Reef safe paint for glass??

[steveoutlaw]

Now that I've ruled out everything but the rockwall as the source of my skimmers microbubble and crazyness, I'm going to tear the rockwall out this weekend.

 

Now, with no rockwall to hide my sump, I'm going to want to spray paint the inside walls of it with black spray paint to hide the skimmer. Is there a reef safe spray paint that I can use to do this? Would it be better to just leave it alone and cover up with corraline rather than painting it?

[Stu]

Steve,

I used Krylon fusion on my present overflow and overflows I've used in the past. Never had any ill effects or problems with it flaking off. Of course, that's on plastic/acrylic (which the Fusion is supposed to "fuse" with). Glass may be a different story. My only recommendation would be to wait a good long while for it to dry in between coats, and don't make the coats too thick--otherwise it probably will flake off. I also went with the Fusion because they have a darker blue that looked a bit more natural to me than the bright "Petsmart" blue. Black always looks good too.

 

-Stu

[flowerseller]

I'd let coraline algae cover it up since anything alse will cause a problem in your particular case.

[Jon Lazar]

I'm not familiar with your setup, but could you paint the outside of the tank wall instead and still accomplish the same effect?

 

Another option might be a thin sheet of black acrylic cut to fit the area you're trying to block.

[steveoutlaw]

I'd let coraline algae cover it up since anything alse will cause a problem in your particular case.

 

Kick a man when he's down, eh Chip??

 

I'm not familiar with your setup, but could you paint the outside of the tank wall instead and still accomplish the same effect?

 

Another option might be a thin sheet of black acrylic cut to fit the area you're trying to block.

 

Thanks Jon. I don't want to paint the outside wall because I was hoping to be able to scrape it to keep it clean. I built a glass sump into my cube to make it an all-in-one tank. The black acrylic might work better. Any idea where I can get a thin sheet?

[Jon Lazar]

I order all my acrylic stock from US Plastics. There's a 24"x24"x1/8" sheet for $18. You may find it local for cheaper, but I live in the boonies and appreciate the convenience of mail order.

 

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/variant.a...iant%5Fid=44472

[flowerseller]

Kick a man when he's down, eh Chip??

 

No, I actually prefer that to black or backgrounds except what you were trying to make.

I don't think the wall is your whole problem and more of a curing/conditioning issue.

You know we all love you.

[Fazio92]

have you thought about using black silicone and painting it on? I have seen that done plenty of times and it comes out very nice, plus it's safe!

 

-Anthony

[Amuze]

Kick a man when he's down, eh Chip??

 

 

 

Thanks Jon. I don't want to paint the outside wall because I was hoping to be able to scrape it to keep it clean. I built a glass sump into my cube to make it an all-in-one tank. The black acrylic might work better. Any idea where I can get a thin sheet?

 

Steve, I'm confused. Don't you want to be able to scrape the inside to keep the back wall cleaned? You will scrape the paint off if you paint the inside. I would paint the outside or use black vinyl to cover the glass outside of the tank. Just don't want ya to paint the inside and then realize you have to redo it all over again! Lol.

 

-Dave

 

*Edit - Is your sump inside your tank and you're trying to hide it? I can see the problem you're facing then and what I said above doesn't apply. Tear the sump out and redo it with black acrylic? I know you don't even want to think about that...Haha.

Edited October 7, 2009 by audible

[extreme_tooth_decay]

Might be time for a new tank.

[Jan]

Don't know if it's reef safe. Maybe you can send them an email and ask.

http://www.epoxyproducts.com/uwpaint.html

Now that I've ruled out everything but the rockwall as the source of my skimmers microbubble and crazyness, I'm going to tear the rockwall out this weekend.

 

Now, with no rockwall to hide my sump, I'm going to want to spray paint the inside walls of it with black spray paint to hide the skimmer. Is there a reef safe spray paint that I can use to do this? Would it be better to just leave it alone and cover up with corraline rather than painting it?

[Sugar Magnolia]

It's a shame you have to take that rock wall out. It looks really nice.

[steveoutlaw]

No, I actually prefer that to black or backgrounds except what you were trying to make.

I don't think the wall is your whole problem and more of a curing/conditioning issue.

You know we all love you.

 

Chip - I know you were kidding.....I just had to try to make you feel sorry for me.......which probably didn't work! I'm not sure what the problem is. What I don't understand about the curing is that water has been in the tank for over 6 weeks now. I have live rock and sand in the tank. I do 10g water changes on my frag tank every week and use the water from the frag tank to do a water change on the cube. I've been reading all the rockwall projects I can find and none of them have had any issue when they filled their tanks......not to mention 6 weeks after they filled their tanks. It's just getting extremely frustrating to see that fish and inverts can live in the tank, but I can't put corals in it because I can't put a skimmer on it because of the microbubble issue.

 

*Edit - Is your sump inside your tank and you're trying to hide it? I can see the problem you're facing then and what I said above doesn't apply. Tear the sump out and redo it with black acrylic? I know you don't even want to think about that...Haha.

 

Dave-

That's the issue......I don't want to rip it out!!

[epleeds]

Steve,

 

you could get a piece of black acrylic, cut it to size and place in behind the sump wall and affix it with small magnets. that way you could still scrape the front glass if you want to keep it clean and it will hide your skimmer when looking straight into the tank.

 

Also, it gives you the option of pulling it out if you need to do anything like cleaning it.

 

just a thought.

 

eric

[Jon Lazar]

Steve,

 

So if the real problem here is your overflowing skimmer, can't you make an adjustment so it doesn't bubble as much? That would give the skimmer time to remove whatever is causing the massive bubbling without overflowing.

 

For example, sometimes the 2-part epoxy stick makes my skimmer go nuts and overflow. I just unscrew the collection cup and set it loosely in place without tightening the cup back onto the neck. This makes the skimmer much less efficient, preventing it from overflowing...but it's still collecting skimmate. A day or two later I empty the skimmer cup and put the cup back on tight, and it's usually back to normal. Perhaps you could do something similar.

 

Good luck,

Jon

[steveoutlaw]

Steve,

 

So if the real problem here is your overflowing skimmer, can't you make an adjustment so it doesn't bubble as much? That would give the skimmer time to remove whatever is causing the massive bubbling without overflowing.

 

For example, sometimes the 2-part epoxy stick makes my skimmer go nuts and overflow. I just unscrew the collection cup and set it loosely in place without tightening the cup back onto the neck. This makes the skimmer much less efficient, preventing it from overflowing...but it's still collecting skimmate. A day or two later I empty the skimmer cup and put the cup back on tight, and it's usually back to normal. Perhaps you could do something similar.

 

Good luck,

Jon

 

Jon,

My issue is not the skimmer overflowing, but the massive amount of micro-bubbles it's shooting out the exit pipe. The tank ends up getting saturated with them. I'm afraid that it may hurt the livestock by oxygenating the water too much. The inverts don't seem to mind, but can this hurt the fish?

 

Thanks,

Steve

[extreme_tooth_decay]

Jon,

My issue is not the skimmer overflowing, but the massive amount of micro-bubbles it's shooting out the exit pipe. The tank ends up getting saturated with them. I'm afraid that it may hurt the livestock by oxygenating the water too much. The inverts don't seem to mind, but can this hurt the fish?

 

Thanks,

Steve

 

 

 

Hi Steve,

 

Isn't it the job of a skimmer to make microbubbles?

 

The skimmers I've had produced enormous amounts of them. I dealt with it using baffles, rocks in the sump, a fuge area with macro to intercept/disperse them, a sponge on the exit pipe, more distance between skimmer and output of sump, more depth of sump (baffle area), etc.

Edited October 7, 2009 by extreme_tooth_decay

[steveoutlaw]

Hi Steve,

 

Isn't it the job of a skimmer to make microbubbles?

 

The skimmers I've had produced enormous amounts of them. I dealt with it using baffles, rocks in the sump, a fuge area with macro to intercept/disperse them, a sponge on the exit pipe, more distance between skimmer and output of sump, more depth of sump (baffle area), etc.

 

 

Right, but all the skimmers I've had, they don't put the bubbles out the exit tube......the bubbles stay in the reaction chamber. For some reason (and it could be the epoxy) the skimmer is spewing out tons of microbubbles out the exit tube and the baffles aren't stopping them. So, the microbubbles are pushed back into the tank.

[extreme_tooth_decay]

Right, but all the skimmers I've had, they don't put the bubbles out the exit tube......the bubbles stay in the reaction chamber. For some reason (and it could be the epoxy) the skimmer is spewing out tons of microbubbles out the exit tube and the baffles aren't stopping them. So, the microbubbles are pushed back into the tank.

 

 

I've definitely had them come out the exit tube in massive quantities on my ASM G3 for all the years I had it. That is why it comes with the foam on the out tube.

 

I would not consider there to be something elsewhere causing the skimmer making extra bubbles.

 

Just my $.02!

 

tim

[steveoutlaw]

Well, I know that what it's doing is not normal.......the foam on the exit tube can't even come close to handling these bubbles. Also, it works properly in my frag tank (skims great, no microbubbles) but when put in this tank it doesn't skim very well and produces a TON of microbubbles. I've got baffles, I've tried foam......next is a filter sock on the outlet tube and a filter sock full of carbon on the baffles.

 

But still, nobody has been able to answer my question......will a lot of microbubbles in the tank harm the fish?

[L8 2 RISE]

No, it won't harm the fish, it can harm clams, octo's, cuttles, etc. basically most things with mantles. Although I doubt you're going to have any of those (except maybe clams- which you could put out of range of the bubbles). I would be more worried about the bubbles from a salt creap/ appearance aspect. I would consider other alternatives, such as rigging up a bubble trap. You could take a very wide PVC pipe, place it so all of the bubbles coming out of the skimmer go into it, have it go about 6 inches out of the water, and then drill a hole in a cap and put it on top. Gunk will prolly build up inside of the pipe, but you could rig it in a way that it's relatively easy to clean every once in a while.

 

Oh yeah- I think I read somewhere that it can also cause gas bubble disease in horses and pipefish.

[steveoutlaw]

Thanks for the help Sam.