 5 gallon jugs. I've put in about 3 inches of oolitic sand and then will seed it with some LS that bugzme was kind enough to offer me. Then I think I'm going to finish off the four inches with some larger grain sand on top. Aquascaping starts tomorrow too. I'll post some photos tomorrow when the light is better.
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smacky
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Posted: August 10 2010 at 10:20pm |
It's filled and the skimmer and pumps are running and the water just cleared up enough for me to see that I'm not really happy with the aquascaping. I don't think I like it, but I also don't know what I will like.  I took the photo in the evening and the reflection is terrible, but there it is. It's cleared up quite a bit since then and actually looks like it might eventually polish up. It's been seeded with some LR, LS, LW and macroalgae from bugzme's amasing tank. Maybe someday mine will have SPS that amazing too. Thanks for the good start Jeff, and Semper Fi.
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ksmart
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Posted: August 10 2010 at 10:33pm |
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Looks awesome! cant wait to see more progress. Aquascaping is such a pain but just keep moving things around till you are satisfied. I do like your aquascape though.. Thanks for posting the pics.
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tcfab
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Posted: August 10 2010 at 11:18pm |
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Lets see how everything fit in that sump lol.
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Need custom acrylic work? give me a call, www.Elite-Aquatics.net (801)645-6386
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